 |
During this week’s class we had the opportunity to listen to a number of different RRU staff members speak about sustainability on campus. RRU is one of the most sustainable universities that I am personally aware of. They have input a number of different sustainable programs in order to decrease their carbon foot print.
This first speaker this morning spoke to us about the sustainability goals that RRU is trying to achieve, and some of these goals were pretty remarkable. For example, the university would like to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2010, and they would like to be off the grid by 2018. When we spoke to the director of the office of Sustainability at RRU, she told us that 50% of the greenhouse gases being emitted from campus are due to staff and students driving to campus. When she mentioned this to us she asked for some feedback on how we would choose how to reduce the number of people driving to campus every day. One of the best ideas that were mentioned was to give the individuals who bike to school every day a free locker for the year so they have a place to put all of their riding gear. Personally, if I had a locker free of charge I would be much more willing to bike to school, since I would have space to store my wet clothing after biking in the rain. After the speech we were taken on a tour of an area on the campus where they are considering a new wetlands restoration project. This project would create a new wetland ecosystem for the campus, which would provide a number of different educational opportunities not just for the RRU students, but also for the nearby elementary students.
I think that sustainability at RRU is done in a very creative way, such that they like to hear student’s opinions on current issues. One of these issues is the vote in favour of or against the implementation of an UPass. In today’s session our class was asked for their opinion and it was obvious that there were students for the UPass and against it. I think that it would be a great idea if the bus service to RRU was improved and more efficient, because as a student in a very time consuming program I cannot afford to waste time sitting on a bus when I could be working on homework.
Another one of this morning’s speakers was the head of Housekeeping at RRU. I found this speaker to be very interesting because he was able to tell us personal stories about how he decided on the implementation of sustainable methods at RRU. RRU is a university where all of the cleaning done by the janitorial staff is done chemically free; instead of chemical cleaners they use microfiber towels and water. This cleaning method came about because one of the janitors suffered a serious allergic reaction to chemicals that were being used in the cleaning process at RRU. He decided to do something about it and this brought the microfiber cleaning method into action. I think that this is a great sustainable method because there is no toxic waste going down the drain, and the lack of chemical exposure makes the campus safer not only for the staff but also for the students.  |
| Image from:http://www.lisas-norwex-products .com/benefits_microfiber_cleaning.html |
 |
Image from:http://www.lisas-norwex-products .com/benefits_microfiber_cleaning.html |
In addition to chemical free cleaning methods, the Habitat Cafe has also switched to compostable coffee cups to lower the amount of waste going to the landfill. I was very impressed when I first came to RRU and saw all of the different compost and recycle bins in the hallways. At the college I went to in the past, there were very few recycling bins and zero compost bins. I think that compost bins should be put into Universities all over the country because most of the waste that ends up in the landfill is waste that could have been composted and reused for mulch and soil to grow vegetables and fruits.
 |
| Image from: |
In some of the rooms on campus there are small stickers on the light switches that say “R U green?”, I think that this is a good method to remind people to shut off the lights when they leave the room, and in the long run these stickers will benefit RRU by decreasing energy usage. Another thing that RRU has done to meet some of its goals is the addition of solar panels to some of the buildings on campus for solar thermal water heating. This is will also decrease RRU’s energy usage and ultimately make them closer to reaching their sets goals.
Overall, I think that RRU is one of the leading sustainable universities in Canada. This is because they are a unique university that uses sustainable methods such as: compostable cup usage, solar panels for water heating, and chemical free cleaning methods. It is my goal to speak to friends who are attending other universities and colleges throughout Canada and by doing so I will try to get them to bring about sustainable changes in their schools.
No comments:
Post a Comment