Earlier this month, Indiana University Bloomington was named a Bicycle Friendly University by the American League of Bicyclists.

One of the first 20 recipients in the country, IU received the award on the basis of an application, which included responses to 93 in-depth questions evaluating five categories of bicycle friendliness: engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation and planning. Student sustainability intern, Amy O'Shea, compiled the IU survey with guidance from her mentors, David Good and Perry Maull, who also co-chair the Office of Sustainability's Transportation Working Group.

Amy is one of several sustainability interns who have researched bicycle transportation at IU Bloomington. A 2008 survey of over 5000 students, faculty and staff, conducted by Michael Steinhoff and Julie Harpring, revealed about 10% of faculty and staff bike to work, about 4% take the bus, while 6.6% walk. Just over 5% of students bike to campus, 32% take the bus and another 32% walk. This leaves a lot of people driving to campus alone, although 70% of respondents live within three miles. Lack of safe routes was the most common deterrent to bike commuting cited by those surveyed who lived two to three miles from campus, which points to the need to work with the city to develop better routes to campus.

Working through the Bicycle Friendly University questionnaire provided a self-assessment that revealed many of the same areas of strengths and weaknesses that the earlier research found. The Steinhoff and Harpring recommendations included:

• Phase out antiquated wheel-only bike racks  
• Increase number of covered and more secure bicycle parking spaces
• Establish preferred cycling routes through campus which connect to City of Bloomington routes, mark routes with signage and striping to minimize pedestrian conflicts
• Create transportation "hubs" where users can change modes to and from private auto, carshare vehicle, bus, and bicycle to better meet their needs
• Explore incentive programs and Transportation Demand Management strategies employed by peer institutions
• Improve education and enforcement of the rules of the road for both cyclists and motorists

Many of these recommendations are repeated in the Campus Sustainability Report and the Campus Master Plan. Some progress has been made since 2008, including increases in bike parking, more covered parking, and bicycle commuter showers and changing rooms in some of the new buildings on campus.

The American League of Bicyclists is preparing a list of recommendations specific to the IU Bloomington campus that will detail strategies to move up from the bronze level of their rating system to the next rung, which is silver. The City of Bloomington recently achieved the silver level of the Bicycle Friendly City ranking and the campus would benefit from collaborating closely with the city to map out an integrated bike plan. Toward that end, we propose establishment of a Bicycle Advisory Committee for IU Bloomington to help guide progress. Amy O'Shea will continue her research until the end of the semester when she hands off the Transportation internship to Rachel Abrahams, a fellow graduate student in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

For now, let's celebrate our success as one of America's first Bicycle Friendly Universities. As we prepare to watch the 61st Little 500, along with 25,000 of our closest friends, lets all absorb some of the bike culture that is so much a part of our campus and community tradition. Then, lets go for silver. If you would like to help with this effort, please give us a call or drop us an email.

For a great list of Bicycle Friendly University resources, see: http://bit.ly/fExYMn

Constructive changes are coming to the Green Teams Program based on feedback received during a focus group held on March 2nd.  Twenty participants representing thirteen teams granted the Office of Sustainability (IUOS)mtheir time to discuss the status of the program.  Teams represented were:  School of Environmental and Public Affairs, School of Education, Office of Service Learning, Kelley School of Business-MBA, Office of the Registrar, Biology, School of Informatics and Computing, Libraries, Geological Survey, University Information and Technology Services, Office of Environmental Health and Safety, Athletics Department, and Chemistry.

Participants fielded questions regarding the regularity of Green Team Program meetings, the usefulness of a Green Teams Blog, and the program in general.  As a result of people's responses, the following preliminary steps have been taken:

·       Green Team Program Meetings, or Green Bags, are scheduled quarterly instead of monthly

o    Quarterly meetings are easier to plan for.  Agendas and topics will be distributed well in advance of meetings via Outlook and the GREENTEAMS-L listserv. 

·       A Green Teams Blog has been created:  http://iugreenteams.wordpress.com/

o    The Green Teams blog was developed with the idea that it can act as a forum for green teams as well as others within the IUB community.  Ideas are shared, inquires are posed and responded to, and accomplishments will be publicized and celebrated. Since most participants have limited time to work on-and perhaps even think about-issues of campus sustainability, this blog can provide some much needed convenience.    

Other feedback regarding the structure of the program, IUOS program support and the certification program will be invaluable in the coming months as the office sets program improvement goals for the coming summer and academic year.  Many thanks to those who participated! 

For more information about IUOS's Green Team Program, visit www.indiana.edu/~sustain/Green_Teams/index.html.  Questions or comments can be directed to iugt@indiana.edu.  

The Food Working Group, lead by Co-Chairs Bruce Jacobs and Christine Barbour, has brought together members of the campus and Bloomington community to discuss ways IU can make smarter, more sustainable food choices. Several exciting projects are in the works to both raise students' awareness about food issues and encourage students to enact change at the University level by modifying their personal habits.

The Food Working Group has assisted intern Stephanie Hopkins in creating a series entitled "Designing An Edible Campus" intended to help students, faculty, and staff discuss ways to create and sustain spaces for growing food on the Bloomington campus. This series will close on April 26th, 5:30-6:30 PM at the Neal Marshall Bridgewater Lounge with a series of recommendations for the administration that were generated by the community and complied by Hopkins.

This series joins another project supported by the working group that involves the creation of a pilot campus garden at the Bryan House as being the first efforts of the IU Campus Garden Initiative. Between the design series and the pilot garden, the Food Working Group hopes to inspire the campus community to think about where the food they eat comes from and how they can contribute to the process.

General comments and questions should be directed to sustain@indiana.edu.

Our address:

IU Office of Sustainability
1001 E. 10th St.
Geology 429
Bloomington, IN 47405

For IUOS staff:

Bill Brown
Director of Sustainability
brownwm@indiana.edu
812-855-1822

Emilie Rex
Assistant Director of Sustainability
ekrex@indiana.edu
812-855-2678