Green College Spotlight: University of Calgary

Not all of North America’s sustainable colleges and universities are in the United States – far from it, in fact. Canada has quite a few of them, with the University of Calgary among the most impressive. This public university with over 24,000 students has made great strides toward inserting green values and practices into virtually all areas of campus activity.

A signatory of the Talloires Declaration, U of C is working to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and has begun retrofits to the central heating plant that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 43 percent below 1990 levels. One campus building – the Child Development Center, which is LEED-Platinum certified – uses 100 percent renewable electricity, 10 percent of which comes from solar panels.

All new building projects at the University of Calgary will achieve the highest level of LEED certification possible within budget constraints, and in addition to the Child Development Center, two more buildings are on track for certification. Carpoolers at U of C get premium parking, and students ride on public transit at a discount. A student-run program loans out bikes and provides a place for cyclists to socialize.

Food from over 19 local farms and producers is provided on campus, including local dairy. Fair trade coffee is also available. Students who bring reusable cups get a discount on drinks.

A number of student groups address sustainability issues, including the Sustainability Stewardship Program and many more. U of C also holds campus-wide competitions like the Commuter Challenge held this past spring, which prompted students, faculty and staff to record sustainable commuting choices like walking, cycling and carpooling.

Learn more about what the University of Calgary is doing to go green at UCalgary.ca/sustainability.

Link [University of Calgary Sustainability]

Prim Canadian City to Stop Dumping Poop into the Sea

The city of Victoria, British Columbia has been dumping raw sewage into the Puget Sound for years, much to the consternation of anti-poop-dumping activists who waged a campaign starring ‘Mr. Floatie’, a mascot who looks suspiciously like a relative of Mr. Hankey.

Well, Mr. Floatie’s hard work is finally being rewarded, as the city decided to stop pouring millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca between Vancouver Island and the North Olympic Peninsula.

Officials in British Columbia have approved a plan that will build four treatment plants to handle the raw sewage.

From the Peninsula Daily News:

For years, the effluent issue has been a sore point on both sides of the border.

It contrasts with Victoria’s position as the capital of British Columbia and its self-promotion as a tourist center, a gateway to the wilderness forests and rugged marine coast of Vancouver Island, and a city of prim and proper homes, shops, gardens and tea rooms worthy of its royal namesake.

“It’s the only city in Canada where people resolutely cling to the notion that Victorian waste is different from other waste,” said Lara Tessaro, a staff attorney with Ecojustice in Canada.

Efforts to shame politicians into adopting sewage treatment were marked by a humorous yet failed attempt by Mr. Floatie — the 7-foot-tall brown-clad mascot for POOP, People Opposed to Outfall Pollution — to run for mayor of Victoria.

You gotta love how the group found a way to call themselves POOP.

Link [Peninsula Daily News]

Canada Chooses to Kill Over 500 Narwhals Rather than Save Them

Once a year, Canada uses powerful icebreakers so hunters can gleefully kill thousands of baby seals and sell their downy white pelts. And yet, somehow those same icebreakers weren’t available when over 500 narwhals – whales with tusks resembling the horn of the fabled unicorn – became trapped under the ice. Instead of rescuing the whales, local hunters began killing them by shooting into the ‘blow holes’ where the animals surface to breathe.

From CBC News via Treehugger:

Elders and wildlife officials have agreed that the whales would otherwise die from starvation and a lack of oxygen as the sea ice closes in around them.

Hunters in Pond Inlet, a mainly Inuit hamlet of about 1,300, say they’ve been turning down requests from media outlets to fly into the community and cover the hunt.

Jayko Allooloo, chairman of the hunters and trappers organization in Pond Inlet, told CBC News that his group does not want cameras capturing images of whale carcasses laying about, in case some viewers think the hunters are wasting meat and blubber, also known as muktaaq.

Meanwhile, the organization that manages wildlife in Nunavut is defending the Pond Inlet hunters’ decision to kill all the trapped narwhals in what DFO has called a “humane hunt.”

“Those groups or individuals who are making these accusations, or trying to come up with ways to prevent this kind of incident [from happening], have to be aware this is a northern climate. It’s a harsh country,” said Harry Flaherty, acting chairman of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.

Narwhals are not officially listed as endangered, but they should be – experts say they’ll be greatly impacted by climate change, even more so than polar bears. Experts have said that narwhal hunting is not sustainable. Hunters in Pond Inlet are only supposed to kill up to 130 narwhals a year.

Treehugger notes that the DFO claims the noise from the icebreakers would have been too stressful for the narwhals. Yeah, because loud noise is really less stressful than seeing your family members killed right before you get shot yourself. That makes a lot of sense. How incredibly sad and sickening.

Link [CBC] via [Treehugger]
Photo credit: National Geographic