Lean green campus machines

Guelph students refill water containers

Students are at the forefront of a grassroots environmental revolution as they coax - and sometimes embarrass - administrators into walking the walk with them

JENNIFER LEWINGTON

Oct. 23, 2008 12:00 AM EDT

Green is the colour of today's campus activism, with students lighting a fire under universities to take a lead on the environment.

Guelph students

University of Guelph students take part in a project to use reusable water containers instead of bottled water.

Guelph students refill water containers

University of Guelph students take part in a project to use reusable water containers instead of bottled water.

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But, today the trend comes with a twist. Instead of a 1960s-style march on the president's office, student leaders are sitting with administrators as equals to map a more sustainable future. Sometimes students even chip in their own money for environmentally friendly projects. The surge in student green power has attracted the attention of university officials, who see its potential to define institutions in ways that appeal to prospective freshmen and foster ties with alumni. "It has changed the face of this university and the outlook of the university," says Lloyd Axworthy, president of the University of Winnipeg. "Students are very much the catalyst."

Aided by the Internet and social networking websites, students passionate about environmental and social justice—the two are often seen as entwined—have launched grassroots efforts to turn off computers at night, compost garbage and carpool. Beyond campus, student groups have teamed up with environmental organizations to mobilize bans on bottled water and fight global warming.

Earlier this fall, the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), the David Suzuki Foundation and the Sierra Youth Coalition organized a 30-day cross-Canada tour of university campuses. The goals were to rally students to make their voices heard in federal politics and, on campus, to rid students and their institutions of bad environmental habits. "It is embarrassing that university faculties have to have students to tell them to do the right thing," says David Suzuki, who praises student environmental advocacy as "very impressive and very exciting."

Earlier this year, CFS and the Polaris Institute, an Ottawa-based public policy advocacy group, targeted university campuses as the battleground for a national campaign against bottled water. More than 40 "bottle-free zones" have been established on 16 campuses, though none yet exist across an entire university. "It's about changing the culture on campus," Katherine Giroux-Bougard, national chairperson of CFS, says of recent efforts. "We want to make it clear to university administrators that students are really involved and care about sustainability…and that administrators need to take greater action."

Watching these developments closely is Ron Dembo, founder and chief executive officer of Zerofootprint, a not-for-profit organization that has developed software that enables individuals and institutions to measure their carbon footprints. So far, six universities have signed on. "You don't have to convince students that global warming is an issue," he says. "But often it's the university administrators who are not there yet."

That's beginning to change. For example, as soon as Dr. Axworthy returned to his alma mater as president in May, 2004, he was approached by student leaders from Sustainable University Now, Sustainable Earth Tomorrow (SUNSET), who presented him with an environmental agenda for the school. That meeting led to a campus-wide debate about sustainability, and the concept was endorsed as a core value by the board of regents in 2005. Today, curriculum design, campus construction, relations with the local community and even the president's performance are measured for their environmental and social impact. As well, the University of Winnipeg has introduced an on-campus composting program, invested in a gas-electric hybrid heating system that saves more than $80,000 a year in utility bills, and committed to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 790 tonnes by 2012, a 19% reduction from 2007.

Still, student activists fume about what they see as slow delivery of changes on transit, waste disposal and sustainable food-service options on campus. "It's great to hear the university has clearly identified its priorities," says Matt Morison, a second-year geography student and co-ordinator of the student group Ecological People in Action. "It would also be great to see more positive things happen immediately."

On such politically charged issues as bottled-water bans, for example, institutions have drawn the line at formal prohibitions. At the University of British Columbia, officials have come under fire for not updating aging water fountains, but they are pledging to incorporate new chilled (and heated) water dispensers in new building designs. "If it [bottled water] were illegal, we would certainly ban it," says Geoff Atkins, the school's vice-president of land and buildings. "We will let the market forces play out on it."

On other issues, however, students have sparked tangible results. "I think I experienced the smile-and-nod more times than I can count," recalls Queen's University graduate Anjali Helferty of the response that campus administrators gave her environmental lobby efforts five years ago. "Now administrators are catching on because they see the opportunities." The change is happening faster than some expected and that's because of student pressure, says Ms. Helferty, who for two years has been the national co-ordinator of sustainable campuses for the Sierra Youth Coalition, a non-profit that trains young people to promote sustainability among students, faculty and administrators.

Students are learning to wield their clout with diplomacy and offers of collaboration instead of protest marches, often with measurable results. At the University of Guelph, for example, student leaders had been at loggerheads with administrators for years about what they saw as the slow pace of energy retrofits and other conservation efforts. "The students were trying to drive change and we became more resistant to implement change," school president Alastair Summerlee acknowledges. "We were being pushed."

But in 2007, the Student Executive Council shifted the dynamics of its debate with the administration. A council-sponsored referendum asked students to contribute $10 a semester, worth $4.3 million over 12 years, to kick-start investments in energy conservation. Students agreed, by an astonishing vote of 63% to 39%, with the first funds put toward $950,000 worth of lighting upgrades at the library that are expected to save the school $200,000 a year. The university immediately agreed to match the funds, dollar for dollar, and the project won support from faculty, staff and alumni.

"We framed the [referendum] in ways that made sense to students. It was an immensely empowering experience," recalls Derek Pieper, 23, who helped organize the vote. "This was their opportunity to make a difference in their own backyard," adds the biological science graduate, who studies now at Oxford University.

