The Sustainabilitree

This semester the Office of Campus Sustainability partnered up with the ENV1101A course on a Community Service Learning Project. This isn't anything new because we do a project with this course every year... but this time, under the supervision of professor Tom Boggart, we mixed things up and had students work on mini sustainability projects. The change in format was to see what kind of innovation we could spark from the students if we tightened up some of the parameters. For instance, this year we gave the students a maximum budget of $1,000, limiting the scope and hopefully getting the students to think outside the box. We also had students produce a poster presentation rather than a formal report so that they could engage a more visual audience. So here are some of the results; they are spectacular. What impressed me the most were the really innovative things that people did to incorporate environmentally friendly design concepts into their posters. com...

I don't mean to get all existential on you or anything, I just want you to understand this very simple and true fact. Everything can be recycled. There is no such thing as garbage.... it is simply a social construct created by people in order to classify things that are of no use to us. Case in point, a bag of mouldy old apples... not at the top of my list of things I want to eat. Of course if I was a pig farmer that might make some decent feed for the hogs, or if I was looking for some good compost in my garden I probably wouldn't much mind a whole bag. So they weren't really garbage, they just gross you out. Or how about this, one day your grandma comes to you and gives you some of those nice sweaters she likes to knit. Only problem is that this year she was super productive and she gives you 125 of these sweaters. WTF, you can't use all these sweaters; in fact, you don't even have enough room in your closet for all of them. In a pinch you might toss some o...

Every once and a while we have the opportunity to do something wonderfully poetic. But before I get too far ahead of myself, which I often do, let's talk about Industrial Ecology. Rather than bore you with a technical definition of what it means, industrial ecology can be summed up by saying that the waste from one process becomes the food for another. And although this happens in nature all the time, industrial ecology focuses on when this happens in an industrial setting. Take for example meat processing plants that often sell the undesirable parts of the animals to pet food suppliers. Okay, maybe not my best example but it is true. Or how about lumber producers that take excess wood shavings to make paper. There are many examples of how the waste from one process can kick start another. Being a sustainability person, you can imagine how happy I get when industrial ecology happens here on campus.So here is that little bit of wonderful that I elud...

The concept is all about connections. Sustainability is a huge undertaking. There are so many little things to think about on our campus that it can be quite overwhelming. Where do you recycle your batteries, how far did this food travel before it got to my plate, is the paper in a textbook worse than the energy used in a laptop, why aren't there more trees on campus...etc. So how can we tackle sustainability on our campus if there are so many issues to deal with? Simple, increase the number of people that do sustainability on campus. Thus, we created an EcoNetwork. The University of Ottawa's EcoNetwork isn't a new concept, it was actually launched in 2010 and we just relaunched the program last month. The idea was to create a network of individuals that could share best practices about sustainability on campus. Things like setting your printer to double-sided printing, where to order environmentally-friendly office supplies, and how to pack a litter-less lu...

Riding your bicycle all year round can be quite the challenge. In the summer, some say that the rain and wind keep them from riding. In winter, others say that the snow, the ice, and the cold temperatures make riding sometimes dangerous. In both of these cases, many tools are available to either reduce risk or make your s ride more pleasant. Winter riding Winter riding can be dangerous, which is why it’s important keep your eye on the prize. Here are a few tips to make your ride more pleasant and safer: First, dress appropriately. If possible always have a wind breaker because it helps to keep warm when the wind blows hard. A good pair of gloves, pleather if possible, helps a lot because wind doesn’t pass through them. Bring an extra pair of socks if you feel the need or if the forecasted weather includes rain (or even worse.... freezing rain). Second, use a second hand bike. Salt and sand can destroy you bike during winter so if you don’t want to end up wasting money on re...

BRING US YOUR USED BRITA FILTERS AND COFFEE SACHETS! Vous ne savez jamais quoi faire de vos filtres à eau usagés et vos sacs de café? Et bien vous pouvez maintenant les recycler! Emportez-nous vos filtres Brita et sachets de café usagés pour être transformés en de nouveaux produits tels que des brosses à dents, bancs de parcs ou planches à couper. De plus, Pour chaque sachet Nabob ramassé nous pouvons faire un don de $0,02 à un organisme de bienfaisance de notre choix – La Banque Alimentaire. Les filtres Brita seront recyclés à travers le programme Preserve (pour plus d’info : http://www.preserveproducts.com/recycling/britafilters.html#canada) et les sachets de cafés seront recyclés à travers le programme TerraCycle (pour plus d’info : http://www.terracycle.ca/fr-CA/brigades/coffee-bag-brigade.html). Qu’est-ce que TerraCycle? Le but de TerraCycle est d’éliminer le concept de déchet. Ils font cela en créant des réseaux de collecte nationaux pour des produits traditionnellem...

