Merkel lamented his departure from Dartmouth and pointed to his busy schedule and financial situation as main reasons for his decision.
"I didn't even have time to pick my raspberries in my garden," he said. "It was a really tough decision, because I really loved my job at Dartmouth. I'm in a place where I don't need paid employment, so I need to lever my time for the planet."
Mary Gorman, assistant provost and executive officer, is currently filling in for Merkel until a search board, to be convened this fall, fills the position. Gorman said she aims to hire a new coordinator by early winter. In the meantime, Gorman said, the College will continue to strive to decrease waste at Dartmouth.
Merkel said that he was pleased with the progress he made during his time at Dartmouth and mentioned the Green Greek innovative, which created a sustainability coordinator in Greek houses and other residential communities, as one of the more successful programs.
"Before I left there were 40 coordinators," he said. "If the Greeks really got it together they could really be a leading institution. We started it; now they have to take it a few steps further."
Merkel also said he was pleased with Dartmouth's recognition from the Sustainable Endowments Institute as one of the top four colleges according to the SEI's sustainability report card. Dartmouth received an A overall.
Though he acknowledged Dartmouth's progress toward sustainability, Merkel also pointed to several problems that he believes are hindering Dartmouth's progress. Merkel's complaints included Dartmouth's failure to sign any type of climate commitment -- a step that he noted has been taken by over 400 colleges, including the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell.
"Dartmouth hasn't even signed on to the seven percent below 1990 levels, considered by environmentalists to be quite compromising," he said. "Dartmouth is over 60 percent above the Kyoto target and the trend line has been going up. We need to sustain a downward trend."
Gorman said that the College has considered these commitments but thinks that they are taking a more reasonable approach. In order to meet one of these commitments, she said, Dartmouth would probably have to buy carbon off-sets when it would be more advantageous to look for ways to actually reduce fuel.
Merkel also said that during his time at Dartmouth his ability to act was limited, and that additional positions would strengthen Dartmouth's sustainability program.
"My position was an advisory-only coordinator position," he said. "Other campuses have a director, a person to sign off on new buildings and master plans. [The position at Dartmouth is in] a completely advisory capacity, so people aren't necessary instituted at any level to do sustainability."
Even with Merkel's departure, the College will continue to implement many of his programs. The sustainable dining kit program, however, has been terminated. For his part, Merkel said he believed that the program was successful.
However, David Newlove, associate director of Dartmouth Dining Services found several problems with the program.
"At the end of the year, we only had 30 [sustainable dinning kits] left," he said. "We decided we would only continue the program as long as they kept in circulation."
Newlove said that DDS has made improvements this year to continue to make progress in sustainability, including the removal of the composting tables from Homeplate, which allows trained workers to do the sorting properly.
Merkel said that overall, his time at Dartmouth was well spent, adding that the College still has work to do.
"I enjoyed it, and there was frustration," he said. "But just to qualify the frustration, my mission in life is to move toward sustainability."
