Photo credit: unknown It has officially begun, this week I am going WASTE-FREE with my co-worker Marie-Pier. Although not as hardcore as Brigitte Morin (Waste Diversion Coordinator) who is undertaking this feat for the entirety of RecycleMania, I am still making an attempt to lower the impact I have on the planet. The average Canadian produces 1 840 lbs of waste per year, an obnoxious amount that gets sent to landfills. If we simply decrease our waste we can decrease the effects on the planet- including that of not only the trash baking in the sun; releasing harmful pollutants and leaching into the soils but also decrease the emissions released by transport trucks. I understand that I will have much difficulty shopping tonight after work, as so many foods are packaged in unnecessary amounts of plastics that are not yet recyclable in the City of Ottawa. However, following Brigitte’s blogs on waste free tips will surely aid in my quest- see previous posts for details. Putting in place th...

So in the world of scary news we have some developments over in the Fauteux building. It turns out that not all buildings on campus are created equally. You would think that every building produces about the same amount of waste on a per capita basis (waste per person). Not so it would seem. Brigitte Morin, our waste diversion coordinator, just completed an evaluation of the waste coming out of the Fauteux building and compare it to the Lamoureux building. The results... Fauteux generates about 4 times more waste than Lamoureux. This brings up a tonne of questions. First, can these two buildings actually be compared. Well it turns out that the Fauteux building is only about 5% biger than Lamoureux; both buildings have a cafeteria; both buildings host tonnes of events; both buildings host professional programs. So on the surface it seems like the two buildings are pretty similar. The second question, do lawyers inherently create more waste than than teachers? This one is a little less s...

Photo credit: Merissa Mueller Recap: Merissa attends Sustainable Business Conference on Friday February 11th, in order to finally prevail over her siblings during a dinner table discussion regarding globalization. She learns plenty of interesting things about incorporating sustainability into the business workplace and how it is NOT detrimental but beneficial to businesses (example: identifying steps within a product’s life cycle analysis that waste can be limited by remanufacturing/recycling material, saving money and my planet). Furthermore, she eats delicious vegetarian and vegan foods because the conference was catered by Depanneur Sylvestre and finally understands the term “Business Casual”. Overall, Friday was an amazing success and congratulations to the Tefler School of Management for holding such an informative conference featuring some incredibly knowledgeable people. Application: Interestingly enough, the next day I stumbled upon some sustainability in practice, or rather,...

Photo Credit: radiuslife.blogspot.com Jour 16 sans déchets. Tout va super-bien, je suis de mieux en mieux organisée au début de la semaine pour ma planification de repas. Cette semaine je me suis fait du ‘Potatoe kale’ du livre à recettes de ‘The Green Door’ et des scones à la citrouille (toutes mes recettes seront disponibles sur notre site web). Depuis que j’ai commencé à faire mes courses ‘sans déchets’ j’ai découvert plusieurs nouveaux produits que j’utilise qui son disponibles dans des contenants recyclables; ex. saviez-vous que la sauce béchamel est disponible en vrac dans une cannette? (sans pellicule de plastique) À date, le seul vrai défi est la soie dentaire; nous avons trouvé un produit qui est biodégradable, mais il n’est pas encore disponible dans tous les magasins. ( http://www.radiustoothbrush.com/naturalflosses.aspx ) Ce qui m’inquiétait le plus lorsque je me suis engagée à vivre sans déchets pour deux mois c’était le fromage. Si je ne pouvais pas trou...

Photo credit: Jonathan Rausseo There are a bunch of little known facts that are true about our campus; one of them being that we use enough energy on campus every 5 days to send a Delorian back in time . And for all you poor fools who have never seen the Back to the Future Trilogy , let's just say that's enough power to run 10,529 homes all year long. Little known fact #2 - heat is cheap and electricity is expensive. This isn't that much of a secret if you have to pay your own hydro bills but the University spends 4 times more money on electricity than it does natural gas. The real problem is that electrical consumption keeps going up... I mean way up. In 2010 the University of Ottawa used 1,000,000 m3 less natural gas than it did in 1993 (all this while the campus has almost doubled in size). But electrical consumption during that same period has gone up over 20,000,000 kWh (about a 40% increase since 1993). Little known fact #3 - we installed solar panels on the Sports C...

