Summer is an amazing time of the year, complete the sunshine we crave on those cold winter days, ice cream cones, beach days, and music festivals. Every summer I find myself having to carefully budget my finances to allow myself enough disposable income to see my favourite bands play at various different music festivals across this part of the country. Every genre you can imagine finds itself on display in front of heat stroked fans, who in some cases have been camping out in tents in the rain for days taking in the sights and sounds and atmosphere of the music festival scene. Now a days there seems to be a festival every weekend, and at a growing cost to festival goers. Festivals fight to bring in the hottest bands from around the world, they set up stands to sell over priced food, and drinks, whilst preventing you from bringing in your own. They encourage you to drive, bus, train, and fly from wherever you are, to attend the best, biggest, and hippest festival of the summer....

Let's talk about last summer. Last summer we inaugurated the community garden in its new space at 649 King Edward (that's right, we won the lottery with that space). It replaced the old location which has become the building footprint for the CAPEA building. Thirty five glorious plots to serve the campus community, not bad. But we already knew that we wouldn't have enough space to meet the demand of the campus and the Sandy Hill community. So while discussing the issue with the Director of Physical Resources Service , he mentioned how McGill University was toying around with the idea of having planters that could be moved around when needed. Mobile gardens... brilliant! So the group got together and we talked about want this could look like. We had a few ideas but unfortunately there were so many things to do to get our current community garden off the ground, that we quickly forgot about the mobile gardens idea. That is until an opportunity to look at them again ...

From the humble beginnings of researchers working out of dilapidated trailers, using plywood and tarps to keep the rain off, to the emergence of a modest but highly sophisticated research facility; the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) has transformed our knowledge of freshwater ecosystems, and produced an impressive body of research; the depth and completeness of which cannot be found elsewhere in the world. Since its creation in 1968 the ELA has faced funding cuts 3 times, previous to the government's most recent cut in the now infamous omnibus bill C-38. The ELAs research has contributed substantially to our understanding of managing algal blooms, acid rain, climate change, mercury pollution, greenhouse gas fluxes from hydroelectric reservoirs, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Dr. Schindler , a renowned scientist in his field was on campus recently, speaking to the importance of preserving this essential research body. Disruptions to funding and research, he argued, compr...

Last summer I wrote about my project concerning the Emerald Ash Borers in Sandy Hill- mostly how Jon pimped me out to a prof and his student to look into the situation (because of my mapping expertise). I spent some time hitting the pavement, plotting out where the ash trees were, and locating spaces to plant new trees to replace the canopy cover that would be eliminated by this pesky invasive species. After identifying the areas, we went door to door and spoke to residents about planting a tree on their property with the help of a City grant. It went pretty well, I had some neat conversations with residents, I was able to breathe some fresh air, and I had a change of scenery from the office. It was great to be done with that project, knowing that the Action Sandy Hill community group had my finalized map in their hands. Effectively they could go about informing more residents and even inoculating trees that were significant to the community and had shown no signs of infection. Ino...

Ten years ago when I was a student at the University of Ottawa, I had this magical dream of something called a Free Store. I had heard from my friends that Carleton University had one and I instantly had to have one on my campus. I had never seen one for myself but I imagined that this incredible space would house row upon row of all manner of useful items. The walls would be adorned with beautifully framed pictures, the floors we be flooded with thick velvety carpets, and I would be able to spend hours just sifting through the sea of one of a kind knick-knacks. Did I ever feel like a tool when I saw that the Free Store was nothing more than 5 boxes in the corner of a small student office. Apparently when there were enough people, they would put the boxes on the desk to make them easier to rummage through. Pfft, I was crushed. So a year later OPIRG hosted a Clothing Swap at the University of Ottawa. It was fun, there were at least 8 garbage bags worth of clothes and one rack to han...

There are many examples of unsustainable things going on in the world and here are a few I’ve read about or seen going on in Canada. Unsustainable, the amount of pressure we put on the soil for commercial clear cutting of forests; soil can no longer retain water thus the landscape is destroyed. Unsustainable, one of the world’s dirtiest industries, “the oil sands production generates three times the greenhouse gas emission as a barrel of conventional oil”*. Up to 4 barrels of water are used to produce 1 barrel of tar sand oil “resulting in gigantic tailings [pools] of toxic waste that can be seen from outer space by the naked eye”**. This water is drained from the Athabasca (which in Cree means where there are plants one after another - will we have to change the name soon?) River in Alberta. Unsustainable, our Canadian mining industry is among the biggest in the world and also involved in 33% of mining conflicts (whether “taking over land abroad and polluting water sources, destro...

L’été est la saison pour le ménage intense, les boutiques dans le marcher By et la sangria dans le jardin. Si l’on désire marier ménage et boutiques, je vous recommande d’aller faire un tour au Wunderkammer sur la rue Dalhousie. C’est une boutique éclectique, inétressante et toujour surprenante. The store’s efforts to re-use vintage jewellery and leather goes to show how being green can actually be very cool. If you have some old jewellery, accessories or even wallpaper hanging around your house or apartment, the artists would love to have it. And you could get up to 30% off your purchase. How can anyone resist that? And the staff/artists are absolutely fabulous. Upon calling the store, I had a great conversation with Nathan who was nice enough to take the time to explain the whole concept of the Spring Cleaning Event happening on June 14th, from 6 - 9 pm. The whole idea of the swapping sale began with the artists going to the United States to dig up vintage components in or...

