Photo Credit: Jonathan Rausseo I just got this letter from our partners at LOOP TECHNOLOGIES. They were the group that helped u s with our new Sports Field; specifically, making sure that there is a hefty does of sustainability involved. I thought that I would share it with you. The depths to which they are willing to go to make sure that we made the best choice for the environment are ... well they are simply fantastic. "We want to share some interesting sustainability information with you regarding the Matt Anthony Field Replacement project. L.M.L chose to ship the new turf rolls from Atlanta, Georgia to Montreal, Quebec via rail, rather than truck. Using standard emissions factors produced by the US EPA, we can estimate the CO2 emissions of various methods of freight transportation. We used the following assumptions to determine the approximate CO2 produced for both rail and truck transportation: Assumptions: Freight Distance (truck or rail): 1,200 miles (1,920 kms) Weight of...

And I blame humans. We started this war and Mother Nature is finishing it; playing dirty to get even with us. I like to believe I am a healthy individual. I eat properly, exercise daily and generally speaking take care of myself. It does not matter how many vegetables I eat or how many kilometers I run a day because dearest Mother Nature has launched a vendetta against me and my fellow humans. She’s hitting below the belt, attacking where it hurts most and frankly, I’m sick of it. Literally. Today, I realized that many of the things that are physically wrong with me have some sort of link to my environment. Sure, maybe I was simply reflecting fondly on my environmental epidemiological paper I wrote last semester for Health Geography, but still. From Kawasaki Syndrome to my sucky kidneys that I have been struggling with since having E coli last summer- I can attribute most anything to my environment (thanks presumably to heavy cleaning chemicals and barn animal feces in my drinking wate...

Photo credit: Jonathan Rausseo I recently got into a conversation about the quality of food on campus with a colleague. I know that I was defending a losing battle but I do want to mention a couple of highlights... or milestones. The campus has become a bottled water free place. I know this seems like a water issue but it is related to food. Increasing the number of fountains on campus does in fact increase access to water. No word yet though as to whether people are buying more unhealthy things (like soft drinks) instead. We are experimenting with mobile food. This year marked the arrival of the Soup Truck on campus. Yummy local, organic treats located halfway between classes. Easily one of my favourite things. More interesting food options. I don't just mean the addition of Quiznos and Bento Sushi, but even in the Café Écolo there was a nice change of pace with local artisan bread for the sandwiches. The continuation of the community gardens on campus. This year we have found a m...

Photo Credit: Jonathan Rausseo Normative behaviour is a very strange beast. It is perhaps even the ‘holy grail’ of environmental psychology. It is thought that with the right strategy, normative behavior could save the planet. Dramatic pause….. Okay, maybe this statement means nothing to you right now but give me a moment and maybe I can give this statement some impact. First we need to lay out some ground rules; some guiding principles that will help us move through this conversation quicker. You will have to take these on faith but feel free to explore them in detail later. Everyone just wants to belong. Maybe not to the mainstream, but to something that’s for sure. There are very few actual loners. Most people may actually associate some form of subculture. Think about it; geeks hang out with geeks, jocks hang out with jocks, goth hang out with goth, and gleeks hang out with gleeks. All this is not to say that there isn’t inter-click mixing, In the absence of direct peers, people wi...

Photo credit: Jonathan Rausseo This isn't a long post and it is certainly a message that you have heard before.... but.... please remember to bring your water bottle with you when you are headed outdoors, especially for things like festivals. Tonight I am headed out to Bluesfest and I will be packing my trusty water canteen with me. Now if you have been to any festivals in Ottawa lately you will certainly be familiar with the WATER STATIONS that are popping up like weeds (I guess they are well watered- hahahaha... oh... I am lame). I really like these stations because they are really reminding people to bring your bottle or suffer the consequences. I know this is a tough habit to pick up; after all, people like to travel light at these events. But water canteens are really more like a necessity now. Better to bring the bottle than be stuck with paying $4 for bottled water. Trust me, you will be happier buying a CD or a t-shirt from your favourite band. -jon http://thesustainabilitr...

Photo Credit: ARGear.com That’s right, I am talking to you anonymous blog viewer. I am assuming that you go to the University of Ottawa because it makes what I am about to write more relevant. Fortunately for Jon (my boss, Sustainability Manager for the campus), I am a Geography/ Environmental Studies student. This means I was forced to take a Geographic Information Systems course which basically involved digitally mapping lots of geospatial data in a program that caused me much frustration and sleepless nights. Cut to Jon asking as he walked by my desk, “Hey, you worked with GIS, right?” I absentmindedly answered “yes” and the next week I went on holidays. I returned to a good twenty emails were sitting patiently in my inbox that basically involved Jon lending me out to do various mapping projects, including some on campus. We have decided to do a Sustainable Transportation map of campus. In the past, we have done green maps on a google-like application. But now, we are getting legit....

Photo credit: unknown 5 … Show up at our event. From 10h30 to noon, on the Tabaret lawn, we need YOU to help us and WE CANada make Human Art. Check out the Facebook page for more information. 4 … The National Capital Commission a.k.a. NCC is following in the footsteps of the FolkFest, WestFest, and the likes as it is finally providing us with water stations on C-Day! Bring your own reusable bottle to the events on the Hill. Fill-up on-site and refuse to promote water privatization by buying bottled water. 3 … Get to the festivities by bike or public transit. Parking downtown will be nearly impossible anyways with the Royals coming and tourism quadrupling. Use this opportunity to discover our incredible network of cycling paths and the beautiful views they offer. Note: buses will be free from 10 PM onwards. 2 ... Re-use last year’s gear instead of buying new Canada stuff. Everyone will proudly be sporting the maple leaf paired with the national red and white colour combo. Dig out that ...

