You might not know this but when you decide to go bottled water free, you get a lot of criticism from big corporations. More specifically, bottled water companies, who by the way love to send tonnes of letters about why you need to reconsider your decision. So at uOttawa we get lots of these letters. Some nice, some bad, some threatening, some completely incomprehensible. I thought I would let everyone see what it is like when we get one of these letters and how I like to handle them. I personally believe that water should never be denied to people how need it. I is essential to our lives and to our way of life. And don't get me wrong, I do believe that there is a time and place for bottled water and that it does have some very important and very critical applications. I understand big corporations need to eek out a living as well, but sometimes you have to draw a line. As a recovering science student, one of the things I really hate is when people toss a study at you and say...

You could almost feel the tension blanket the entire office. For the past couple of days Brigitte, our waste diversion coordinator, would snap into her chair, quickly head over to the RecycleMania website, and then let out a little huff. The computer would diligently inform her that the results of the 2015 competition were still be tabulated. Great, another couple of hours before she could check again. It's kind of strange to think that we were a little nervous to get the results for RecycleMania this year. This certainly wasn't our first rodeo, uOttawa has been the Canadian champion for the past six years running. But this year, well this year we were hoping to set a personal best, We really wanted to set a new high point for ourselves. So ignore the title of this post for a moment and put yourself in our shoes. What could we do to engage the community? Well we ran a couple of fun events that I think were worth mentioning. Ugly Sweater Day Yes I know this isn't...

Well kids, we have finally done it. We are officially a Fair Trade Campus ! Some of you may be thinking that we already were a fair trade campus, you noticed the signs that appeared early this school year in the SFUO businesses and Chartwell food outlets, your coffee had a lingering aftertaste of something that could only be described as “dark roasted, earthy tones of justice for farmers”, or maybe you have just seen a girl wandering around taking photos of fair trade signage and awkwardly explaining to the café employees that she was given permission to photograph them (if you ever want to cause a ruckus, show up at a food outlet with a camera and a clipboard) but one way or another- we are now recognized as a fair trade campus by FairTrade Canada . This involved a lot of work over the past few years and I would like to give a well-deserved shout out to the Engineers Without Borders who have supported the movement the entire time, to Chartwells for being absolutely accommodatin...

Tip of the hat to the uOttawa Gazette who recently published an article about some of the great services student should try out on campus . Of course one of the services featured was our very own Muggy Mondays, a volunteer initiative that serves free coffee to students who bring their own mug. Well we were so inspired by this article that we decided to pay tribute to it by listing our own 4 services students should try on campus.... sustainability style. 1. Muggy Mondays Of course this service was already covered in the Gazette article but I also wanted to mention the Fair Trade angle. Muggy Mondays strives to ensure that everything they offer that can be Fair Trade, is in fact Fair Trade. That means the coffee, the tea, the hot chocolate, and even the sugar. By the way, Muggy  Mondays prides themselves on their excellent coffee and only gets the best stuff, which is why they procure their coffee from Cafe Alt. Website 2. Free Store I mean the name basically speaks for ...

Have you ever heard of a 100 visioning session? The concept is quite popular in planning circles and is very easy to do. Imagine a city, a town, or in this case a campus.... now tell me what you think you would like it to look like in 100 years from now. At first the idea seems a like strange. I don't know what anything will look like in 100 years and I am willing to bet you probably don't either. But in a beautiful way, that is the point. In 100 years anything is possible right? My personal dream is to remodel the uOttawa campus into a forest campus, kind of like what it is like when you visit a national park. Gigantic old growth trees reaching up into the sky; small nooks for students to study and for staff to have their lunch; the sound of birds songs echoing between the branches. Maybe some of the trees could be tapped for sap in the winter and we could make our own special brand of uOttawa maple syrup. Who knows, maybe we could even have study spaces in the form of...

Marie-Pier, from the Office of Campus Sustainability, holds up a donation for the soup kitchen. At one point or another, you've probably asked the question, "What do they do with all the unsold food on campus?" Maybe you were in a bakery, at the grocery store, or in a restaurant — the point is that you probably noticed a lot of food going to waste. If you’d asked me a year ago, the answer would be simple and sad: the landfill. That said, I’m happy to report that we've changed that for the better. It turns out that there’s this thing called the Good Faith Food Act (Food Donation Act in Ontario), which protects you from liability if you donate food to a charity in "good faith" — meaning that, if you take proper precautions to make sure the food is still good to eat, you won’t get sued in the event something happens or someone gets sick. This way, more food can be donated while still ensuring some kind of quality control. Our campus food provide...

Eight months ago the Office of Campus Sustainability and the SFUO Bike Coop were approached by a student named Isabel. She had seen these cool things on the internet called Fixtations . I have to admit they are pretty nifty little inventions. Essentially a Fixtation is an outdoor bike stand with tools attached. The first thing that popped into my mind was AWESOME! Do you know exactly how many times I have had a little problem with my bike and all I needed was a place to look it over, maybe adjust a spoke, or even inflate a tire? Well me neither but I can tell you it is lots. It took all of about 2 minutes to convince Seamus and I that these Fixtations should be on the campus. We struck a deal, if the Bike Coop purchased the Fixations, the University would install them and put signs on them. I kind of get the impression that Isabel was a little taken aback by how quickly we agreed to the whole project. She asked if we needed some kind of report or justification. Seamus and I ...

