En tant que filles, nous sommes socialisées de telle sorte que ce que nous portons a de l'importance ; est-ce approprié ? Trop coloré, trop ceci ou trop cela. Nous sommes également socialisées avec l'attente sous-jacente que nos tenues doivent varier quand nous commençons notre vie professionnelle. Évidemment, cette attente a un coût : financier et environnemental. J'ai donc décidé de tenter une petite expérience et d'aller à l'encontre de cette injonction. Même si vendredi, j'étais ravie de jeter toute ma tenue au lavage et d'enfiler avec bonheur un nouvel ensemble propre, cette semaine a eu son lot de leçons que j'aimerais vous partager.  Ma tenue de la semaine se composait d'un jean, d'un débardeur noir et d'une chemise à carreaux. La seule exception à la règle de porter la même chose était, bien sûr, les sous-vêtements et les chaussettes (Ai-je besoin de passer par là ? Non ? Bien, continuez à lire.) Ma première découverte (surprenante)...

 As girls, we are socialized in a way that what we wear matters; is it appropriate? Too bright, too this or too that. We are also socialized with an underlying expectation of variety in outfits to be expected when entering the workforce. Obviously, this expectation comes with a cost: financial and environmental. So, I decided to try a little experiment and go against this injunction. Even if on Friday I was delighted to throw the whole outfit into the wash and happily slip on a new clean set, this week had its fair share of lessons I would like to pass on. My outfit for the week consisted of a pair of jeans, a black tank top, a plaid shirt. The only exception to the rule of wearing the same thing was, of course, underwear and socks (do I need to go through this? No? Good, keep reading.) My first (surprising) find concerned the “hygiene” aspect to wearing the same set of clothes repeatedly. It did not smell bad! I don’t sweat much so maybe someone with a sweatier nature would ha...

  C'est une vieille histoire... vous arrivez sur le campus pour la première fois et vous ne savez pas quoi apporter avec vous. N'inquiétez pas, nous avons une liste pratique des choses que vous ne devriez pas apporter avec vous lorsque vous venez sur le campus. Cela vous permettra d'économiser de l'espace dans vos valises et vos sacs, rendant ainsi votre vie sur le campus un peu plus facile. Bien que cette liste ne soit pas exhaustive, nous avons répertorié certaines des choses les plus importantes. Et bien sûr, si vous n'êtes pas sûr d'un élément particulier, n'hésitez pas à nous contacter pour plus d'informations. Imprimante Il peut être très tentant de penser que transporter cette grosse imprimante depuis la maison est une bonne idée... croyez-moi, ce n'est pas le cas. Il est très rare que vous ayez besoin d'imprimer l'un de vos travaux, la plupart sont soumis par voie électronique. Et si vous avez besoin d'imprimer quelque chose, il y...

It's a tale as old as time... you're coming to campus for the first time and you aren't sure what to bring with you. Well fear not, we have a handy dandy list of the things that you might not want to bring with you when you come to campus. This will save you a bunch of space in your suitcases and bags, making your life on campus a little bit easier. Although this is not as exhaustive list, we have some of the big things listed here. And of course if you aren't sure about a particular item, feel free to reach out to us for more info. Printer It can be very tempting to think that lugging that big printer  from home is a good idea... trust me it isn't. It's very rare that you will actually need to print any of your assignments, most are submitted electronically. And if you do need to print something, there are hundreds of printers on campus that you can use almost 24/7. Board games / video games I am not saying don't play board games and video games, what I am...

The University of Ottawa is trying to create a clean air community. This is not an easy task and is often overshadowed by the other big air-related sustainability issue... climate change. But poor air quality is a huge issue and it has a direct impact on your quality of life. So we are going to discuss a few of the things uOttawa has done to improve air quality on campus, but first - a small history interlude! Imagine this, you just finished a long week of work and magically you have the entire weekend off... no reports to finish or class work to get caught up on... just time for you to relax. You decide to spend your day outside because you already spend so much time in front of a screen. So you grab your bike or your hiking shoes, choose a location, grab your water bottle, and head out. There's only one problem, when you get outside the air is dense and grey... in fact it's so thick you find it hard to breathe. It is a little hard to remember now, but there was a time in Otta...

In their 2008 progress report, the China Council for International Cooperation on Environmental Development defined the circular economy as " a generic term for the reducing, reusing and recycling activities conducted in the process of production, circulation, and consumption " (CCICED, 2008). In the 1990s, the term "Circular Economy" was popularized in China, stemming from rapid economic growth and subsequent strain on the country's natural resources. The principle of a circular economy is to capitalize on the recycling/reuse of raw materials while balancing natural resource use with economic growth. Although definitions of circular economy are relatively modern, the fundamentals of the circular economy have been around since before the industrial revolution.   Examples of a circular economy in Ottawa are second-hand stores such as Value Village. The role of thrift stores in promoting reuse is essential. Buying clothing second-hand is an efficient way to pr...

