It's hard to imagine the uOttawa campus without some of its most iconic buildings. It goes without saying that a building like Tabaret plays an instrumental role in the identity of the campus. Not only was it one of the first buildings on campus, but it also serves as the inspiration for the modern logo for the University (although there is missing pillar but we don't talk about that). The Tabaret building was even used as the setting for the movie Decoys in 2014. Another pretty iconic building is SITE . Built in 2002 as uOttawa's response to the massive tech craze of the early 2000's, there aren't many buildings with as many unique architectural characteristics as SITE. Big windows, stainless steel vents, concrete fins, exposed pillars and mechanical duct-work... it is one of a kind (except that Lakehead University built a very similar building a few years later). But I want to talk about another type of iconic building on campus. You see, an iconic building might ...

In honour of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we are sharing the University of Ottawa's top 50 sustainability accomplishments over the past decade. Of course some of these activities have been slowed down because of Covid 19, but we wanted to show everyone our dedication to sustainability and highlight the amazing work of the community. You can see all the pictures realted to these accomplishments on Instagram . The University of Ottawa placed 20th overall for RecycleMania 2020 . The University has been the RecycleMania champions of Canada 9 out of the last 10 years. The University of Ottawa has a Community Supported Agriculture program. Every week during the growing season, a local, organic, fruit and vegetable basket is delivered to participants on campus. The University of Ottawa collects unpurchased food at the end of the day and donates it to 4 local charities. The University of Ottawa became Canada’s 7th Fair Trade campus . Today, the majority of all coffee ...

An often forgotten dimension of sustainability is that of health. A recent survey on sustainability at uOttawa revealed that when students think about sustainability, they usually think about how it relates to the environment and forget about the the social elements, which include health. Certainly the health aspects of sustainability have been popping up in the news a lot lately, even if we don't immediately link it to the environment. Poor air quality and environmental contaminants related to floods, fires, and climate change come to mind fairly quickly, but there is a silent killer in the room and it is stress related to the environment. The recent phenomenon of climate anxiety is washing over youth like a tidal wave. A 2017 report by the American Psychological Association  suggests that worrying about climate change is having a serious impact on our mental health. And as you can imagine, the more we hear about bad things happening in our environment, the more people worr...

It might be strange to think about this but often the most influential and impactful technology on campus tends to be older technology, especially when it comes to environmental sustainability. I was recently asked to speak at a course about Technology, Society, and the Environment. The idea behind inviting me was to speak to the group about how campus sustainability has been helped along by technology. I thought that I might share this list with you too so you could learn a bit about the new, the old, the unconventional, and the interesting technologies that helped shaped our campus over the past few years. The Living Wall One of the most popular pieces of technology is the University of Ottawa's living wall. In fact, the wall is not just a pretty assortment of 1500 plants, it is a biofilter which is being used to help filter the air inside the FSS Building. The wall helps cleanse 80-85% of the volatile compounds in the air  and it was also instrumental in helping soli...

Sometimes it is all too easy to look at the deluge of environmental bad news and feel helpless in the face of the impending doom. Rising sea levels, species in decline, toxic air floating over toxic lakes. Current events fuel distopian nightmares of a future that has droughts on top of floods, ice storms on top of heat waves, and an environment turned topsy-turvy. But we have to remember that the future is not written in stone. For every environmental woe there is an environmental win. As you read these words, there are cities banning plastic bags, countries signing into law aggressive emissions standards, and globally, the rate of growth for renewable energy is outpacing fossil energy. This summer our office decided that we could do something more to improve the campus footprint and so we launched an agricultural demonstration project. This is not new idea. McGill and Ryerson are two institutions that already grow food on campus and reap the benefits. A little known fact; gro...

It’s happened… I have fallen down the waste reduction rabbit hole. I am not necessarily proud of this but digging through my household trash has become a nightly routine, a mission to properly sort any and all misplaced recycling and compost! I’ve seen and smelled it all, yet I continue to do it because, in my heart of hearts I know that although I am just one person, my waste has a large environmental impact. The average Canadian produces 2.7 kg of waste every day! To me, that represents a whole lot of stuff that doesn’t necessarily have to end up in a landfill. This year, as part of Recylemania, a group of brave crusaders will set out on a clandestine operation to properly sort waste on campus! A year ago, had you told me that burrowing through bags of trash would be an eye opening experience; I would not have believed you. Having performed waste audits I can tell you that digging through garbage is FASCINATING! Not only have I learned how to properly dispose of my items (an...

Ever lose one of your favorite shoes and feel like it’s a shame to throw out the other one? Well you don’t have to! That lonely shoe can be recycled and made into fences, cutting boards, watering cans, and even benches. This is all done through a company called TerraCycle. They take many products that you would normally throw out and make them into something new. What I have been doing with the Office of Campus Sustainability for the past three days is cutting up people’s old shoes that have been donated to the Free Store . The shoes that don’t have a partner or are all worn out are cut so they can better fit in the box to send to TerraCycle , where they will turn them into new park benches. Cutting them up effectively doubles the amount of shoes that can fit in a box to be shipped. TerraCycle even makes it easy for you to send products to them by having pre-paid shipping labels that that be printed of their website. When they receive the product you have shipped them in the ...

Evidence surrounding the link between climate change and anthropogenic greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions has been mounting and is widely accepted within the scientific community. While the environmental impacts of climate change are starting to be felt within Canada and across the world (i.e. environmental problems such as ocean temperature and level rise, desertification and more severe weather events, to name a few) curbing our ghg emissions has been met with much resistance. Since the People’s Climate March in New York, there has been a lot of talk of divestment, but what exactly is fossil fuel divestment and what does that mean for an institution such as a university? Think of divestment as the opposite of investment, or the removal of funds (such as the money invested in fossil fuel and mining companies) from one’s financial portfolio.    One of the founding arguments in favour of divestment is the concept of carbon bubble. It has been widely accepted within the scien...

Up until a few months ago, waste was not frequently on my mind. Every second week I would make my sacrifice to the Garbage Truck gods and that was the end of that. However dealing with waste on a campus scale opened my eyes to the impacts of our collective action. At first, I felt rather distressed, I knew a problem existed but I felt as though the problem was bigger than me and I did not know how to solve it. In honour of Waste Reduction Week, I looked to my colleagues for inspiration on concrete actions which can help me reduce personal waste. Reduce packaging Nothing angers me more than having to tear through 5 different layers of packaging to get to my food. WHY WON’T YOU LET ME EAT YOU?! It appears as though everything nowadays is packaged, even packaging is packaged! Buying in bulk is one of the ways I have found to reduce waste and those dreaded plastic bags. Some bulk retailers like Market Organics will even let you bring your own Tupperware. As an added bonus buying i...

If you’re anything like me, coffee is not just one of life’s little pleasures, it’s also a lifestyle. That sweet smell in the morning makes my mind go into a frenzy and when it’s time for that first sip I can’t help but feel as though everything is right in the world. But then when reason seeps its way back into my brain I am reminded that even something as perfect as my morning cup of coffee can sometimes come at a cost. Now I am a student so admittedly, I am always looking for a way to cut costs and until recently, not knowing what Fair Trade meant fed right into my disinterest in paying more for what appeared to be the same product. I loosely understood Fair Trade = Good, social benefits, better working conditions, all things I had heard but somehow my consumption behaviour was still not affected. While on a recent trip I was fortunate enough to tour a coffee plantation. This experience put me face to face with the costs associated with coffee which previously slipped my min...