I think we all know that the clock is ticking. Tick, tick, tick... eleven more years before bad climate stuff happens. So.... vending machines to the rescue? The pressure to start  taking concrete action on climate change is ratcheting up. There is even a new form of disquiet that seems to be surfacing known as climate anxiety . From the point of you of an academic institution, there is rising pressure to find solutions to solve the problem. Concrete actions, like reducing the amount of natural gas burned through building retrofits or switching to electric vehicles, are great but expensive. Indirect actions, such as divesting from fossil fuels or purchasing local, seem to be growing in popularity as people realize that you have to "think beyond the campus". Indeed, even if all the cars in Canada became electric vehicles by 2030, we still wouldn't reach our climate change goals ... We have to start thinking broad, across all our activities because there is no m...

In her cozy office tucked away on the third floor of the University Centre, Maryann Moffitt is working on a project that could help significantly reduce waste on campus and nourish people in the community. Maryann is a dietitian at Food Services , the group on campus responsible for the managing uOttawa's food service contract. But since she arrived on campus just a few short years ago, she has also worn the hat of sustainability practitioner, a role that that  Chartwells added to the University's food service contract. But don't think for one moment that she has taken this adopted role lightly. Since the beginning, it has been a baptism by fire. Maryann has successfully worked on the uOttawa Fair Trade Campus designation, helped Food Services earn a certification from the Green Restaurant Association , and now she has helped create a process to help donate unpurchased food to local community organizations. Donating food is not as easy as one might think. The foo...

You might have seen promos around the cafeteria lately advertising the love food not waste event. You might also be wondering what even is this event? Let us explain Who Student Volunteers and Food Services What A week of promoting the reduction of waste in the cafeteria Where The 24/7 cafeteria When Mar 6-10 between 11:30-1 Why To reduce the waste produced through the cafeteria How During the week between the designated hours, student volunteers will be standing at the compost stations in the cafeteria. Their job is to reward those with empty plates and to ask the people with stuff on their plates why that is. The purpose of this is identify why so much food goes to waste (that number being 314 kg of food waste everyday). During the event there will be a table showing us what that much food looks like. The volunteers want to know if something was cooked wrong, too spicy or even just if you took too much food. Their goal is to identify the reasons food goes to wa...

I was at home today making some dinner, as I do, listening to the CBC, as I do, and thinking a little bit about meat. I don't really eat it you see. Not because I am an animal rights activist, not because of any religious inclination, not because it is expensive..., maybe for environmental reasons (resource consumption and what not). I actually don't give it too much thought as to why I don't eat meat, I just don't do it. Some of my friends have tried to pin me down on a reason and some people have asked me why I don't advocate vegetarianism more... I guess I am just not that kind of vegetarian. So there I am, making my dinner, listening to my CBC, and wouldn't you know it, it just so happens that there is show on the radio about meat: The Matter of Meat . I am not listening too keenly until the subject turns to famous vegans - turns out Frankenstein's Monster was a vegan. I started listening a bit more closely. The radio show continues with some in...

It is official; there are no more disposable fountain drink cups being sold at uOttawa! These have been one of the many items that posed such a challenge since they are not recyclable; they are composed of several different materials and (unlike coffee cups) there is no cost-effective way of separating/reusing them. Not only were they not recyclable, but people often thought they were, which led to them contaminating the metal/plastic/glass category in the recycling stations at food service locations. When there is simply too much of the wrong item in the bin (50%+), we sadly end up throwing it out; either the company leaves it in our garage or the employee just doesn’t have time to go through the bags of recycling and sort the items inside the recycling stations. But as of September 2015, we no longer have to worry about these cups! (Thank you Food Services!) When you aren’t on campus, and do end up coming across a location that still uses these (most fast food locations)...

A while back, I want to say maybe 5 or 6 years ago but I am a little fuzzy on the details, my colleague Brigitte and I resolved to create a very lofty goal for ourselves. We resolved to become a zero waste campus! What I am not fuzzy about was the reaction. Essentially laughter and disbelief. The Conversation Well here we are some time later and I am sitting in a meeting with the Director of Food Services and we are talking about the new Dining Hall. Patrick, he's the director I was talking about, is all excited about what he's got in store for the space. He's talking pasta bar, like fresh pasta bar, like there's a machine in the background making the pasta from the raw ingredients; he's talking a game room, like a bunch of new PlayStations or X-boxes set up for people to relax and enjoy themselves; he's talking a space where you make your own food... no joke, pots and pans and a pantry overflowing with food for you to do as you please. Now Patrick is g...

I was listening to the radio the other day and some talk show host mentioned this "new fad for fresh and local food". I kind of didn't even notice it at first, but then I started thinking about it. New fad? Fresh food is a new fad, like people would gladly purchase old and artificial food instead? And local food? I would imagine for the majority of human history, the bulk of anyone's diet was local food. Well, I guess if this new fad is making its way around the globe than I might as well tell you how you can jump on the band wagon too. Most of this information is specific to the University of Ottawa but this kind of stuff can be done any where. 1. Join the Good Food Box or a CSA The Good Food Box is a basically a wholesale buying club for fresh food. Similar to a CSA (community supported agriculture), you need only purchase a box and one or more local farmers fills up your box with delicious goodies. The box is delivered to the campus (or even right to your ...

The day is quickly arriving and it will be a race to the finish. The University of Ottawa is only weeks away from becoming a Fair Trade Certified Campus . That's right, thanks to the hard work of the students at the uOttawa Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB), and the commitment made by Food Services and Charwells, the University of Ottawa will meet the criteria for becoming a Fair Trade Campus hopefully before the holiday season. I really wanted to take a moment to acknowledge this monumental task. First, almost all the heavy lifting was done by one student, Ryan Ward-Davies. He took on the project as a member of the EWB and has worked tirelessly to get the campus certified. Second, I want to acknowledge the work done by Food Services and Chartwells. Getting the campus to become Fair Trade Certified is not as easy as flicking a switch. There were a lot of tough decisions to be taken and sacrifices to be made. So here is the breakdown of what a campus needs to...