I am an active cyclist. I love to ride my bike and I get really excited in the Spring when the weather warms up... because that means that I'll be back on my bike again soon. I am not a cycling expert, I don't bike in the winter anymore, and I don't go on 50km rides just for the fun of it; most of my cycling is utilitarian.  So for a person that is on their bike basically every day in the summer time, you can imagine that I worry from time to time about getting hit by a car. It has happened to me a few times in my life and so I don't blame people who don't want to ride their bikes in heavy traffic. And when I watch videos about bike infrastructure in cities, I definitely cringe when I see how unsafe it can be. (I suggest this video by Not Just Bikes if you are looking for a good watch) Now the reason I am focusing on bike safety is because I know that getting more people on bikes is better for the planet, but to get more people on bikes they have to feel safe cycli...

Réduire. Réutiliser. Recycler. Ce sont les trois «R» du recyclage. Nous les avons tous déjà entendus,  soit à l’école, dans notre communauté ou dans notre milieu de travail. Nous comprenons leur importance pour garder la planète en bonne santé. Par contre, il n’est pas toujours évident pour certains de rester cohérent avec les demandes de la planète. Les demandes de la société ont un gros impact sur nos actions, en tant que consommateurs. Malgré l’augmentation des prix depuis les 50 dernières années, nous voulons rester à jour avec les nouvelles technologies, ce qui encourage la surconsommation. Nous achetons de nouveaux produits, alors que la plupart de nos biens actuels sont en bon état et s’accumulent chez nous et dans les sites d’enfouissement. Vêtements, téléphones cellulaires, ordinateurs portables et décorations de maison sont remplacés par la nouvelle mode, un autre style ou une technologie améliorée. Sans y réfléchir trop longtemps, nous achetons un nouveau bidule électr...

S'il y a une chose que j'ai apprise en tant que coordonnatrice du recyclage à l'Université d'Ottawa, c'est qu'en matière de déchets, la courbe d'apprentissage est très très raide. Si pour moi, dont le travail implique de m’occuper des ordures quotidiennement, trier correctement mes déchets semble compliqué, qu'en est-il d'un ou une étudiante ? Alors que j’injuriais une énième poubelle mal triée, j'ai commencé à me poser des questions. Le système était-il trop compliqué ou les gens n'étaient-ils pas informés comme ils le devraient ? Est-ce qu’ils n’en avaient rien à faire ? La réponse est "ils s'en soucient", dans la mesure où le système n'implique pas de détenir trois maîtrises pour s'y conformer. Selon le dictionnaire Merriam-Webster, un système est "un ensemble de principes ou de procédures selon lesquels quelque chose est fait ; un cadre ou une méthode organisée". Le seul inconvénient de cette définition est...

If there is one thing I've learned as a recycling coordinator at uOttawa is that when it comes to waste, the learning curve is very very steep. If for me, whose work involves going through garbage daily, correctly triaging my waste seems complicated, what about a student? As I yelled a curse-word at yet another mis-triaged bin, I started to wonder. Was the system too complicated or the people not informed as they should be? Or, do they just not care? My answer is “they do” seem to care...as long as the process is not so complex as to requiring them holding three masters degrees to understand it or taking an hour of their time to sort one item. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a system is “a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized framework or method”. The only drawback with this definition is that there is no indication to the amount of complexity people can handle. But, to no surprise, the more options you have, the more likel...

My first week living in Canada was spent sorting through trash, and I am so glad I had the chance to do it! As a new graduate student at the University of Ottawa, I made the decision to leave my job in Boston and make the move up to Ottawa during Reading Week. While looking for ways to hit the ground running, I found the Alternative Study Break program, and decided to spend my week volunteering with the Office of Campus Sustainability. We were tasked with performing a waste audit on the Friel Residence, then collecting and analyzing the data. Talking about the issues with waste, collection, and contamination was an eye-opening experience and having the opportunity to see for myself the amount of waste that is produced by one building felt like an urgent wake-up call. We found a staggering amount of waste contamination, as recycling and garbage were often placed in the incorrect streams. Surprisingly, the majority of waste was incorrectly placed, and this carries significant implication...

Hey! What do you do with your cardboard toilet paper roll when you are done with them? Toss them out? Recycle them? Transform them into recycled artwork? Well if you wouldn't mind, we would like you to collect them and bring then to us. This year the Office of Campus Sustainability is looking to create some new programs that we hope will get people involved in changing the story about sustainability. The pandemic has been a very strange time for everyone trying to create engaging activities on campus. Reimagining events so that people comply with COVID regulations isn't as easy as one might think. Our office has struggled to figure out how to make our events "worth" the in-person experience. But this year we are going to work harder to find activities that let people get involved in making a more sustainable campus while learning about living a more sustainable lifestyle. So we are asking people on campus to collect their cardboard toilet paper tubes and bring them to...