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...

It is safe to say that we are learning a lot of new things in 2020. We are learning about virus infection rates, how the economy works, and how to cook for ourselves. But not all the news you hear is "doomy". Canada is looking to ban some single-use plastics, GHG emissions are way down, and did you know that 91% of Canadians live within 15 km of a battery recycling drop-off site? That's according to Call2Recycle Canada , a not-for-profit group who want to recycle as many batteries as possible. I bet it's probably within your reach too! But why can’t we just throw them away? They may look small and insignificant, but the truth is they are harmful to our environment. Since batteries are made from toxic heavy metals, they cause problems when they end up in the trash without being recycled. So you definitely want to treat them carefully once they are dead. Do you remember the Samsung Galaxy explosions? This proves the dangers of batteries, and landfill workers know all ab...