In 2011 there were a lot of positive things going for the campus in terms of campus sustainability. Some setbacks for sure, but I would like to think more positives than negatives. Here is the whirlwind tour of what the office accomplished in 2011. CULTURE The year started on a high note with the Vision 2020 process, which included an entire pillar dedicated to becoming a more environmentally sustainable campus . Unfortunately by the end of the year the Destination 2020 plan (which was the implementation phase of the visioning exercise) had dropped campus sustainability as a priority. Another setback came with the Fair Trade Campus Certification. Brought forth by students with the uOttawa chapter of Engineers Without Borders, the certification is a program created by FairTrade Canada  to get campuses to offer more fair trade selection. The program started out very strong in the Spring but slowed down in the fall as issues related to the variety of coffees available as fai...

PHOTO CREDIT: Dave Weatherall So many of you may have heard yesterday that we banned bottled water on campus. Well this an official shout-out to the students that made it possible (especially Jenna Dunsby, Sarah Jayne King, and Michelle Lamarche). But did you hear about the other official announcement about the EcoChampions? You didn’t??? Well allow me to explain. Yesterday the office of Campus Sustainability set in motion the EcoNetwork, a group of individuals (aka EcoChampions) that will spread the good word about sustainable development in their departments and units. For the Most part this is an employee program but we are tuning it up to get students involved too. So what’s the big idea and how does it work. Simple, every month we bring together all the EcoChampions on campus and have a discussion / workshop / brainstorm about how to make our campus greener. The EcoChampions are given tools – like composting bins, or computer programs – that allow them to make changes in their res...