University and campus sustainability should be on the forefront of every campuses future development plans. A substantial population of every developed nation has citizens attending post secondary institutions. If the individuals attending classes at these institutions are the supposed leaders of tomorrow, then why are the buildings that we spend so much of our time around adding to the destruction of that very same future of tomorrow we are working for? The irony in that statement is stifling and I feel that if anything, all campuses across the globe should be the environmental trend setters for their respective communities. Citizens tend to respect these places of learning which is why I feel their environmental platforms should be something actually worth respecting. These institutions are training scientists, engineers, architects, future C.E.O.’s etc. Why is it then so hard to fathom that each of these learning centers can function on a carbon neutral system rather than adding to the environmental crisis. The waste generated from these facilities and the CO2 released on a daily basis from the student and faculty bodies commuting to and from campus desperately needs to be reduced. How we go about every decision and action while at these facilities needs to be rethought.
From listening to Nancy Wilkins presentation I’d like to believe at this time Royal Roads University is on the right track for becoming more sustainable. I think it is important that a school which holds an environmental science program worth studying should provide an institution whose policies, ideologies and practices reflect what they preach. Otherwise, how would industry leaders look at graduates if the very University that gave them their degree had no green initiatives what so ever. But as I’ve said before, I am just one man, this is just my opinion.
Here is a link to an article talking about the new sustainable skyscraper in Calgary. Its full of spaces that people will want to actually spend time in and it holds a nice 360 view of the city.Link
A few of the topics that caught my attention from the RRU sustainability presentations were chemical free cleaning throughout the campus, the waste diversion program, the reduction of energy consumption on campus and the possibility of implementing on site small scale waster water, composting and co generation facilities. These are all exciting topics and I believe they are all attainable for the areas that aren’t already. RRU’s goal to be completely off the grid by 2018 makes me proud, honestly. One day in the future, I’ll look back at the grueling 12 months of dedication I put into obtaining my degree, and feel proud of the fact that the campus whose grounds I spent so much time at has become an environmental leading institution. However, with that said, there is still so much more that needs to be done to achieve such stewardship. I was surprised to learn that nothing was mentioned in regards to collecting rainwater to be utilized for flushing toilets and urinals. Again, it’s almost ironic, we live in a city where it rains way more than anybody likes, yet there was no talk of implementing a system to capture any of this rain and make use of its seemingly never ending supply. In my opinion it makes the most sense. Why are we using clean drinking water to send our bodily wastes out into the ocean? Currently we aren’t even treating our shit sewage, so why on earth are we using pristine drinking water to move it through a bunch of pipes? To me it makes no sense and clearly far from sustainable but yet again, I am just one man and this is just my opinion. Here is a link to a company who designs these capturing systems; they make it sound black and white. Take a look. Link
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