Greening ENV archives

As many of you know by now, we are venturing into the next phase of greening the ENV buildings with a more formal group called the Dean’s green building steering committee. Instead of appointing the members, email messages were sent to ENV undergrads, grads and staff for representation on this committee, chaired by Dr. Geoff Lewis, faculty member in ENV. In addition, the green building fundraising campaign kickoff is scheduled for Thursday, November 27, 11:30-1:30 in the EV courtyard.

By creating the Dean’s steering committee, the current “greening ENV” committee will continue. The reps from the Dean’s steering committee will communicate back to us and where needed, we can help with researching, implementing the ideas and other responsibilities as they evolve.

Thank you to everyone for making such a positive contribution in our ENV faculty! We are  moving forward in the right direction and quickly now. We have gone from talking about ideas and overcoming resistance to a Dean’s committee, fundraising and list of items that will be accomplished!

Thanks again for your commitment and we’ll hear from the Dean’s greenbuilding steering committee chair, Geoff Lewis in the near future.

Set up recycling bins? Check. Change the light bulbs? Check.

Go carbon neutral? That one’s not so easy. But with 587 presidents having pledged their colleges and universities to reduce their greenhouse-gas impact to zero, lessons are beginning to emerge about what it will really take to get there – on campus and beyond. Read the full article.

The entire ENV faculty is invited to participate in our first greening ENV workshop to be held on Tuesday, October 7 from 9:00-4:30pm in EV1 221 and adjacent courtyard!

This is an exciting and critical stage to move forward in our quest for a green faculty! You will be part of the faculty’s history as we explore ideas, make important decisions and identify common solutions in greening our faculty and reducing our environmental footprint!

The workshop will run all day as two separate sessions (9-12pm and 1-4pm) with a summary and wrap up at 4pm. Coffee, snacks and lunch will be provided.

Please RSVP your attendance as space is limited and indicate the morning or afternoon session.

Contact Anne Grant, apgrant @ uwaterloo.ca, x36563 or drop by the helpdesk for more information and to sign up.

See you on October 7^th!

Welcome everyone to the fall term! The Greening ENV committee invites you to our meeting on Thursday, September 11 from 12:00-1:00pm in ES1-221. Please bring your own lunch and ideas for making the Faculty of Environment a better place to work!

For new members, we will bring you up to speed of the committee’s accomplishments and what we are planning for the fall.

This committee is open to all faculty, staff and students to attend and contribute!

Your co-chairs Jackie Dawson (jpdawson at envmail.uwaterloo.ca) and Anne Grant (apgrant at envmail.uwaterloo.ca)

York establishes sustainability council: York University president Mamdouh Shoukri has introduced a new Sustainability Council at the institution, with board representation from various levels of the university community, including students. Reporting to the president, the council will discuss initiatives to better address sustainability issues on a pan-university level. The council is expected to convene in September. Y-File

The future in campus sustainability planning: At this week’s 2008 SCUP Conference in Montreal, attendees discussed some of the barriers in achieving sustainability on campus, and what institutions are either planning or already doing. Conversations pointed to considerations of space utilization, “net-zero” building standards, and climate neutrality. One roundtable discussion concentrated on the adoption of experimental energy technologies. Some initiatives underway to conserve energy include 4-day work weeks and “no-tray” zones at campus cafeterias. One attendee said current strides ! in attaining sustainability are “not good enough.” The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required) | Inside Higher Ed | USA Today

Higher Learning Adapts To a Greening Attitude, Students Lead Drive Reshaping Curricula

By Susan KinzieWashington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 22, 2008; Page A01

The environmental fervor sweeping college campuses has reached beyond the push to recycle plastics and offer organic food and is transforming the curriculum, permeating classrooms, academic majors and expensive new research institutes. Read the article

We are currently organizing an audit for ES1 and ES2, which we anticipate to occur in mid-July. After this audit, we will meet to discuss our agenda for the rest of summer. We anticipate meeting in mid-August.

Welcome to the Greening ENV committee web site! We are a student-run committee in Faculty of Environment. We strive to find ways of reducing our environmental footprint and making our ES1 and ES2 buildings more energy efficient!

UBC launches public energy monitoring project
The University of British Columbia has launched a public monitoring research project to make its buildings more comfortable and energy-efficient. The university has partnered up with a Vancouver-based energy management software company to track energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions savings in 5 campus buildings. UBC is apparently the first Canadian university to make such information public, in real-time online, thanks to meters installed across campus during UBC’s recently completed 5-year, $38.5 million ECOtrek project. http://dashboard.smallenergygroup.com | UBC News Release

NSCC launches Energy Sustainability Engineering Technology program: On Friday, Nova Scotia Community College announced a new program in Energy Sustainability Engineering Technology. The two-year diploma, focusing on creating sustainable buildings, is among the first of its kind in Canada. Students in the program will master the art of creating customized energy systems that include solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and tidal. The program is part of “The Greening of NSCC,” an initiative involving constructing environmentally-friendly buildings, establishing ecological-themed curricula, and developing leading-edge environmental knowledge and sustainable practices. http://www.nscc.ca/sites/CBE/

Atlantic colleges sign Environmental Stewardship pact: Leaders from Atlantic Canada’s 4 public colleges (College of the North Atlantic, Holland College, Nova Scotia Community College, and New Brunswick Community College) signed a common Environmental Stewardship Agreement on Wednesday during meetings of the Atlantic Provinces Community College Consortium. The consortium’s Climate Change Action Plan Advisory Committee was intended to help the colleges embrace best practices in “greening” campuses, but the signing of the agreement is a public commitment to sustainability. More info.