The Sustainabilitree

How do you measure sustainability? I mean it is a pretty abstract concept. Sustainable development is about creating a world where resource limitations are respected and the relationships between people are appreciated. So there we have it, take all that and wrap it up into a nice set of measurable indicators. Yep… super easy. Also, did I mention that it would be super great if this magic assessment tool was accessible to students. So what if I told you that there is a Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework just floating around out there? I guess you could call it the Bible of campus sustainability. A total of 171 indicators broken down into two broad categories (ecosystems and society) with10 subgroups that cover every aspects of campus sustainability. Well you would call me crazy wouldn’t you? But in all seriousness this assessment tool does exist and it is being used by institutions all around the country. The Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework or CSAF (pronounced c-saf...

This summer has seen an unprecedented amount of Green at the movie theaters. No really! I am not joking. Now I am sure that you have heard enough about the environment and how we all need to do our part. Even I am getting a little annoyed (a little but not a lot). But this summer I saw something that I was a little encouraged by --- wait for it --- integrated product placement. Or at least the next incarnation, integrated social marketing placement. First there are a couple of concepts that we need to review. You see there is this thing called social marketing, basically taking all the evils of marketing and putting it towards good. Remember when you were a kid and you saw all those “this is your brain on drugs” commercials? Or all those “don’t drink and drive” commercials? That’s it! That’s using marketing for the purposes of advancing a positive social change. Now, there is this thing called product placement. It happens when you are watching a television show or a movie and BAM the ...

Back in October the Student Federation hosted Green Weeks. Basically this was the longest continuous green event that I have ever participated in. Actually, and don’t quote me on this, I think it was the longest green event in Canada… maybe even the US too. Four weeks of daily events. Now I am sorry if it sounds like I am complaining, because I am not. The whole thing was great and secretly… i can’t wait to do it again. But I am not here to talk about Green Weeks, I am here to talk about Imagine uOttawa. It was one of the events that made up the beautiful green mosaic of that month. First, let’s get this out of the way; it has been months since this event happened. So why am i talking about this now? Well i finally have enough time to work on it and I was going over the minutes of the event and I fell in love with the idea again. Okay… enough suspense! Imagine was a community design charrette to determine what the campus should look like in 100 years. Yes, that’s right, 100 years! Why...

So there are like 100 different definitions for sustainable development. My little chunk of the pie is on the campus side of things. You see if there is going to be a big change in the way that we do things it is going to be here at academic institutions. Universities are centers of learning and excellence; they are the centers for innovation and analysis; they are the places where people become ideas and those ideas become change. So if we can all agree that universities have a big role to play in pushing the sustainability agenda, then I suppose the next thing to do is define what sustainable development actually is. Like I said, over 100 definitions to work with and although some of them are kind of the same... many of them really aren't. And of course the only one that I really care about, I mean right now that is, is the one that deals with universities. When we break all the definitions down, there are 2 principles that emerge. The first is inter-generational equity and th...

So I am going to get started with a little... nothingness. This blog is just a couple of thoughts about the environment according to the people I know. I'll probably be pretty neglectful but every once and a while I will post something I think is important. I won't do this alone, certainly no. I am going to delegate posts to other people. This might include a little begging, certainly a little knee-time. But I will try to be honest. I won't limit this to University life but I might change my mind. And I will likely refer quite often to those who are better than I. Cheers