As a member of the Carleton University community, there is much that you can do to contribute to and enhance Carleton’s Sustainability programs.
There are a variety of ways that staff, faculty and students can get involved in sustainability, from engagement programs and workplace certification to funding and educational experiences.
Sustainability success depends on everyone’s contributions, here’s how you can get involved in 5 easy steps:
1. Take the Sustainability Pledge
Carleton University is committed to the environment and its role as environmental steward. This Sustainability Pledge is your opportunity to commit personally to a more sustainable University and every member of this community is encouraged to participate
2. Submit your ideas to the Green Revolving Fund
At Carleton we are committed to building a culture of sustainability and embrace innovation and thinking outside of normal boundaries. That is why we created the Green Revolving Fund. This revolving fund has set aside $1 million to invest in in sustainability-related projects across campus.
The main criteria for projects will be to undertake initiates with positive environmental impacts and strong business case to bring funds back into the program. All Carleton students, faculty and staff are invited to submit their ideas.
3. Become a Sustainable Office
The CU Sustainable Office Program is designed to educate and encourage members of the Carleton community to adopt sustainable practices in their workplaces. The checklist offers action items that promote environmental vitality, human health & well-being, and financial viability. We hope it inspires you to develop creative solutions to sustainability challenges in your workplace.
The program provides recognition of efforts towards sustainability through a workplace certification rating, which can be displayed in your workplace.
4. Take a Sustainability Tour of the Campus
There are a number of projects and programs across the campus that inform our Sustainability Program. You can take a self-guided Sustainable Campus Walking Tour, and find out for yourself the key programs and developments.
5. Promote Best Practice
The Carleton Green Tip of the Month is a poster series and email campaign. Each month, the Sustainability Office provides a new green tip that you can implement in your building, classroom, dorm, office, or lab—and even at home!
- December Tip: Pre-Holiday checklist
- November Tip: Green Revolving Fund – Poster
- October Tip: Procurement – Buy Local
- September Tip: Energy Awareness – Lighting
- August Tip: August Tip Double sided printing
- July Tip: July poster litterless lunch
- June Tip: Energy Awareness – Photocopier
- May Tip: Transport poster
- April Tip: Earth Day poster
- March Tip: Help Reduce Disposable Cup Waste: BYOB
- February Tip: Become Energy Smart
- January Tip: Turn Down The Dial
6. Volunteer your time
Throughout the year there are opportunities to volunteer your time, during the work day, to promote and engage in sustainable programs here on campus. This includes a Spring (for Staff and Faculty) and Fall (Students) clean up the campus event. There are also events such as Bike to Work Month (May), Fairtrade Campus Week (October) and lunch-time talks. Look out for messages in the Top 5.
Sustainability Opportunities for Students
Students can also help to drive sustainability innovation and creative thinking on campus. As a Carleton student, you will find many opportunities to get involved in sustainability: through your classroom and research experiences, extracurricular activities, or volunteering.
Sustainability Toolkits in Residence
The Sustainability Team has paired up with Residence Life to offer incoming residence students for the 2016-2017 school year a guide to living sustainably. The Sustainability Toolkit was emailed out to all incoming residence students prior to move-in, to educate the new students on environmentally sound actions and behaviour while at Carleton. The toolkit highlights different areas of sustainable living, such as Energy and Water Conservation, Sustainable Travel and Food Choices, as well as Waste Reduction. It is our hope that with this guide, we will begin to house more environmentally-minded students in the upcoming years, while teaching and leading the way to reducing our carbon footprint on campus.
A copy of the toolkit can be found here.
Composting Pilot In Russell/Grenville and Leeds Houses
Select residence buildings have been chosen for a one year pilot of a new composting program during the 2016-2017 school year. Currently at Carleton we already have an organic waste/compost waste stream, in buildings across campus where such service is demanded, as well as within Fresh Food Company-run locations. Carleton will further it’s waste diversion efforts this year, with single organic waste bins in the individual rooms of Russell/Grenville residence, as well as Leeds. The aim of this pilot is to determine if composting should become a residence-wide waste diversion initiative in the future and how successful such a program could be.
Campus Conservation Nationals
Campus Conservation Nationals is the largest conservation competition for colleges and universities in the world! This friendly and engaging competition measures the percent reduction of electricity usage in the residence buildings on campuses. Last year, the competition saved over 2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and 1.5 million gallons of water!
Carleton is pleased to be participating in this competition, along with over 150 universities across America and Canada competing. Students in residence will be monitoring and recording electricity usage on the Carleton Building Dashboard.