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Monday, February 08, 2010 0 comments Office Recycling: Walk the Walk to the Hallway Posted by: Arnica Rowan at 11:21:13 AM The Good News! OC employees are recycling more, and throwing less in the garbage. More Good News! Now all recyclables go into one bin, which means less hassle for everyone. No more sorting, except for refundable drink containers. The Challenge: Getting our increased volume of recyclables picked up and out the door for processing. Help us out by Walking the Walk – please take your office recyclables to the bin in your hallway. Your important contribution enables us to keep our offices and hallways tidy, put less waste in the landfill, and support a more sustainable college community. Tip: Pick a day of the week that works for you, walk your recyclables to the hallway, and make it a habit. Thanks so much for your on-going help. Your little recycling bin goes a long way.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010 0 comments Fezzie's Manifesto Posted by: Arnica Rowan at 11:22:00 AM Okanangan College has a new set of guidlines for food services providers, which include sustainability requirements. Our new cafe in the Centre for Learning, Fezzies, wanted to share their Sustainability Manifesto with us all. Please feel free to ask them about what they are doing to take care of the earth and our College community. FEZZIE'S CARES... About THE EARTH. It is our intention to utilize recycled & recyclable packaging as far as possible and encourage our customers to return or re-use items responsibly. About QUALITY OF LIFE. It is our intention to provide healthy, nourishing, locally-sourced, fair-trade organic foods as far as possible to our customers. About YOUR HEALTH. It is our intention to enable our customers to make healthier choices this is reflected in the products we choose to sell. About THE OC. It is our intention to be respectful of the beautiful surroundings we share with the Faculty & Students of Okanagan College. About YOU. It is our intention to listen carefully to the needs and requests of our customers and respond accordingly. Fezziwig’s has been in business in Kelowna for the past four years. In that time they have implemented many accountability procedures in regards to the sustainability of the community and they intend to carry on that tradition at their new location at Okanagan College.
Monday, May 18, 2009 0 comments Help Clean Fascieux Creek May 26 Posted by: Arnica Rowan at 9:11:00 PM Join the creek cleaning crew from the Okanagan College KLO campus on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 @ 3:00pm. We are meeting at the bridge between the waste treatment plant and the student residences. Gloves, bags and pinchers are supplied. Please wear sturdy shoes and bring a hat if it is sunny out. According to the regular crew, there is now more wildlife in the creek; the turtles, muskrat and large fish have returned. You may spot a few of them while cleaning the banks of the creek. Our clean-ups seems to be making a difference: join in!
Monday, May 18, 2009 0 comments College Creek Clean-up Crew wins Mayor's Environmental Achievement Award Posted by: Arnica Rowan at 9:09:00 PM The City of Kelowna's Mayor's Environmental Achievement Awards recognize community memebers and groups making a positive difference in Kelowna. This year, the Okanagan College KLO campus Creek Clean-up Crew, lead by Angie March, has won the Most Environmentally Dedicated Group award for their fantastic contributions to the Adopt A Stream Program. The College staff often go out on their lunch hour to clean-up their Fascieux Creek site throughout the year. Okanagan College has been an Adopt-a-Stream group since July 2007. In that time they have removed over 100 bags of garbage and 40 bags of noxious weeds. Volunteer hours are rated at 132 so far. This dedicated group have taken the Adopt-a-Stream clean-up international by inviting their international students to participate in their spring clean-ups. The dedication to the environment and volunteer effort is amazing to some students. The students often mention that they would like to create a similar volunteer effort when they return to their respective countries.
Thursday, April 30, 2009 0 comments Eco-nomics Awards and 3 Steps Presentation Posted by: Arnica Rowan at 10:41:00 AM On April 29, 2009, the first Eco-nomics Awards presentation was held at the Delta Grande Hotel in Kelowna, BC. The awards, co-organized by Okanagan College students (members of the SIFE, Students in Free Enterprise group) and the Kelowna Chambre of Commerce, recognized businesses in the community who are leaders in environmentally sustainable practices. During the awards luncheon, Okanagan College Sustainability Team Leader Arnica Rowan delivered a keynote address about how all businesses can take steps towards sustainability, no matter how big or small their organization. The presentation also profiled the 3 Steps Forward campaign. A copy of her powerpoint presentation is available here. Watch Arnica's presentation in the video to the left. Our sincere congratulations to the award finalists and recipients! Also, a "shout out" to SIFE Okanagan - a wonderful group of students who value environmental sustainability. SIFE members Micheal Blonde and Matt Cosar, Mayor Sharon Shepherd, OC professor Arnica Rowan and Kelowna Chamber of Commerce CEO Weldon LeBlanc and President Norm LeCavalier MC Matt Cosar and Personal Services and Hospitality Winner Greg Salloum, owner of the Best Western Kelowna.
Friday, April 24, 2009 2 comments Recommendations made to Okanagan College Executive Posted by: Arnica Rowan at 10:28:00 AM Your sustainability team has been hard at work. Our first two mandates were to come up with an action list for short-term, inexpensive and easy-to-implement changes to make the college more sustainable recommend an organizational structure that will enable the creation of a long-term sustainability plan Throughout March, we held open houses and conducted an extensive survey of OC students and staff. Then specialty groups rated and ranked ideas to come up with a feasible, high-impact list of action steps. At the end of March, we were proud to present a document, Our Short-term Action Plan for Sustainable Change, to Okanagan College President Jim Hamilton. Since then, we have also presented to the college executive and leadership team. Our recommendations will be presented to the Board of Governors in May. In the meanwhile, our work hasn't stopped. We have worked on a recommended administrative structure for Okanagan College's sustainability, and will be presenting that to our President at the end of the month. We'll keep you informed about our project, and share the recommendations and projects when they have been fully approved.