The inspiration for this blog came to me yesterday as a couple of students and I were discussing their Living Lab project during our weekly meetings. The group is working on figuring out the percentage of disposable vs reusable mugs used on campus. The numbers aren't great and so group has been doing some discrete surveillance around the campus to see if the reusable mug use is on the rise. Spoiler alert... the numbers still don't look great. Somewhere in the realm of 5%. A very interesting question was asked by one of the volunteers. He wanted to know if he had to count Tim Horton cups twice. I was a little perplexed..., "Why would you count them twice", I asked. "Well" he responded, "everyone gets two cups instead one so that they don't burn their hands". Sooooooooooooo, can you see the problem with this? Tim Horton is the only place I know of that has not embraced the little cardboard sleeve that all other coffee chains use on thei...

When people say Humane Society you automatically know what they are talking about. You know that place where they care for lost and abandoned animals. You would never imagine the work and supplies that they require, as well as the supplies needed to care for the animals themselves. Places such as the Humane Society receive funding for particular things, but not others. I was shocked to find that they do not receive funding for office supplies such as files and binders. All of us at the Free Store are well aware that we have a large amount of binders that are just looking for a home. So, we took a little trip to the Humane Society and donated 50 binders to them. This goes along with 9 boxes of file folders that we donated to them last month. By doing this, they are able to save funds for office supplies, and puts it towards the most important thing: providing the best care for the animals. ~ michaela - free store coordinator photo credit - jonathan rausseo

It's about that time of the year again, you know... when you start taking a serious look at hanging up your biking shoes for the season. The wind stings a bit too much, you have to second guess every puddle (potential patch of black ice), and your ride is creaking and cracking all the time. Well I wanted to pound out a quick post to tell you to not give up... you can extend your biking season with some perseverance and a couple of tips. My boss has a rule of thumb, once the temperature drops to -10ºC, no more riding for him. And that's totally reasonable I think. As for me, I have biked through the last three winters and only recorded four bails during that time (and no serious injuries). Riding in the late autumn season does take a certain level of prudence. I know that you might not go right until the winter season, but if you want to try to keep riding until the snow falls, here are a couple of things you can do. Puddles aren't just pud...

I am just as guilty as the rest of you; I was not fully aware of all the negative implications of the Bill C-38 which was passed by the Canadian government. I am particularly worried about the changes to food our food safety laws; not only is it harder to trust most products on the shelf, but it is also harder to trust the people who make decisions regarding our safety. One major change was the Health Minister’s appointed power to grant exemptions to food safety requirements without the Parliament’s oversight, nor the need to publish those exemptions. Why should any one person or group EVER be allowed to grant ANY kind of exemption to our food safety without the requirement to publish them? Previously, any exemption made to food laws did not take effect until it was published in the Parliament’s newspaper, the Canada Gazette (remember the GMO’s being allowed into certain foods thing?). This allowed media and Canadians to be aware of changes, to express their opinions, and requ...

Bottled Water haunts me. In spite of not drinking them, I see them littering the streets or thrown in the garbage all over uOttawa even though recycling stations are becoming a dominant feature in our campus landscape.  We offer students free reusable water bottles hoping they will make the switch [they’re available at the SFUO Sustainability Centre ], we have the Freestore which offers up an assortment of options from stainless steel water bottles, to leftovers from the 101 week kits, to plastic and glass cups you could store in your bag and use during class lectures, and there are even Brita pitchers at the Freestore that you could take home with you to eliminate your consumption at home. Upon entering filterforgood.ca, one is bombarded with messages about how you can reduce your environmental impact by purchasing one filter that can replace 300 water bottles.  I personally trust in Ottawa’s public water systems because of the surplus of research I have com...

Chaque fois qu’il y a un déménagement sur le campus; que ce soit permanent ou non, les occupants laissent une quantité inimaginable de choses encore en parfait état à être tout simplement jeté…souvent ils vont se racheter ces mêmes articles en neuf pour leur nouvel espace. La majorité du temps nous parlons de livres, des piles et des piles de papier à recycler, pots de fleurs, cahiers vierges, stylos, gugus organisateurs de bureaux, cadrans, vêtements, etc. C’est terrible; soit les occupants croient qu’il y aura quelqu’un pour nettoyer après eux, ou ils croient que ça ne vaut pas la peine de recycler leurs articles. Peu importe l’intention, je crois que nous sommes tous assez vieux (mature) pour laisser son bureau propre lorsqu’on déménage! Peut-être il devrait y avoir un système de frais pour les employés/profs qui laissent leur bureau malpropre lorsqu’ils quittent – comme en résidence, ou même dans n’importe quel logement loué. Qu’en pensez-vous? Heureusement, nous avons toute...

I wonder if you remember the One Million Acts of Green campaign that was spearheaded by George Strombolopolous a couple of years ago? I thought it was a great idea. Everyone could easily register their act of green and share it with the world. The benefit of doing this of course was that it normalized public commitments to being a more environmentally friendly citizen. Well OMAG (that's the abbreviation just in case you were wondering), is still running strong. It is no longer just associated with the CBC and CISCO Systems; it has grown its own wings and taken flight. The group has been looking to find ways to branch off into new territory and one of the things that they dreamt up is to create a more personalized and interactive app for Facebook. This makes a lot of sense since the whole idea of the OMAG is to share your experiences in the hopes that it will inspire others to do the same. So to that end, the group has partnered up with universities to start creating c...