Photo credit: kaboodle.com Selon une étude menée auprès du nombre considérable de 14 000 enfants en Angleterre publiée dans le Journal of Epidemology and Community Health, les enfants ayant consommé du sucre et des aliments transformés de façon régulière durant leur croissance auront un quotient intellectuel plus bas que la moyenne une fois devenu grands. Selon un des auteurs de l’étude, la diète des enfants aurait une incidence sur leur habilité à faire face aux défis que représentent l’éducation et la vie en général. Cette étude renforce l’importance de certains nutriments pour une croissance en santé et souligne l’impact important qu’on les choix et les modes de vies des parents sur leurs enfants. Cela nous concerne an tant qu’étudiants non pas pour pouvoir passer le blâme de nos piètres résultats scolaires sur le dos de nos parents mais bien pour nous encourager à adopter le plus rapidement possible des habitudes alimentaires optimales. Non seulement nous serons peut-être un jo...

Photo credit: Brigitte Morin It isn’t always obvious when we are making our weekly shopping list that the products we buy regularly are sold in containers which are fully recyclable. If you live in Gatineau, the plastics numbered 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 are recyclable in your big blue bin; however, if you live in Ottawa, the plastics numbered 1, 2, and 5 are recyclable in your blue bin. Always check the number under each plastic container in the recycling logo to make sure that you item will be recyclable at home. A great example is yogurt containers; not only is it difficult to choose between the 10,000 brands and flavours, but which one is fully recyclable? Opt for the larger containers with the metal seal rather than the plastic seal. Another challenge is crackers; who doesn’t eat crackers with dip or in their lunch? Well, unfortunately, most crackers are sold in a plastic bag within their cardboard box. My solution is two brands of crackers that I have found who sell their product in a f...

Photo credit: Brigitte Morin Il n’est pas toujours évident lorsqu’on fait notre liste d’épicerie que les produits que nous aimons sont vendus ou non dans des contenants qui sont complètement recyclable. Si vous habitez à Gatineau, les types de plastique 1, 2, 4, 5, et 7 sont recyclables dans votre bac bleu. Si vous habitez à Ottawa, les types de plastique no 1,2 et 5 sont recyclables dans votre bac bleu. Vérifiez toujours le type de plastique dans le symbole de recyclage sous chaque produit en plastique. Un exemple serait le yogourt; choisissez les grands contenants avec la pellicule de métal au lieu du contenant avec la pellicule de plastique. Un autre bon exemple est les craquelins; qui n’aime pas des craquelins avec une trempette ou dans son dîner? Bien, la plus part des craquelins sont vendus dans des sacs de plastique à l’intérieur de sa boîte. Ma solution? J’ai trouvé deux compagnies qui fabriquent des craquelins sans sac de plastique : ‘Aliments vivants’ (certains sont composta...

Photo credit: Brigitte Morin I wonder if the new tax of 5 ¢ per bag at the grocery store actually encouraged people to bring their own bags. Also, why isn’t there a tax for the plastic produce bags? I own three types of bags to bring shopping with me: I have my large reusable grocery bags which I am sure you have all received at the last conference or event you attended; I have a large produce bag to carry my apples, and other larger products; I also have small reusable produce bags for green beans, herbs, etc. I used to use the plastic ones from the grocery store, but I purchased some reusable produce bags which can double as cheesecloth and laundry bags. They cost 11$ (for three bags) the Herb and Spice on Bank St, but you can always make your own using left-over materials or an old t-shirt. -brigitte http://thesustainabilitree.blogspot.com/

Photo credit: Brigitte Morin Je me demande si depuis la nouvelle taxe de 5 ¢ par sac de plastique à l’épicerie a encourager les gens d’emporter leur propres sacs. Aussi, pourquoi les gens ne se font pas aussi charger pour les sacs en plastique pour les produits frais? J’emporte trois types de sacs réutilisables à l’épicerie avec moi : j’ai les grands sacs pour mettre tous mes produits à la caisse (je suis certaine que vous en avez tous quelques-uns qui trainent depuis la dernière conférence ou évènement); j’ai aussi deux types de sacs pour mes produits frais, un petit pour mes fèves et petits fruits, et un plus gros pour mes pommes, céleri, etc. J’utilisais les sacs en plastique pour les produits frais, mais je me suis procuré des sacs réutilisables qui peuvent aussi être utilisé pour laver mes légumes et comme sac de lavage. Ils m’ont coûté 11$ (pour trois sacs) à la boutique Herb and Spice sur la rue Bank, mais vous pouvez aussi en fabriquer à partir de vieux t- shirts ou morceaux de...

