In the spirit of Barney Stinson and in an attempt to really walk the sustainable walk, this past week I accepted a challenge from a fellow environmentalist to truly trashless. What challenge you ask? Sure to be the latest mannequin or ice bucket challenge to have all the youths blowing up their social feeds, the waste bucket challenge raises awareness to the amounts of waste we produce every single day. So this is how the challenge works. Any trash you produce is kept in a bucket or receptacle or whatever of choice allowing you to see how much of what you consume regularly is non-compostable or non-recyclable. So to reiterate, if it cannot be composted or recycled, it goes and stays in the bucket. I used a 32 oz. glass container rather than any sort of garbage cans as I moved about my normal life for a week. I also equipped myself with my trusty travel mug, Nalgene, mason jars, canvas bags, a fork/spoon and reusable containers. So now five days later, with a glass container...

Get ready to flip your lid for sustainable giving! Although I rarely encourage folks to get paper cups when they are getting their caffeine fix, but this year's annual Roll Up The Rim season is a little different. Cuppa Change , a charitable start-up imagined by a group of lovely uOttawa students, is rolling out their Roll Up For Change initiative! It's a simple way to give back to the local community. Picture this: It's Roll Up The Rim season. You get a cup of coffee from one of three campus Tim Horton's before class. En route, you roll up the rim and for once this time it's not "please play again!" You won a free cup of coffee! Way to go! Then you pass one of uOttawa's many amazing recycling stations. You rip off the winning rim and you obviously put the remaining paper cup in the proper receptacle, because hello it's 2017. But wait! Above the recycling stations there is a new addition... a little red box where you can donate your ...

It has been a weird past couple weeks. Like many other students who enjoy living in the relatively progressive bubble here at uOttawa, I feel numb and nauseous in regards to many of actions and statements of President Trump. Since November 8th, I have been processing my feelings, watching a lot of  Seth Meyers' A Closer Look and trying to stay away from the toxic political wasteland that tends to be social media. And I truly hate having to get political online. I commend people who do it, but I do not find the internet to be a safe space and continually sharing a Huffington Post articles is not going to help anyone. However, being brave and standing up for one's beliefs is the only way to incite change. Climate change, the environmental crisis and indigenous issues are not dismissible as "fake news". Yet it is easy to start feeling all of the feelings in incredulous times such as these: anger, sadness, apathy, denial, hopelessness and fear. A steady downpo...

The very beginning of a university semester can either be ridiculously laid-back or incredibly jarring; either way you're going to want a drink. In addition, my father recently took a "beer appreciation" course, and so over the Christmas holidays I got my ear chewed off about the difference between lagers and stouts, brewing history and proper glassware. This all got me thinking about the impact of the beer industry and if brewing and beer consumption could be done in a sustainable manner. So I did some research (and some sampling) and here is what I would love to share with you about how to make greener choices about beer, or sustainabrews, if you will. As with most things, buying locally-made/sourced products can be better for the environment and also for the local community. Primarily, there is less energy used in transporting the products when they are domestic. Furthermore, you support small businesses in the community. So when choosing between something loc...

New year, new earth? Unfortunately that's not really quite how it works. In the immortal words of Eminem, "you only get one shot". We’ve reached a point where we can no longer remain complacent in regards to the environmental crisis, especially when considering the current political atmosphere. Simply thinking about climate change, waste pollution, food sustainability and conservation is not enough. We need tangible actions, both big and small. So here are five tangibles actions to reduce your environmental impact in the new year and new academic semester. Perhaps you can even pull Marshall Mathers and lose yourself... in sustainability! That might be a weak joke, but the earth certainly isn't getting any cooler and the new year is a great time to make small changes so you can keep living your best life for you, but also for the planet. Here’s how: Make your travel mug your new best friend Travel mugs are should be as essential as coffee is to university s...

I was at home today making some dinner, as I do, listening to the CBC, as I do, and thinking a little bit about meat. I don't really eat it you see. Not because I am an animal rights activist, not because of any religious inclination, not because it is expensive..., maybe for environmental reasons (resource consumption and what not). I actually don't give it too much thought as to why I don't eat meat, I just don't do it. Some of my friends have tried to pin me down on a reason and some people have asked me why I don't advocate vegetarianism more... I guess I am just not that kind of vegetarian. So there I am, making my dinner, listening to my CBC, and wouldn't you know it, it just so happens that there is show on the radio about meat: The Matter of Meat . I am not listening too keenly until the subject turns to famous vegans - turns out Frankenstein's Monster was a vegan. I started listening a bit more closely. The radio show continues with some in...

