The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) might be a popular concept you are hearing these days. At face value, they are a series of high-level goals that are meant to bring about a more sustainable world. This sounds pretty good but very few people have actually drilled down into what these goals mean and how they can be applied in your everyday life. Don't fret, that's exactly why the Telfer School of Management is taking the lead on hosting SDG Week from March 3rd to the 7th. Over a dozen events are planned to help you learn more about the SDGs. Test out an electric car, catch a movie, grab some free clothes, and nibble on some delicious foods! You don't have to show up for every event but there is a little something for everyone.  Here is a list of the fantastic events planned. ***** Monday ,  March 3rd       SDG Week Information Session  9am to 1pm | DMS Lobby      A ll students, faculty, and Staff are invited to participate in SDG week's first activity - ...

Green roof on the Tabaret Building Our office has been working at improving sustainability on campus since 2006 and I am happy to say that we have had a lot of success. But one of the areas that we are still hoping to improve after all these years in our green space.  What is considered by many sustainability-minded institutions to be the crown jewel of their campus (lush green spaces) is a bit of a sticking point here at uOttawa. You see, a lot of older institutions were created through land grants or large land donations. This gave institutions the ability to finance the expansion of their programs by leasing and selling land. Not unliked these institutions, the University of Ottawa was founded based on a land donation by the Besserer family. But unlike some other land grants, it was a small parcel of land which means that since then the institutions has had to slowly try to buy up surrounding land. Sometimes this works... sometimes it doesn't. After years of purchasing land and ...

This semester, as part of the Green Reps, I learned a lot about waste, recycling, and compost. As part of the program, I participated in a composting campaign and audit in the Dining Hall. This is my second blog post, where I share my experience volunteering in uOttawa's Dining Hall.  In February, a team of Green Reps students volunteered for two days in the Dining Hall to help audit the compost created by consumers and to encourage behaviour change.  Why is a compost campaign and audit necessary? Most students know that the dining hall is zero waste, meaning that the only waste stream available is compost. This has positively affected the quantity of waste produced in the dining hall, but it hasn’t eliminated the problem of food waste. There seems to be a common misconception that composting is a good solution. Don't get me wrong, it is the best solution of all waste and recycling streams (and you should absolutely compost all of your food scraps), but that doesn't mean th...