When faced with the idea of turning all the power off in your home or in rez, people kind of run away. The idea seems somehow terrifying and boring all at the same time. So we came up with (but mostly Googled) some ways to participate in Earth Hour without sitting in the dark and doing nothing for a hour *Please keep in mind that candles are not allowed in the residences at uOttawa and can be substituted by a flashlight or a electric candle. 1. Have in indoor picnic. Put a blanket on the floor, have a friend or two over, light some candles* and dig into some good finger foods. Chilling with friends and lots of food? Nothing better! 2. Host a movie night. This one is not going full 0 power but still pretty close. My floor and the floor below us in residence are having one for earth hour so that the only power used will be the tv, but all our rooms are powered down. 3. Sketch in the dark, then compare with friends when the lights come back on. Lots of fun and you might even...

When you think campus sustainability you might think that the solution is more trees or solar panels. What about a campus sound map, or a campus recyclopedia, or maybe a residence neighbourgoods program? Students in the first year Global Environmental Challenges course (ENV 1101B) recently handed in their poster projects for the semester. Their assignment... make the campus more sustainable in their own little way. This semester the course was taught by Dr. Sonia Wesche  who decided to work with the Office of Campus Sustainability through the Community Service Learning program in order to give students a chance to have the opportunity to do some hands on work to improve campus sustainability (yet another Living Laboratory project). And I can tell you that the students did not disappoint. Every project was amazing but I only have enough time to highlight a couple. Campus Noise Map Concept: Create a noise map of the campus that shows the highest levels of noise. ...