Hi, I’m Mégane, the Sustainability and Lost and Found clerk working for the Office of Campus Sustainability this summer! The Lost and Found has gone from being managed by the University’s Protection Services to the Office of Campus Sustainability. Since I started on May 1st, we’ve already made a lot of changes to improve the efficiency of the Lost and Found. Any changes going forward will incorporate sustainability as this is now a core value of the Lost and Found.   The Lost and Found is located in the UCU, room 02A (near the bookstore). It is open and you can stop by on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM and 12:30 PM - 3:00 PM for the summer. During my first week of work, I spent a lot of time going through bulk bags of lost item scattered across the room, waiting to be catalogued. Slowly but surely, the room has started to feel less claustrophobic as more light could reach the den of lost treasures. I was feeling good about myself, well at lea...

Years ago, I attended the World Urban Forum (WUF) in Vancouver. WUF is a gathering of groups who are obsessed with urbanism and how, if done correctly, it could help solve many of the world's problems.  The gathering, hosted by the United Nations, really is a geekfest of policy ideas, new technologies, and networking opportunities. But the thing that really caught my eye while I was there was an installation representing an Edible Landscape.  For those who don't know, an edible landscape is basically a garden where all the plants are switched for edible varieties. By doing this, people can grow food and have a lovely garden aesthetic (existing in harmony rather than in opposition). Fast forward a bit more than a decade and edible landscapes are starting to take root at uOttawa. In 2021, the Office of Campus Sustainability started filling some planters on campus with edible plants instead of the traditional non-edible ones. An extension of the community gardens, the edible land...

Most students are unaware of the University of Ottawa’s history with making campus buildings more sustainable because it was before our time. I certainly knew only the minimum before working with the Office of Campus Sustainability.    Our first attempt at making a sustainable building was the SITE building built between 1997 and 1999. SITE won many awards prior to construction in anticipation for what was planned. Unfortunately, once the building was built, it failed to be as sustainable as promised. What made this attempt a failure is that the building utilized a lot of energy. A deep energy retrofit, also known as DER, was done between 2012 to 2014 to correct some of the problems with the building. However, the giant south-facing six story atrium (essentially a giant wall of windows) continues to cause pretty significant draws on air conditioning and heating, thus using a lot more energy than what was originally produced in the building design.   To avoid any futu...