This year marks the 4th year of being a bottled water free campus for the University of Ottawa . I can't say that there was a lot of opposition to the idea but now that a few years have passed, it seems like the campus has embraced being bottled water free. I won't make it seem like there is unanimous adoption. Every once and a while I will walk by an event that is handing out a bottle or two and think to myself that I should send a letter or something. But, in my mind, the biggest win from the bottled water free campaign is the improvement of the water fountains on campus. As a condition to becoming bottled water free, Physical Resources Service has invested $75,000 every year into improving the fountains on campus and adding new fountains. Don't take my word for it, every year our office produces a report to monitor the state of the water fountains on campus. The fountains are checked for 7 dimensions of quality; taste, temperature, water pressure, accessibili...

Gardens have so many benefits that we often forget about some of them. For me one of the biggest benefits of gardening, and a reason why I am so hooked, is the amazing feeling it gives me: Stress relieving.  I have one garden in pots at home, I have a plot in the community garden, and I help take care of the Sustainability Centre’s teaching plot. I am actually looking into planting at my friend’s house and my mom’s yard, plus I spend time helping some other friends with their gardens. Anyways, I just cannot get enough of gardening.  And I am not the only one talking about the stress relieving benefits. “A recent study in the Netherlands suggests that gardening can fight stress even better than other relaxing leisure activities. After completing a stressful task, two groups of people were instructed to either read indoors or garden for 30 minutes. Afterward, the group that gardened reported being in a better mood than the reading group, and they also had lower lev...

Creating a greener campus takes a lot of work, and for the University of Ottawa, that has meant a lot of green campaigns. With elections coming back, it’s time to take a look back at previous green campaigns—and who's been helping push them through. The bike co-op came into effect after passing through a referendum in February 2010, creating a space on campus for bike enthusiasts to hang out, swap stories, and help each other with repairs, and also encourages and helps new cyclists. The U-Pass, a not-uncontroversial issue, has passed through two referendums to offer cheaper bus fare on OC Transpo to students, getting a few more cars off the roads and helping make travel more affordable for students living in the city. The Green Fund, another referendum measure, added a $2 fee to each student’s tuition in order to create a financing source for green projects on campus. The money helped set up the Sustainability Centre, and supports green initiatives in campus clubs and o...

Photo credit: http://etap.com/gis-map/gis-map.htm Recently our department had a progress meeting to get an idea of how our summer projects are coming along. It was great to share with my coworkers all the things I have been doing, since sometimes we’re very discrete and have no clue what the person next to us has been assigned. I was happy to report that most of my projects were nearing to an end, waiting for translation or for various responses from different people on campus. However, I realized that a massive chunk (I doubt you could even call it a “chunk” because it is so huge) of what I have done this summer was not even asked of me back in May. Yes, I am talking about mapping. If you don’t recall from way back in January when I started working here, I am in Geography and Environmental Studies here at the University of Ottawa. This Geography stuff includes the use of Geographic Information Systems software such as ArcMap 10. In plain English, I map things digitally because answer...

Photo credit: Jonathan Rausseo Have you ever been involved in planning an event? Make that a large event and on campus. The amount of effort that goes into it is amazing, especially if the planners are trying to be “green”. Early this year, I attended the Sustainable Business Conference and although I was not around for the planning of the event, I was able to see the results of what I imagine to be many sleepless nights- all sacrificed in the name of being “green”. From the choice of food served at events to the selection of speakers, every decision made while planning an event has some sort of environmental consequence. It may be the decision to order from local caterers that are committed to local and organic produce or to hold teleconferences rather than have speakers travel far distances. Planning an event is stressful enough without contemplating the environmental consequences of every little decision, so I’m working on a “Green Guide” that will hopefully make this easier for pla...

Photo credit: Jonathan Rausseo I recently got into a conversation about the quality of food on campus with a colleague. I know that I was defending a losing battle but I do want to mention a couple of highlights... or milestones. The campus has become a bottled water free place. I know this seems like a water issue but it is related to food. Increasing the number of fountains on campus does in fact increase access to water. No word yet though as to whether people are buying more unhealthy things (like soft drinks) instead. We are experimenting with mobile food. This year marked the arrival of the Soup Truck on campus. Yummy local, organic treats located halfway between classes. Easily one of my favourite things. More interesting food options. I don't just mean the addition of Quiznos and Bento Sushi, but even in the Café Écolo there was a nice change of pace with local artisan bread for the sandwiches. The continuation of the community gardens on campus. This year we have found a m...

Photo Credit: Danika Brisson's camera Last night the SFUO’s Sustainability Center got things started with a bang. The center, which is only a couple of months old, held their first open house with the community. There was cake, and juice, and oh yes.... reusable dishes. Opted for a whiteboard instead of a paper flip chart, the Center assembled a group of environmentally minded individuals in the Café Alt to discuss how the community would like to see the Center play a role on campus. In fact, all were invited to attend. There were a myriad of ideas: everything from more options for vegetarians, to more assessments of how green are the SFUO businesses, to creating a blog to increase information flow for opportunities (hhhmmmm I think that at this point I feel it is my duty to at least offer this blog as a potential candidate for more helping centralize green activities). I walked away from the meeting feeling pretty good. For years there have been a handful of environmental initiati...