Friday, April 24, 2009 0 comments From bamboo shirts to 80% recycled binders – OC bookstores stock sustainably Posted by: Arnica Rowan at 10:11:00 AM If you haven’t browsed one of the OC bookstores lately, you might be surprised what is on the shelves! Most of the clothing is made from bamboo and soy, both renewable materials. Look for the renu brand to support sustainable farming and fair labour practices. If you are shopping for classroom supplies, read the back of the notebooks: many are Greencycled, with 50% recycled content. 80% recycled binders make a statement – and when you are no longer using them, the components are recyclable and compostable. The bookstores will even be carrying Elephant Poo Poo brand paper notebooks and other supplies in the fall, made from – you guessed it! – elephant waste. For your summer reading, learn about social responsibility with a copy of Fashioning Reality by Ben Barry, or explore the beautiful Okanagan with your own Lone Pine guide to hikes or local flora and fauna. Students walking away with $500 in purchases (usually a semester’s worth of textbooks,) get a free multiuse bag to carry them; for your purchases, you can buy a cool peace sign multi-use bag for $2 or choose a biodegradable plastic bag (although these will soon be phased out.) Even better, you can BYOB – bring your own bag. Happy shopping!
Tuesday, April 07, 2009 1 comment Cafeteria Takes a Leadership Role Posted by: Arnica Rowan at 2:07:00 PM At the KLO cafeteria, change is in the air - or should we say, in the food! The cafeteria has taken several steps to make our food service more environmentally sustainable and socially responsible: Currently, all of the vegetable waste resulting from cafeteria food production is composted at Bylands Garden Centre. (Watch out for composting available throughout the KLO campus within the next year.) Goodbye Styrofoam take-out! For a meal on-the-go, they now offer molded fiber containers that are biodegradable, made from sugarcane and bamboo, and meet the ASTM D 6868 standards specifications for compostability. The cafeteria’s coffee provider, Seattle’s Best, offers several Fair Trade Certified and organic coffee choices. Showing real leadership, the cafeteria has committed to offer exclusively Fair Trade Certified™ and organic coffee within a year. To do your part to eat responsibly: Bring your own travel mug to the cafeteria for coffee. The maximum they charge is for a 16 ounce cup, even if you have a larger travel mug. Don’t use take-out! unless you are actually going somewhere. Choose ceramic plates and metal cutlery and save yourself the take-out fee. The cafeteria even offers “to stay” small coffee mugs. Choose organic and Fair Trade Certified™ coffees… and tell the staff that you appreciate those choices. Choose vegetarian meals more often; animal protein takes 10x the energy and makes 10x the CO2 emissions as plant protein. Watch your waste: take only what you plan on eating, even at the sumptuous buffet!
Thursday, March 26, 2009 0 comments Trash Audit April 1st Posted by: Arnica Rowan at 12:47:00 PM The OC student Enviroclub will be holding the follow up Trash Audit at the KLO Campus on April 1st, 2009. The Trash Audit evolved from UBCO challenging the OC to audit the campus’ garbage and determine what was actual garbage and what could be diverted into recycling or compost. From that each campus had the challenge to reduce the amount of waste being generated. The first audit received good media coverage and there should be even more buzz over the second one, for it will determine the winner. The initial Trash Audit that was held November 4th, 2008. It determined that in one day the average amount of garbage produced was only 30%. A staggering 33% could be composted and 37% be recycled, but were instead, being placed into the garbage bins. The Enviroclub has taken on some initiatives to try and diverge the amount of recyclables making their way into the garbage cans. the students are hoping to have new bins available, that will make it easier to separate materials (including recyclables); however in order to excel at this challenge, and succeed in making the school more ecologically friendly, it is imperative that students are extra cautious on March 31st to carefully separate their garbage from their recyclables and compost (if possible). The OC Enviroclub will also be looking for some new members in the upcoming fall term (winter 2009), and we would greatly appreciate the encouragement of continuing students to join the group.
Thursday, March 26, 2009 1 comment OC and UBCO's trash audited Posted by: Arnica Rowan at 10:57:00 AM In October 2008, UBC Okanagan and Okanagan College Enviro clubs challenged each other to an assessment of what is in the college's trash. That day, 72% of the trash thrown out at UBC Okanagan was not garbage, compared to 70% at Okanagan College. Okanagan College produced about half the amount of garbage (5542 litres) of UBCO in one day, but had similar results when it came to waste streams. 30% of the trash was actual garbage, but 5% was styrofoam, which was diverted and recycled through a private partnership. 37% of the trash was recyclable and 33% was compostable. Some of the strange items destined for the garbage included unopened chocolate bars, a pair of work boots, large reusable banners, electronics and various metallic items. A large number of returnable bottles and cans were also pulled from the trash. The active role these students have taken shows the community the importance of being responsible for what we consume and the waste we create. Our actions and attitudes must change to build a healthier, more sustainable community. Students at both campuses showed incredible enthusiasm and passion and had a fantastic time during audit.