Car Free Day or Car Free Campus?

Photo credit: Danny Albert

A grey parking lot sits in the middle of the campus. For one day of the year it gets to shine and yesterday (September 22nd) was that day. I don't know if you had a chance to pass by and see the Car Free Day (CFD) festivities but it was something to look at.

There was a dunk tank featuring the boys and girls of the Protection Service, and two SFUO executives (Ted Horton and Tyler Steeves). There was a barbeque, information tables, bike repairs, free yoga sessions, and a farmer's market to top it all off. Unfortunately there wasn't very much traffic moving through the event, which was incidentally held in Parking lot K just beside the residences.

There was one other very special thing at the CFD that I was particularly happy about. For this occasion we actually took a parcel of the parking lot and laid down some sod, effectively creating our own new green space. "Destroying a parking lot to create a green space" is what we called it.

I even joked, "This space needs to be undeveloped and the regular inhabitants [cars] are going to have to find a new place to inhabit". All joking aside though, there was quite a bit of animosity from those who were looking for a parking space and were denied any by the festivities. I do feel for those people, but the simple really is... tough, you are going to have to get used to it.

A little known fact; parking is a losing game here on campus. The cost of building an above ground parking stall (for one single car) is $13,000. The price for an underground stall is $45,000. Even if the University charges $1,000 a year for parking... it doesn't take a genius to figure out that there is no business case for building underground parking spaces. And in case you haven't looked around lately, there isn't really any space left for above ground parking either.

So what's the solution? Well basically there are going to be fewer and fewer parking spaces on campus. Car Free Day is a supposed to be an event to show people what could be done with the campus if there were no parking lots. Recently though, CFD is becoming more and more of a dry-run for the inevitable day that we run out of parking space on campus or ban cars outright.

-jon

http://thesustainabilitree.blogspot.com/

U-PASS

uPass! Whoo! Wait, what? Well, let me tell you. If you’re currently not aware, the uPass pilot project will be implemented on uOttawa’s lovely campus this coming September (i.e. next month). It’s an 8 month bus pass being offered at a greatly reduced price to full-time students of the University. The cost is included in your tuition, and you can pick it up starting the 23rd of August, at 9 am, in the couch lounge of UCU.

Alright, now you know all the bureaucratic details; what about the practicality?

The fact is, with two major bus stops on campus, it’s incredibly easy to get anywhere in the city using public transport. This is useful for running errands, accessing more of the city, and most importantly, getting to and from home. Many students have a lengthy commute to and from campus, so they have no choice but to have a bus pass to begin with; however, now it comes with their tuition! For the others that think this is a bad idea because they live near or on campus, consider this: you will not be staying on campus 24/7.

There are groceries to be bought, paperwork to be done, friends and family to visit and other adventures to be had that don’t all necessarily take place within a walkable distance. What if you injure yourself? Walking isn’t exactly an easy task with a sprained ankle (I would know), especially in winter. What if it’s preposterously cold and you’re not really looking forward to 10-minute frostbite? OC Transpo has you covered, but only if you’ve got fare. As of this September, you won’t have to worry about whether you have bus tickets or not, because you’ll have a pass that enables you to get around.

Overall, the uPass will increase mobility and use of our transport system, hopefully taking more single-occupant vehicles off the road.

So, when the date comes around, grab your student card and head down to the UCU couch lounge to pick up your ticket to ride (that sounds even lamer than it did in my head)!

For more details, visit these sites:

SFUO: http://sfuo.ca/en/services/u-pass.php

GSAED: http://en.gsaed.ca/index.php?section_id=44

-vedrana

http://thesustainabilitree.blogspot.com/

Back to School!

With the fall term just around the corner (I also shuddered involuntarily; it’s okay), it’s time for us students to slowly begin preparing for the intellectual onslaught of our coming courses. We have a lot to prepare, what with textbooks, notebooks, pens, pencils, binders and highlighters to buy, in addition to finalizing course selections, OSAP, and other bureaucratic nightmares. The major problem with this time of the year is that most people go out and buy a new set of EVERYTHING, despite the fact they have a majority of last year’s supplies left over. Not only is this bad for your wallet, but it greatly increases the amount of waste being spewed out into our environment.

Here are some things you can do to lessen your Back-to-School environmental impact:

1. Buy used books! Not only are you saving tons of money, but you’re also reusing books that are made from many a paper.
2. Reuse notebooks, but if you must buy new ones, buy recycled paper notebooks. Also ask your profs if you can use last semester’s lab books, as you rarely fill up a whole notebook with one course.
3. Don’t buy school supplies that you don’t actually need; just because it has dinosaur print does not mean you have to own it. You’ll get over it after you leave the store. If you use pencils, invest in a nice mechanical pencil and cut down on all the wood necessary to produce standard pencils.
4. Bring your own lunches to school if you live off-campus and cut down on unnecessary packaging. Bring along a reusable water bottle too! Healthy AND more affordable!
5. If you live reasonably close to campus, walk or bike to school; if you live father away, use the uPass that will now be available to all full-time students and bus instead of driving.
6. Use all of your supplies until they run out, and not only until you get bored. You bought the furry notepad, and you’re stuck with it now.

If we all take the time to implement these seemingly insignificant changes, we will be better for it in the end. By cutting down on waste and emissions, we let the planet know that, hey, we’ve got your back (with an optional ‘yo’ at the end).

-vedrana

http://thesustainabilitree.blogspot.com/

Des actions vertes…..et les employés eux?

Êtes-vous au courant du programme intitulé écochampion? Même si ce dernier ne s’adresse pas aux étudiants, mais plutôt aux employés de l’Université, je pense qu’il en vaut certainement la peine d’en parler.

Cet été j’ai travaillé au bureau du Développement Durable de l’Université d’Ottawa et j’étais surprise d’apprendre que ce programme date seulement du 22 avril 2010. Lorsque j’ai eu l’occasion d’assister à une des rencontres trimestrielle des participants, appelés les écochampions, j’ai remarqué une bonne énergie aux près des écochampions et tout le monde était très à l’aise avec le programme.

En plus, l’équipe du bureau du Développement Durable, (Marc Pandi, la personne ressource), qui se charge de ce programme, interagissait clairement avec les participants comme si le programme lui-même existait depuis belle lurette.

Comme vous le verrez sur leur site web (voir adresse du site ci-dessous), le concept de cette initiative est simple : créer un réseau de personnes motivées à changer des gestes quotidiens dans leur milieu de travail, pour ainsi limiter ou réduire leur empreinte écologique.

Parmi ces gestes, il y a la réduction de consommation de papier et d’énergie, la gestion responsable des déchets (composter), la planification d’événement et de réunion sans bouteille d’eau et avec des produits équitable, etc. Tous ces gestes nécessitent une bonne communication, car les écochampions collaboreront avec leurs collègues pour s’assurer d’un lieu de travail écologique.

Ce programme n’est pas là pour évaluer les écochampions ; ce programme vise à fournir les renseignements nécessaires dont les écochampions auront besoin ainsi que des conseils. Mais principalement, ce projet vise à encouragement des gens qui veulent faire une différence pour le bien de l’environnement.

Un réseau vert qui vise à éveiller les consciences et à susciter des gestes concrets pour en arriver à un équilibre entre un milieu de travail fonctionnel et des ressources disponibles aujourd’hui et à l’avenir, ca fait jaser!

Adresse web :

-amina

http://thesustainabilitree.blogspot.com/