Photo credit: dreamstime.com 1. Avant d'acheter de nouveaux livres, allez-voir les petites annonces pour des livres usagés. Rappelez-vous également d'annoncer vos propres livres usagés des semestres précédents. Ils pourraient être utiles à d'autres étudiants. 2. Même si les ventes chez IKEA sont alléchantes, avant d'acheter vos nouveau meubles, allez voir ce que vous pouvez trouver sur Kijiji , usedottawa , freecycleottawa, à la Gratuiterie de l'uOttawa, aux magasins de l' Armée du salut , chez Value Village, chez vos parents et même en bordure des maisons avant la collecte des ordures! 3. Assistez à la première classe de chacun de vos cours AVANT d'acheter vos fournitures scolaires. De cette façon vous saurez quels sont vos réels BESOINS. 4. Attendez un peu avant d'acheter une nouvelle garde-robe. Il y aura des ventes avant la fin du mois de toute façon et ils se cachent toutes sortes de merveilles dans les magasins de seconde main ...

Photo credit: http://www.armengames.webs.com 5. Treasure hunting on garbage day. Go for a late night walk through fancy neighborhoods and see what you can find! Chase au trésor le soir des poubelles. Promenez-vous dans les quartiers chis de la ville et voyez ce que vous pouvez y trouver! 4. Kayak or canoe the Rideau Canal from the docks at Dow’s Lake where you can rent them. Check out the duck pond while you are on the water. It’s quite a sight. Allez en kayak ou en canot sur le canal Rideau à partir des quais du lac Dow. Si vous avez la chance, passez par le petit étang des canards. 3. Go on a Bike ride on the Trans-canadian along the Ottawa River or try its sister trail in Gatineau. Why not stop for a picnic by the rapids on Bate Island while you’re at it? Faites une promenade en vélo sur la transcanadienne d’un côté ou de l’autre de la rivière des Outaouais. Tant que vous y êtes, pourquoi ne pas faire un pique-nique sur l’île Bate près des rapides? 2. Board a random bus and go on a...

Photo credit: Jonathan Rausseo There is an old hipster adage, "if you want to sell something, put a bird on it". The idea being that hipsters love birds and so if you put a bird on it, they will buy it in droves. I kind of think that this is what OC Transpo had in mind with their new "hipster purple" bus tickets. Seriously though, last year it could be argued that the U-pass saved transit for the City of Ottawa. Ridership was down after the strike and a fresh injection of the "youthful" variety has really helped out. Carleton University turned out to be the big winner with a huge increase in ridership. Anyways, when the U-pass was brought back to council this year for renewal, there was a resounding yes from the transit committee and the program was re-implemented at the same price of $145 per semester (this is not at anyone's expense, this is simply because the program is revenue neutral so the addition of thousands of more students to both institutio...

Photo credit: Jonathan Rausseo I will never forget when I was a student and the Government of Canada announced the ONE TONNE CHALLENGE, a program that encouraged Canadians to reduce their carbon footprint by one tonne in order to help the country meet its Kyoto obligations. And then I will never forget when I got the first pamphlet for students to take up the challenge. “Buy an energy efficient furnace – buy a hybrid vehicle – conduct an energy audit of your home”. Yeah not really the kind of thing that a poor student is going to be able to do. So, after all these years, here is a list of the top ten things you can do on campus to live a green lifestyle and reduce your environmental footprint. Do it in the dark Get your mind out of the gutter! But seriously, turn off the lights when you are not in a room. You would be surprised how many people still have the bad habit of over-lighting (using more light that you need) or ghost-lighting (lighting areas where no one is around). You can a...

I am a Katimavik volunteer that has been placed in Ottawa to live with eleven other people in a house for 6 months. It is my second day of work and I am loving it. I got placed at the University of Ottawa in the sustainability unit with one other person from my household. Ottawa is definitely something to see, I am from a small town in Saskatchewan and not a whole lot goes on there. Today we went through the campus and placed paper towel recycling signs in the washrooms hoping that the students will take the time to look and agree that this is a good idea. If this catches on we can reuse the paper towel which adds up and would contribute to saving our planet. There is still so much to do, as I am slowly learning. Every Monday morning we have staff meetings where everyone touches on what they did during the week before. I am realizing there is so much that goes on in this work place and its neat finding out so much about what these fantastic people are doing. They are all over the place...

Photo Credit: CBC Radio Jon and Bridget sat my partner Shredder and I down at the meeting table, and my mind was blown. We came in halfway through the meeting with no sort of context or lead in, so for the first bit I had no idea what was going on, but then they started talking about uPass. Now I'm not very familiar with the going ons of Ottawa yet (I've only been here a few times previous to living here) but it doesn't take a genius to see that Ottawa has a pretty damn intense bus system. Coming from a lifestyle where I owned a car and I lived in Calgary - a place where most non-drivers get around via subway - I was kinda daunted when I realised the only transit left available to me was the bus (or walking). And frankly, I gotta say that it doesn't make much sense that a city of 812 000 people (which is probably almost double that in tourists), isn't outfitted with a train system, as it'd be faster, more efficient, and the city's infrastructure is basical...

uPass! Whoo! Wait, what? Well, let me tell you. If you’re currently not aware, the uPass pilot project will be implemented on uOttawa’s lovely campus this coming September (i.e. next month). It’s an 8 month bus pass being offered at a greatly reduced price to full-time students of the University. The cost is included in your tuition, and you can pick it up starting the 23rd of August, at 9 am, in the couch lounge of UCU. Alright, now you know all the bureaucratic details; what about the practicality? The fact is, with two major bus stops on campus, it’s incredibly easy to get anywhere in the city using public transport. This is useful for running errands, accessing more of the city, and most importantly, getting to and from home. Many students have a lengthy commute to and from campus, so they have no choice but to have a bus pass to begin with; however, now it comes with their tuition! For the others that think this is a bad idea because they live near or on campus, consider this: you...

So something pretty cool is going to happen on Tuesday. It could have a substantial transformative impact on the campus community but we won’t really know until next week. But just the fact that it is going to happen is kind of inspirational in its own right. Okay, I am sure that you are quite aware that I am teasing you right now but come on; we all love a little suspense right? Well anyways on Wednesday, City Council will be listening to delegates talking about the U-Pass. This is part of a big push to get the City to adopt a U-Pass for students at $145 per semester. This alone isn’t really that amazing but I haven’t mentioned that the delegates of the various presentations include students from Carleton University and the University of Ottawa; as well as executives from both student federations. This continues a long tradition of intervention in the City of Ottawa by the respective universities. Believe it or not, the University of Ottawa has a vested interest in making sure that Ot...

Last year the stage was set for a U-pass in Ottawa. The orchestra was primed to play a wonderful sonata: the SFUO and the University of Ottawa were ready to put forward the money and administration to get things rolling. The actors had rehearsed their lines: City council and OC Transpo had a plan laid out before them. And at the pivotal moment as the show was about to start, the audience collectively held their breath. But the curtains never opened, the spotlights never lit up, and everyone was just told to go home... no show tonight ladies and gentlemen. Well one year later and everyone is back for another show. Once again there is an opportunity to provide students at the University of Ottawa with a fare-reduced bus pass. But there are a couple of differences in this year’s campaign that are worth mentioning, and are turning heads over at City Hall. The first major change is the cost. The Student Federation is pushing for a new $145 price tag for the pass. The kicker is that the ...