The wider message of student advocacy is not lost on administrators. In what Dr. Summerlee describes as "knock-on consequences," students and administrators are at the same table for discussions about facility retrofits, curriculum development and campaigns to change personal behaviour, such as turning off lights.

Observers see signs of a ripple effect on recruitment. "I don't think you will be able to reach through a recruitment book [in the future] and not hear something about 'this school is green,' " predicts David Diamond, a co-founder of UTours, which markets campus tours on DVD to prospective university students. "Administrators are totally embracing the idea of presenting themselves as green," he says, with new offices of sustainability that frame projects in environmental and social terms that appeal to a new generation of learners.

"Students want to go to a university where they will learn something pertinent and where they see a lot of activism on campus," says Jenn Davis, 26, a former student leader of a high-profile environmental push at Concordia University. She now works for a Concordia sustainability office financed by students and the administration.

Michael Di Grappa, who served as interim president of Concordia before returning to his post of vice-president of services earlier this fall, gives full credit to activists such as Ms. Davis, who helped put "green" on the front burner. "It makes us a more responsible institutional citizen, it makes our students more socially active and engaged," he says. "That is for the betterment of our society."

WHO'S GREENING WHAT

Some examples of student-drvien projects:

MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY Run by students, staff and faculty volunteers, Project Green has spurred environmental awareness through such recent projects as Dump N' Run, a community yard sale that recycled used furniture and goods, as well as carpooling and bike sharing.

MCGILL UNIVERSITY Gorilla Composting is a student-led pilot project that encourages the collection of organic waste from campus restaurants and cafeterias. It also provides drop-off points for students to bring their food waste from home. Partly financed by alumni and administration.

UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA The sustainability office at the Students' Union teaches dormitory residents how to reduce their environmental footprint. A reusable-dish program provides plates and cutlery for events to limit reliance on throwaway materials. Students run a collection system for used cellphones and once a month drop off batteries and ink cartridges at a city recycling centre.

UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Students at both schools are behind Common Energy, which promotes public transit, locally grown food, cold-water clothes washing and the purchase of durable goods.

UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA Initiatives funded by students and the administration focus on individuals, such as a free coffee refill for those who bring refillable cups on "Muggy Mondays." Students are also conducting an audit of the taste and accessibility of water fountains, part of a drive to curb consumption of bottled water.

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH Guelph Students for Environmental Change sponsors such projects as Tap-In, which encourages alternatives to bottled water; Green-Up Crew, for litter pick-up; and long-term advocacy efforts to power the university with renewable energy.

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY Sustainability Concordia, launched in 2002 as a student-led project and now partly funded by the university, recruits students as "ambassadors" to teach their peers environmentally friendly practices. Also operates a website with tips on how to reduce car trips to campus. The program collects a levy of 25 cents per course credit, raising about $150,000 a year to provide grants to student projects.

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME

Canadian universities are looking to green architecture and its accompanying technology to help them save energy and water. A growing number qualify for so-called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) status, a rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council and adapted by the Canada Green Building Council. Others have won environmental, architectural or design awards. Here are examples of how some universities are greening their campuses:

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, GRAND HOUSE STUDENT CO-OPERATIVE

ARCHITECT: Waterloo students

Conceived by architecture students in 2005 as an affordable housing option for students, the 10-bedroom residence nestled

on a wooded hillside in Cambridge was built with straw-bale construction, recycled

wood, non-toxic paint, solar panels, a green roof and a wastewater and grey water filtration and recycling system.

YORK UNIVERSITY , COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING BUILDING

2002 Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Governor-General's Medal

ARCHITECT: Busby, Perkins and Will Architects, architectsAlliance

Built in 2001, the first green-designated building in Ontario has passive ventilation, recyclable energy materials, sun shading and other attributes that reduce energy consumption by 50% compared with conventional equivalents.

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, LIFE SCIENCES BUILDING

Designated LEED Gold, 2007

ARCHITECT: Bunting Coady Architects, Diamond & Schmitt Architects

The first building at a Canadian university to win Gold certification, the building consumes 28% less energy and 50% less water than a standard building. Photoelectric sensors adjust interior lighting based on the amount of natural light from windows and atrium skylights.

UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY, CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

Designated LEED Platinum, 2007

ARCHITECT: Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd.

Conservation measures reduced energy use by 53% compared with conventional buildings. The largest LEED Platinum building in this country, it's among the first built in Canada for cold-weather conditions.

LAVAL UNIVERSITY, GENE-H.-KRUGER PAVILION

Quebec City Award of Architectural Merit, 2006

ARCHITECT: Gallienne et Moisan

Built of wood with non-polluting and non-toxic renewable materials, the building houses the Wood Research Centre, which aims to demonstrate the diversity of applications for wood. Situated to maximize light and natural ventilation, the building is fitted with solar collector walls and skylights.

ÉCOLE POLYTECHNIQUE DE MONTRÉAL, PAVILLONS LASSONDE

Designated LEED Gold, 2005

ARCHITECT: Desnoyers Mercure et associes, Saia et Barbarese architectes

The first large-scale green design and construction of a major building at a

Quebec university, it has a green roof that absorbs storm water and reflects heat

in summer, and toilets that use rainwater for flushing and reduce reliance on municipal water for sewage by 92%.

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