Balanced Life, Balanced Campus

Yesterday I had the chance to give a presentation to the new Health Promotions ambassadors. The whole thing took place in Terminus and I think things went pretty well.

My job was to explain to the group why sustainability was important for the campus and why it was important for one's personal health. In turn, those ambassadors would spread the word around campus over the course of the year (no doubt during the many many many events that they participate in).

There are a couple of themes that are really easy to link to health, like food and water. And of course there are a couple that aren't so easy, like energy management and green space. I did my best to fill in those blanks.

For example, energy management is directly related to green house gas emissions and air quality. The more energy we burn, the more stuff we dump into the atmosphere, the worse our air quality. Poor air quality leads to a tonne of horrible health effects.

Green space and nature deficit disorder go hand in hand. If we can create more green spaces for people to interact with, studies show that those people become more alert and productive (not a bad thing for a campus full of students).

I don't want to go into the nitty gritty about everything that was presented so here is a link to the Prezi I presented if you are interested. The take home message is this, being good to your health and being good to the planet can go hand in hand, they are not opposing concepts.

If you want ot learn more about health and environmental issues, visit the  Health Promotions website or check out our website for more details.

~ jON - campus sustainability manager
photo credit - jonathan rausseo