Photo credit: apt613.ca Hier, comme tous les autres matins, je regardais par la fenêtre du 95 Orléans avec un air absent. Il n’y a rien de plus cruel dans ma vie qu’un cours sur la théorie des organisations publiques à 8 h 30 du mat. Soudain, en passant près du Parc de la confédération, je me suis rappelé que c’était le Bal des neiges à Ottawa! J’adore les activités municipales/fédérales/communautaires. Je pense bien que la fête du Canada est ma journée préférée de l’année simplement à cause du vent d’animation qui s’empare brusquement de la ville. C’est plus fort que moi, je raffole des festivités générales! Mais quel est le rapport avec le développement durable, vous me direz? Eh bien, considérons pour un instant les éléments qui font l’objet du triangle du développement durable : L’environnement, la société et l’économie. Les activités qu’organise votre communauté, du Bal des neiges au Fringe festival en passant par le Festival des tulipes, La Semaine 101, le Festival des neiges...

Photo Credit: Jonathan Rausseo I am not a Tefler School of Management student. To be frank, I am not even close. My brother is taking business and he reminds me how different our programs are at every family dinner conversation. We mostly argue about globalization, my sister and brother form an alliance against me as I squirm to convince them of the detrimental environmental and social effects of its processes on developing countries. As an Environmental Studies and Geography student, I did not think we would ever be attending the same school function. And yet, the Tefler School of Management is holding its third annual Sustainable Business Conference on Friday February 11th, and I will be attending. This conference aims to promote sustainability in business and it is targeted at business students but the speaker’s topics of interest range from sustainability in the fashion industry to crowd sourcing, making it accessible and relevant to many. Emphasizing the “triple bottom line” (envi...

Photo Credit: Jonathan Rausseo La fin de semaine dernière, j’ai pris part à une formation pour un programme incroyable! DILA, (A Day of Learning for a Lifetime of Action ou, en français, une journée d’information pour une vie d’action) est en quelque sorte une journée de rêve pour tous ceux qui ont espoir de changer le monde. C’est le projet de Jason Collard, un ancien de l’Université d’Ottawa, qui dans le but de contrer le cynisme qui règne dans notre société vis-à-vis des changements de justice sociale et de développement durable, rassemble des jeunes des quatres coins de la ville pendant une seule journée et leur donne le droit d’immaginer un monde meilleur. Non seulement DILA motive et informe grâce à la collaboration de plusieurs ONGs qui seront sur place, mais aussi la conférence donne des outils aux jeunes pour mettre en marche un plan d’action concret dans leur communauté post-DILA. À la fin février, durant la semaine de relâche, je donnerai de mon temps au programme pour assis...

Photo credit: www.buzbury.com How do you feel about brushing your teeth with a twig? No, we’re not talking about your favourite panda bear but about the reinvention of the toothbrush. A design student was asked by her professor to redesign the next object she disposed of and for Leen Sadder, it was a tube of toothpaste. After contemplation and research, the most efficient design was not in fact a new product but borrowing the predominantly Middle Eastern and South Asian technique of using “miswak”. For those of you who are not so keenly into tree anatomy, miswak is a twig from an Arak tree and has been attributed to religious beliefs of Muslims. The use of twigs for dental hygiene is promoted by the World Health Organization and has been shown to kill gum disease, fight plaque and gingivitis and remove bad breath. All such benefits have been proved in studies to be more effective than your everyday plastic toothbrush. Interestingly enough, the use of one of these twigs has also been sh...

Photo Credit: Jonathan Rausseo I see garbage on the ground, I pick it up and put it in the trash. I drink an iced tea, I carry it until I see a recycling bin I see a light on and not in use, I turn in off I know we're both going to the same place, I carpool I don't agree with where my meat and produce comes from, I won't eat it I turn the lights off during Earth hour I know that something's in walking distance, I walk I see someone throw away a can when the recycling bin if five steps away, I get annoyed I have clothes that are too small for me, I donate them In my mind, I'm a pretty average guy, just tryin' to do my part. Apparently I'm a 'hardcore environmentalist'. For the longest time I didn't get it; the title really pissed me off. 'Not being a jerk when you don't have to be' is considered being 'hardcore'. But through the last month of Katimavik, living and co-operating with 10 other people and trying to make compromises...