Blog
September 29th 2009
Kudos to the campus!
I must admit, in my first two years of university I wasn’t really tuned in to what was going on around campus. But having this gig as campus beat reporter has made me realize just how cool the U of W is –especially from an environmental/sustainability perspective.
Take the new foodservice for instance. As I mentioned in the article about Diversity Food Services that appeared in Issue 1, the service is committed to using a lot of local and organic ingredients. But there are some other interesting things that I learned about the new foodservice that didn’t fit in the article, but are equally as cool. For instance, did you know that Diversity Food Services has been deemed Ocean Wise certified? This means that all the fish and seafood that it uses has been caught in such a way that benefits the ocean ecosystems rather than harming and depleting them. You can check this out in more detail by visiting http://www.oceanwisecanada.org/.
And what about the coffee? Not only does it not leave a burnt and bitter aftertaste that I became accustomed to in my two years at U of W(I don’t miss it by the way), it comes from the first organic certified coffee roaster in Manitoba – Green Bean Coffee Imports in Clandeboye. Green Bean coffee is also fair trade. For more info on the joe, visit http://www.greenbeancoffeeimports.com/.
And in researching the composting program on campus for Issue 4, I learned the extent to which the university is diverting a lot of waste from landfills. For instance, in the 2007 fiscal year the U of W sent 77.2 metric tonnes of waste to a landfill costing $33,323.93. Consequently, 94.2 metric tonnes were diverted from landfills from composting/recycling efforts. And in the 2008 fiscal year the U of W sent 124.9 metric tonnes of waste to a landfill costing $34, 613.87. 104.4 metric tonnes were diverted from landfills from composting/recycling efforts.
I think it is great that we are diverting so much waste in our recycling efforts, but it seems to me we could do better. I still get the impression that a lot of students don’t know about the composting bins. Regardless, we are still miles ahead of other universities in Manitoba. Kisti Thomas, Materials Conservation Coordinator here on campus, informed me that the U of W is currently the only post-secondary institution in the province with a composting program.
All of these efforts, and many more, make me proud to be a student at the U of W. And I think the university’s environmental consciousness is important to a lot of students. I wonder, what do other U of W students see the university’s eco-friendly efforts? Is the university making you become just a little more green-spirited?
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