Photo credit: Jonathan Rausseo Today, as I spent the last half of my lunch hour taking a walk around campus with my coworkers, we discovered an injured pigeon. Although it wasn’t quite clear what the problem was, it was clear that the pigeon couldn’t walk or fly and at the point where we found him, he barely seemed to be able to stand. Based on his size and un-shiny plumage, I guessed that he was probably a young pigeon and he seemed otherwise healthy. We stood around for a bit debating what to do. Wild birds and animals are somewhat intimidating to deal with, we aren’t always sure how they will react to us or what we can do to help them. After a few minutes of observing, it was clear to me that we needed to do something to help him. I decided to call my trusty friend Jon Rausseo to see if he could come have a look and help us decide what to do. As we waited for Jon to arrive, many passer-bys stopped to have a look at our friend and to offer advice. One young man suggested that the bes...

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...

Photo credit: Jonathan Rausseo Hello fellow food consumers, Hungry yet? Can you name one thing we hear about constantly on the radio, on television, from fellow coworkers? Food! And coffee…but mainly food. Even in the comfort of my office, there is a small sign saying “Warning: starving sustainable students working”. Within this building, there are omnivores, vegetarians, vegans and now a raw foodist. That would be me. The raw food diet was recommended to me by a naturopath as a detox to help with my food intolerances (and hopefully help my system digest gluten one day). But what is the raw food diet, you ask? Well, a whole lot of raw fruit, vegetables, nuts and dehydrated crackers. It’s very healthy, providing your body with more energy, helping you lose weight, detox after too much summer partying, boost your great immune system and give you some sustainable brownie points. So off to Chapters with me to get a great book: Going Raw by Judita Wignall which shows pictures of yummy re...

Photo credit: unknown Today is the second day of summer and as you head out with your family and friends to go camping this season it’s important to remember that when you roast your marshmallows over that campfire to start it with local wood. Your parents may be the stingy type, saving dimes and dollars by clipping newspapers for coupons, and they might think bringing wood they’ve chopped themselves is a great money saving tip. Personally, I can think of a few neighbours back home that would not think twice about the environmental consequences of such actions. The outcome is catastrophic to say the least; this is not an overexcited exaggeration. If you are from Ottawa, you may have noticed the ash trees in your neighbourhood die over the past few years. If you reside somewhere other than Ottawa, Dutch elm disease or Asian Longhorn Beetle may ring a bell. Needless to say, some time ago people thought it would be a good idea to move wood from an infested area to Sandy Hill and sinc...

So last night I went to go see Forks Over Knives with a friend. The movie examines the claim that “most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.” It is fairly provocative as a film and I would actually say that the movie is not pro vegan, pro animal rights, or even pro environment; these elements are only lightly touched upon. Most of the focus is on the health side of switching to a non animal product diet. One of the reasons why this movie was made was to raise the discourse around the issues of cardiac disease and obesity. And even though I would give this movie multiple thumbs up, I can’t help[ but wonder how realistic the premise is. Not the part about meat being unhealthy for you, but the idea that people’s habits could actually change. For instance, would it be possible to get half of the University of Ottawa campus to reduce their meat consumption by one ha...

Photo credit: Jonathan Rausseo Sorry I didn’t mean to steal away the Fulcrum’s thunder and publish the word Frosh before them but… whatever. The question at hand is can we actually have a green frosh given that frosh is essentially a week to produce as much garbage as is humanly possible? Now hold up. I am not trying to be super critical or anything, I am just kind of stating the facts. Think back to your own frosh. Do you remember the frosh kit stuffed with things that you never touched again (for example, that plastic mug that was great for getting free beer at pub crawls but that eventually became so gross you never used it again - except maybe to fill it full of broken pens)? What about the swarm of sponsors that pay tonnes of money to hang around the campus during frosh week and offer you free stuff for signing up to credit cards, and magazines, and cell phones, and other things I can’t think of right now? That’s basically how it is, right? And let’s not forget the long bus ride...

Photo credit: Jonathan Rausseo Le projet de «gratuiterie» (dérivé du français canadien) est né dans la tête de Julie Villecourt, étudiante en psychologie, partie à Ottawa l'an dernier : «En quittant le Canada, je me suis rendue compte que plein d'affaires ne rentraient pas dans ma valise, explique-t-elle. Or, l'université d'Ottawa avait mis en place ce dispositif permettant de récupérer les objets d'étudiants qui partent pour les donner gratuitement à ceux qui arrivent.» De retour à Grenoble, Julie décide donc, avec d'autres bénévoles de l'association InteGre, de lancer une «gratuiterie» sur le campus. Depuis le 16 mai, des collectes sont ainsi organisées plusieurs fois par semaine dans des résidences universitaires. «On prend tous les objets, tant qu'ils ne sont pas trop encombrants : four micro-ondes, produits d'entretien, vaisselle, lampes, balais, miroirs, vêtements…» De nouvelles permanences auront lieu en septembre pour redistribuer ces affaire...

Photo credit: uOttawa gazette So you say that you can’t hand your assignment in on-line because your prof won’t let you. Unfortunately that statement is bull$@!t and I think I have some proof to back this statement up. Have you seen the uOttawa lately? In a recent issue there was a nice little article about some Geography and Environmental Studies profs that decided to go paperless with their assignments. To make sure that their TAs (teacher’s assistants) were properly equipped for the task, the professors purchased some ipads and voila… a paperless semester was born. ( Article ) And of course there were the infamous Experiential Learning Sustainability surveys. I blogged about this earlier this year ( Love and Surveys ) but the results are slowly trickling in and it turns out that 45% of professors do allow students to submit their work electronically. Sure this is a little less than half but I bet it is way more than you expected. Another interesting tidbit came out of these surveys...