Ontario

Like all SYC programs, Sustainable Campuses in Ontario works to empower students to make change toward a more sustainable world. The Sustainable Campuses in Ontario has been growing rapidly over the last few years, now incorporating over 22 campuses. Ontario Campuses are working on a variety of amazing sustainability initiatives.


Hello folks of Ontario! My name is Monique Woolnough, I'm the Ontario Regional Coordinator for Sustainable Campuses...

If you have any questions about how SYC can help you make your campus a more sustainable community, or want to share with us how you're making your campus a more sustainable place, please feel free to email me at ontario@syc-cjs.org.

• Provincial Action Committee Blog!
• 07/08 in Review!
• Announcing winners in the Residence Reduction Challenge!
• The Provincial Action Committee (PAC)
• Ontario Media Madness
• Success Stories

Provincial Action Committee Blog!

Launched in January 2008 as a platform for students and youth working to further social, economic and ecological sustainability on their campuses and in their communities to share their experiences while learning about some of the issues underpinning our work in promoting sustainability, Ontario Provincial Action Committee blog creates space for students to work together on a more constant basis. If you are interested in contributing to the blog, please email the Ontario Regional Coordinator at ontario@syc-cjs.org.

07/08 in Review!

Fossil Fools Day ’08 rocked out around the world, with actions in New Zealand, Australia, the US, the UK and South Africa!

In Ontario, students at Fleming College in Lindsay organized Critical Mass Bike Ride in the front entrance of their school and handed out tire patch kits and seeds to people who arrived on bicycles. In Waterloo, students and community activists from AntiWar@Laurier’s “Climate Change Containment Unit” deployed to address the gross violation of the environment constituted by the planned increase in production of the Albertan oil sands, by shutting down Shell’s primary outlet in Waterloo. In Georgetown, students at Christ the King held a Canadian Idle Challenge to raise awareness about idling.

To see pictures and video from actions around the world, check out:
http://www.fossilfoolsdayofaction.org/?

The Bottled Water Free Zones Campaign was launched with huge success, with over 15 campuses in Canada creating over 30 Bottled Water Free Zones in their student unions, organizations, academic departments, on-campus restaurants and businesses and more! The campaign has gained lots of national media attention, including interviews on Radio Canada, coverage in Sun Media outlets across the country and dozens of articles in local and on-campus papers. SYC’s Ontario Coordinator had the chance to speak about the campaign at the annual Coca-Cola Shareholders meeting in Wilmington, Delaware. Water engineers at the University of Ottawa were so thrilled with the campaign that they pledged 40,000$ towards repairing water fountains on campus and building new water filling stations!


Student Unions for Sustainability
As part of SYC’s ongoing partnership with the Canadian Federation of Students, your regional coordinator participated in Lobby Week at Queen’s Park along with the executives of CFS locals from across Ontario. We lobbied ministries and MPPs to turn campus infrastructure funds into sustainable building funds, to create a youth and student advisory board to the newly formed Climate Change Secretariat, to adopt official standards for sustainability in all new and existing public buildings and more. And... for all of you working on sustainable building campaigns, we found out that there are extremely attractive loan packages available to administrations to
pursue sustainable capital projects (something good to have in your toolbox when you approach administrators):
http://www.infrastructureontario.ca/en/loan/university/index.asp?

Announcing winners in the Residence Reduction Challenge!

The Residence Reduction Challenge at Queen's, Waterloo and Guelph has wrapped-up for the semester with some major successes for sustainability!

Waterloo came in first place with 46% of participating students pledging to take concrete steps to reduce their ecological footprint. Queen's and Guelph had 33.5% and 10% pledging respectively.

At Queen's, students saved 40, 816 Kilowatt Hours. That is enough energy to power roughly 45 averaged sized Canadian homes for the month of February.

St. Paul's College at Waterloo reduced their water consumption by 62%!

To find out more about the results, how the Challenge was organized, and how you can run a Challenge at your school, check out the Ontario Residence Climate Challenge page.

The Provincial Action Committee (PAC)

The PAC has activated the grassroots network of student sustainability initiatives on Ontario campuses. Formed at the National Sustainable Campuses Conference, the PAC consists of inspiring representatives from various Ontario campuses. PAC members meet monthly via teleconference to learn from and support each other, build a provincial network and catalyze campus sustainability initiatives.

Ontario Media Madness

Success Stories

Get inspired by victories small and large on campuses all over Ontario and Canada.