In lieu of the recent Zombie outbreak in Miami Florida, we here at the Office of Campus Sustainability , are taking all measures to ensure our safe and sustainable future. We have decided to share with you tips to creating your own sustainable Zombie Apocalypse Survival Kit (some items available at the Free Store ). Basic Tools and Supplies Water: Keeping in mind issues with water depletion and privatization, we suggest purchasing a water filtration device. This not only provides you with greater access to water sources, but the freedom from heavy and burdensome packs of water. One gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation is recommended. Luckily filters can be used numerous times before being replaced. Think about how much faster you’ll be escaping those Zombies now! Food: Local is the way for your gourmet meals on the go! So in preparation for the upcoming Zombie apocalypse head to your local farmers market and find your fav...

In lieu of Jon’s recent blog on turning  wooden pallets into furniture , I decided to write my own blog on sustainable student living. Mostly because I have found myself since I started university to be very anti-Ikea. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am sure the Swedes have a lot of unique, mass produced, and cheap furniture to adorn your apartment with (you may sense some sarcasm and contradictions, I apologize Ikea lovers) but maybe I am just too crafty or cheap to commit to buying things. Thus, I have upcycled many a thing since I’ve moved to Ottawa. My tips : Find friends that are moving, or strangers, around the end of the month and pester them for shit they don’t feel like carrying to a new place, or scour the streets on the night before garbage day .This is how I have acquired the majority of my stuff; whether coming across it randomly when walking home or through friends that had no interest in packing it away and transporting it. Once you have found some stuff, customi...

Lors des quatre dernières années, nous avons fait don de plus de 70% du matériel amassé lors du déposez et dégagez; nous choisissons des organismes de bienfaisance locales qui distribuent les articles directement aux personnes en besoin (versus un organisme qui revendrais les articles). Nous avons une liste de plus de 15 organismes qui recueillent des articles particuliers pour leurs opérations; p ex. un abri aurait besoin de couvertes et oreillers, et un centre de placement aurait besoin des vêtements et articles de cuisine.  Faire la tournée de dons est une expérience révélatrice; nous avons la chance de voir à quel point nous pouvons aider des personnes en besoin (et à quel point nous sommes chanceux d’avoir tout ce qu’on a). Voici le profil d’un des organismes ‘l’abri pour jeunes femmes Evelyn Horne’ : « Ce programme offre aux jeunes femmes âgées de 12 à 20 ans l’accès immédiat à un logement sécuritaire. Ouvert 365 jours par année, l’Abri pour jeunes femmes Evelyn Horn...

I come from a bilingual family. Growing up, I’d speak French with my mom and English with my dad, went to school in French and was part of a youth orchestra in Ottawa (mostly anglophones). Hence, I did read Harry Potter in English and speak it fluently, but I had what some people called “a cute French accent” till I was about 14 and decided to get rid of it.  But this bilingualism thing made for some very interesting conversations now that I think of it. When I was hanging out with my friends at school, we’d be gossiping about who had a crush on who and so on. So when I hung out with my anglophone orchestra buddies, we’d do the same. But sometimes it just came out wrong : “So do you think he has a kick on her? He was totally cruising her!”. See, in French “un kick” is slang for a crush and “cruiser” is slang for flirting. Now that I think about it, it must have sounded very violent and weird. But I didn’t know better and was sure what I was saying was clear. I mean, they wer...

I recently moved into a new condo, a very easy decision for me to make as an environmentalist. Condos use less resources per capita than houses do and my condo is seeking a LEED Silver certification. There was only one sticking point... I wanted access to a backyard, which is tough for a condo. But I was lucky and bought a place with a big enough balcony that there are planters. So there I am, got my condo, got my sort of backyard, all I needed was some patio furniture. Here is where things get complicated, basically because of my brother. His advice was simple "What are you stupid? Don't buy your furniture now... wait until the end of the season and get a high quality patio set for a quarter of the price." And since I am broke now, this kind of made sense to me. But what do I do for the rest of the summer, sit on milk crates? Luckily Brigitte came to my rescue and shared a couple of sites with me about pallet furniture. This site is a pretty good representation o...

As I drive along a road to my grand-father’s house on the week-end, I can’t help but notice the monster smokestacks that spoil Sudbury’s landscape. They can be spotted from miles away; towering over the (unusually) short vegetation and blackened granite. You can actually see a line where the exposed rocks have been blackened, and the recently broken or weathered rocks are pink and light grey (their natural color). Then it happened; a terribly geeky science moment! I remembered reading about acid rain problems in Sudbury being the cause for the lack of lush forest and bountiful wildlife; all because of the mega-smokestacks: Acid rain is produced when pollutants such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) are chemically transformed to sulphuric acid in the atmosphere; they are then transported and eventually deposited in the form of rain or snow. Over 90% of acid rain in North America is the result of burning fossil fuels for energy (such as coal), and more importantly smelting or refining sulphur...

The Burger family (Chris and Cindy) of Whitney Point, NY, produce less than a bag of garbage together in a year (about 12 ounces of garbage per person per year). To put things in perspective, on the uOttawa campus, employees and students (grad + undergrad + international + employees = 45289*) create 2 385 402 pound of waste a year, which means on average the uOttawa population produces 52.7 pounds of waste every year and most students are only on campus eight months of the year. That said, the University of Ottawa operates over 18 waste diversion programs. For example, there is traditional paper recycling (about 28% of all recycling), metal and commercial glass products, and more recent ones like the all plastics recycling, YES ALL OF THEM . In recent years, uOttawa also entered the Recyclemania  challenge, initiated the Dump & Run program, as well as the furniture recycling program, which  has avoided costs of close to $500,000**. This is part of why the University ...