The day is quickly arriving and it will be a race to the finish. The University of Ottawa is only weeks away from becoming a Fair Trade Certified Campus . That's right, thanks to the hard work of the students at the uOttawa Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB), and the commitment made by Food Services and Charwells, the University of Ottawa will meet the criteria for becoming a Fair Trade Campus hopefully before the holiday season. I really wanted to take a moment to acknowledge this monumental task. First, almost all the heavy lifting was done by one student, Ryan Ward-Davies. He took on the project as a member of the EWB and has worked tirelessly to get the campus certified. Second, I want to acknowledge the work done by Food Services and Chartwells. Getting the campus to become Fair Trade Certified is not as easy as flicking a switch. There were a lot of tough decisions to be taken and sacrifices to be made. So here is the breakdown of what a campus needs to...

And so we begin another round of Community Service Learning courses for the new academic year. Devotees of this blog will remember that we just posted our Annual Report for the Living lab and that we worked with over 500 students last year. This year we not going to be able to do anywhere near as many students, but we will still be working with a bunch. This semester alone, we will be working with 69 students across 6 courses. What are these projects you wonder? I am so glad you asked. A campus sustainability literacy survey - how much do people on our campus know about sustainability? A campus sustainability services survey - are the services we are offering cool or crappy? Sustainability micro projects - 20 small, simple, and affordable projects that could make our campus more sustainable Social justice / sustainability projects - track the life-cycle of a t-shirt and create a campus food map about where the food on campus comes from Case studies about our greatest susta...

When I was a student at the University of Ottawa I spent a lot of my time droning over the courses available in my program. The environment was my thing so I would sit and endlessly read course descriptions in the hopes of finding content that would jump out at me. Imagine how happy I was when I completed my course table full of geeky environmental courses. Now imagine how unhappy I was when I found out that sometimes the profs of those courses didn't share the.... enthusiasm I did for the subject matter. I don't mean to diminish in any way the capacity of those professors to teach, I just think that my expectations were unrealistically high because of all the searching I had done. I was hoping so hard that the professors would be as geeky about the environment as I was. Of course the real problem is that not every prof (in my case) would have been an environmental specialist. In the end the course wasn't the problem, what I really needed to know was the interests ...

For a long time now the University of Ottawa has been struggling with the question of accessibility. It's tough you know. On the physical side of things, there are some really old buildings to contend with. If you take an old building like Tabaret and try to modernize it, you quickly run into more problems (aesthetics, design, structure). An old elevator need to be expanded, counters in the washrooms need to be lowered, and water fountains need to be modified. It is an expensive process. On the mentality side of things, people are forgetful and neglect that there are people who are differently-abled. For example, bulletin boards are still placed a little too high for people in wheel chairs, making the signs almost impossible to read. Sandwhich boards are placed in the middle of the sidewalk (not cool for people who are visually impaired). And videos are made with no descriptive text underneath them. Incidentally, have you tried to use a text reader on a page that isn't opt...

On Friday I had the good fortune of giving a green tour of the campus to some students in a third year environmental-history class. I typically give tours that last between 2 and 3 hours but we were able to condense this one into an hour and 15 minutes. I guess I can talk faster than I thought. Just to giving you a little insight, during these campus green tours I talk a lot about the physical campus, the recycling, energy distribution, and urban planing infrastructure that makes the University of Ottawa a green campus. We visit recycling centres, the vermi composter, the power plant, and even the shuttle bus stop. Anyways, it was on this tour last week that professor Darcy Ingram asked me if all this green infrastructure was listed somewhere. I said that it was available on our green map but I don't think that is what he was looking for. What he really wanted to know about was the narrative. Is the story of our green tour available anywhere? Yes you can go on our awe...

Wow, these past couple of days have been crazy busy. On Tuesday September 4th we launched our special International Students edition of the Free Store. We do this every year to help give international students a leg up on getting the things they need to start out their lives here in Ottawa. Also, we like to make freegans happy. Saying that it was successful would be an understatement. I think I counted about 200 people on the first day before I stopped keeping track. We easy gave away 2 to 3 tonnes of stuff over the course of the two days and I have to tell you that the experience was exhausting. Needless to say I am very proud of the volunteers who came out to lend a hand. And I also want to give a special shout out to our partners (the International Office and Community Life Services) for their continued support. The Free Store is important for a couple of reasons. First, it diverts tonnes of waste from landfill every year. Second, it demonstrates...

Unfortunately the day has come and we have retired our Foursquare account. Things were good while they lasted but now we have to go. The Office of Campus Sustainability will no longer be using Foursquare as a geo-location tool. There are couple of reasons why we are leaving the service (none of which have anything to do with the service provided by Foursquare... they are pretty awesome) but we will still be Green Maps as a tool to map sustainability on campus. Thank you to all the folks out there that contributed to our Foursquare account and who shared our tips. We really do appreciate your interest and we hope to see you again in another social media life. In the meantime, we will be transferring our sustainability 'check-in' tips and lists to the University of Ottawa's main Foursquare account. So don't worry, none of the information will be lost. The Office has had a Green Map account for many years and we hope to soon be launching new features and m...

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 dis...