As a millennial, I have a guilty passion for Instagram. So, when I started my waste reduction journey, it quickly became one of my main sources of information. To me, waste reduction belonged to the broader minimalist movement. Getting rid of unused stuff, stopping buying things you will not use and reuse what you had seemed tinted with good old common sense. You know, the one our grandparents had?  Even though the aesthetics of owning less seemed appealing to me, I soon fell into a pit of despair as I scrolled though kitchens with matching glass containers neatly stacked in a pristine white background. Every room in the house seemed to follow the same pattern: everything matching in a neat neutral background.  Thinking of taking my reusable water bottle is a real achievement, so attaining the zero-waste home was like walking on the moon. As I kept researching, the very idea of buying containers seemed to defeat the purpose of zero waste in the first place. Why would I buy stu...

Étant une milléniale, j'ai une passion coupable pour Instagram. Alors, lorsque j'ai commencé mon parcours de réduction des déchets, c’est rapidement devenu l'une de mes principales sources d'information. Pour moi, la réduction des déchets appartenait au mouvement plus large du minimaliste. Se débarrasser des choses inutilisées, arrêter d'acheter des choses qu’on n'utilisera pas et réutiliser ce que nous avons déjà me semblait teinté de gros bon sens. Vous savez, celui qu'avaient nos grands-parents ?   Même si l'esthétique de posséder moins me semblait séduisante, je suis vite tombée dans un gouffre de désespoir en faisant défiler les cuisines où les récipients en verre assortis se trouvaient soigneusement disposés sur un fond blanc immaculé. Toutes les pièces de la maison semblaient suivre le même schéma : tout était assorti sur un fond neutre et net. Penser à prendre ma bouteille d'eau réutilisable relève de l’exploit, alors atteindre une maison zér...

When news finally settled and it was determined that uOttawa, along with every other institution in Canada, was going to close its doors for an entire academic season, there were a lot of projects that were still ongoing. Fast forward to almost two years later and people are starting to come back to the campus, and those projects were completed. So let's take a quick tour of some of the sustainability things that happened on campus while you were gone! UCU Park Just behind the UCU (near the Pivik entrance) the land has been completely landscaped and a new park was created. The small park is a 4-season park with seating, a stone dust path, and a bunch of Indigenous, native, and edible plants. If you are in the garden at just the right time of the year, you can see the wild raspberries! Other improvements include a safer declined path to the building and an expanded terrace near the entrance doors (the former smokers pit) with a new seating area. Morisset Window Mural Safe Wings wor...