Sometimes when people ask me what I do for a living I tell them my job is to Save the Planet. Yeah, it's a bit cheeky as far as a response goes, but whatever... and besides, shouldn't everybody's job be to save the planet. I mean after all, don't we all kind of need the planet to survive? I suppose my job is to find different ways to do things that ultimately help save the planet. Consequently, part of my everyday job is to try to walk the talk of sustainability. You would be surprised how little things mean a lot to many people. How the smallest thing can cascade into something huge, or how the simplest message can help inspire others to dream big. Earlier this month, my boss asked me to switch offices. The downside is I had to move, but the upshot was that I would have my very own office. My boss challenged me to try to make my new space as "paperless" as possible. He wanted me to try to model what a greener work space might look like. This was of c...

Wow, it really really feels like you don't like disposable coffee cups! In the past couple of weeks I have been getting an avalanche of questions about the infamous Nescafé booth which was on campus during the month of September. I guess the whole story goes something like this. Nescafé is invited by Community Life on campus for an event last year... Things go so well they are invited back for Welcome Week this year. Nescafé hands out heaping cups of coffee to anyone who stops by their booth. Things are going well again until... an infographic comes out announcing how many cups of coffee were handed out over the month. There is a flood of comments on a Facebook post about the coffee being handed out. The post is taken down and Coffegedgon begins... I say the whole thing goes "something like this" because our office was not involved with the event. We just got a couple of sneers and complaints sent our way but we didn't pay much attention to everything h...

Very recently, my director has been talking to me about stretch goals. If you haven't heard of a stretch goal, it is essentially a goal that cannot be reached by incremental change. He tells me this story: "The emperor of Japan wanted the trains to go faster to move people around quicker. At the time, the trains were able to average about 60 mph and were limited to that speed because of the numerous mountains in the region... when a train goes around a corner at high speeds it tends to flip over. So the emperor asks for the trains to go quicker and his engineers and people in the Ministry of Transportation work on the problem and come up with a solution. Essentially they figured they could slant the tracks and help prevent the trains from flying off the track at higher speeds. They go back and tell the emperor that they can now get the trains to average 75 mph, which isn't too bad. But the emperor isn't exactly pleased. He says to his people that they don'...

I happen to believe that language is essential in creating the images we use to understand our environment, our context, our reality really. Think for instance of how marketing carefully selects words that elicit distinct images in our mind. If I were to tell you that I was going to get a hair cut, you might not give too much thought about where I was going to do that. If I say I am getting a hair cut at a barbershop, immediately your mind will flood with very selective images related to the word "barber". Maybe an old man standing beside a worn leather chair. In his hand he might be holding a straight razor or a lathering brush. The outside of the shop is adorned with one of those telltale swirling blue and red tubes, reminiscent of a candy cane. But what if I said I was going to get my hair cut at a salon? I'll bet the images conjured up in your mind are markedly different from the barber shop. Maybe it is cleaner, with more lights and more mirrors. The stylist ...

As much as it pains me to say it, summer is finally coming to an end with the start of school right around the corner.  For many people including myself, this means moving time. For those of you not familiar with moving time, it can be defined as: That last minute scramble trying to figure what you have, what you don’t and how you’re going to fit it into a tiny SUV to transport it to your new home.  It’s a stressful and exciting time all at once but we at the Free Store have a few suggestions to make your experience a little less daunting. Understand your living arrangements. I know it may sound obvious but think carefully about where you’re living and with whom. If you’re living in a traditional residence such as Thompson, Stanton or Marchand you probably won’t need any kitchen supplies as you’ll be spending a lot of your time in the dining hall especially during the first few weeks. Even if you’re an avid baker and want to show off your culinary prowess you probabl...

On ne peut pas se le cacher l’université  recommence et tous les travaux avec approches!  Pour plusieurs, tout comme moi, ceci implique qu’il est temps de déménager.  Pour ceux qui ne sont pas encore des adeptes du déménagement préparez-vous à gérer le stress de trier, de mettre en boîtes, et de tout entasser vos trucs dans une fourgonnette en direction de votre nouveau chez soi. Ce stress est à la fois excitant, mais à La Gratuiterie nous tenons à vous donner quelques conseils pour prendre le temps d’avoir un déménagement vert et responsable. Connaissez votre nouvel appartement. Ceci peut vous sembler ridicule, mais être conscient du nouvel espace dans lequel on emménage est nécessaire pour éviter d’amener des choses non utiles. Pour tous ceux qui déménagent dans les résidences conventionnelles, comme Marchand, Stanton et Thompson, il ne vous sera surement pas nécessaire d’amener des choses pour cuisiner. Avec la nouvelle cafétéria. Si jamais vous êtes mal pris...