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November 12, 2008
Environmental Week, which was held the week of November 3rd, was organized by the Bishop’s University Environmental Club (BUEC) as a way to promote sustainability on campus and student adoption of sustainable living habits. There are a lot of things happening at Bishop’s in terms of sustainability, and we feel it is our role to educate and encourage student awareness and participation.
The broad objective of the week was to encourage students to practice the three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle). Within this objective, we had multiple minor objectives includi
- Sell travel mugs (target of 100) to encourage students to reduce their consumption of disposable coffee cups;
- Promote the club sponsored Happy Hour at The Gait, to showcase the campus bar’s use of biodegradable cups;
- Provide an opportunity for ESG (Environmental Studies and Geography) students to showcase their sustainability projects and ideas to the student body;
- Provide an opportunity for students to speak their mind on environmental issues on campus, and throughout the world;
- Educate students about what they can do to reduce their ecological footprint.
The week was filled with activities. These include:
- A week-long silent auction where students could bid for used items;
- A speaker’s night (Tuesday) (in partnership with the Student Speakers Association) where students spoke about topical environmental issues;A Wednesday night showcase of the film “The World According to Monsanto” (a documentary about global agricultural firms and their disruption of socially and ecologically sustainable growing methods);
- Happy Hour at the Gait on Thursday afternoon, where biodegradable cups were used, and we held a 50/50 draw that raised $60 for the club.
There are a lot of initiatives currently on the go at Bishop’s in terms of sustainable development, and even more that could be possible with more funding participation. These include:
- A BUEC initiative to turn one side used paper into notebooks in order to promote reuse (a copy of the Concordia “Recto-Verso” program);
- A proposal to introduce a dishwasher and durable plastic cups to The Gait in order to reduce the number of disposable cups entering landfills, while helping the bar lower its costs;
- Partnership with the Sustainable Development Action Group (SDAG), a multi-stakeholder group of grounds staff, residence staff, dining staff, student government, and the environmental club, to work towards campus sustainability. The SDAG is fundamental in the allocation of funds for student proposals, and attainment of additional money through a sustainability fund created by the Government of Quebec. The group also works to improve campus sustainability through collaboration of different levels of organization within the university. Such improvements include the introduction of composting and removal of trays at Dewhurst Dining Hall, as well as the construction of waste stations in the SUB that allow for convenient disposal of trash, recycling, and compost;
- Work by ACE (Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship) Bishop’s to promote greener business practice in the Eastern Townships.
It is obvious that sustainable development is quickly becoming a very big topic at Bishop’s, and many big steps have been made in the last year alone. Into the future we hope to push for further participation from interested students, especially those in the ESG department, as well as the implementation of more great proposal ideas.
The Environmental Club meets every Monday evening at 8 p.m. at Patterson Hall, everyone is welcome.
For additional information:
Bianca Jacques, Communications Officer, 819 822-9600, ext. 2263
Email: Alexander Cant, SRC Environmental Officer
