Sustainability and environmental consciousness are strong at the U of G
Nicole Elsasser
The University of Guelph’s reputation precedes it in many ways but one area in which it is most proud to be a leader is in sustainability. Known by many as a green-minded university, the U of G works hard to cultivate its reputation as an institution whose students and administration alike prioritize the environment.
Many campus clubs are dedicated to sustainability and environmental issues like the Guelph Students for Environmental Change (GSEC). There is also a task force that considers ways that the university could be more ‘green’ and reports their findings to the president of the university Alastair Summerlee.
The U of G is among a few Ontario universities to have a department of the university dedicated specifically to sustainability. According to Gillian Maurice, the coordinator of the Sustainability Office, this is an exciting time for the environmentally minded students because of all of the ways to get involved with the many campaigns happening on campus.
“There’s lots of student activism around environmental issues like the Tap In project… which is trying to encourage the campus to go bottled water free by having more areas sign up as bottled water free zones,” said Maurice. “[Also there’s] Waste-less Wednesdays where you can get a free fair trade coffee. All of our coffee is fair trade, or at least all of the non-branded coffee…The Guelph Students for Environmental Change set up a free coffee or free tea booth in the University Centre for anyone carrying a reusable mug.”
Maurice also explained that there are specifically things that first-year students can do within their residences to increase sustainability there.
“In residence [first-year students] can be an enviro-rep, which is connected with the sustainability office but it’s a group of first year students who are in a way like mini-RAs around environmental issues,” said Maurice. “They can do a little bit of programming in terms of putting up posters and stuff like that but they can also get guest speakers coming in and meeting with people from other buildings on ‘being green.’”
Because every student pays an additional fee of 10 dollars each semester, Maurice explained that they will see a lot of the buildings getting energy retrofits; a step in the right direction.
But with all universities trying to be more sustainable, how does Guelph stack up?
According to Maurice, we’re doing well in a great many ways.
Photo courtesy
“We have an active energy retrofit program. We have an active recycling program,” she said. “The U of G really stands out from the pack when it comes to our food system. It’s a local outfit here and so many other places, most other places, have it contracted out to major cafeterias…it’s not a corporation that runs our food service.”
But ultimately, the success of any sustainability projects on the U of G campus is thanks to the campus community as a whole.
“Guelph is quite known for the sense of community that they have here so that ties into the whole sustainability movement as well,” said Maurice. “There a lot of students on campus engaged in a lot of different things…so I think that contributes to a very aware community.”
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