Story submitted by Brooke Gilmour, Sustainability Manager
Thank you to everyone who participated in Sustainability Month! A lasting partnership between Sustainable Queen's and SLC Footprint was established and we hope to make it an annual event.
This month, we’ve been highlighting our Sustainability Plan. While the full plan can be viewed here, below are highlights from the Our People and Our Planning sections.
Our People
Our People are students, staff, and faculty on our campuses -- the people who help us move our sustainability targets forward. Our Sustainability Plan highlights the great work completed by our Belonging, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Task Force, the outstanding efforts by the Student Wellness and Accessibility team to support our staff and students, and it maps our next steps to embed sustainability into our daily lives. The connections between Sustainability and EDI isn’t always immediately obvious. Check out this video to learn more how EDI, Truth and Reconciliation, and Sustainability are connected.
This year, our first-year students were asked “What does Sustainability mean to you”? Here are some of my favourite responses submitted by students:
"Sustainability means to find ways to live a healthy and happy and do our part in helping our planet."
"Something that will last."
"Sustain - to move forward into the future without significant impact on the environment that we live in, and reciprocate - give back what you ASK to use."
"Vital"
"Sustainability to me, means incorporating every way to help reduce waste in my everyday life. This includes recycling, carpooling, and composting for our vegetable garden. By passing on these skills to my children it ensures a sustainable way of living will be passed onto the next generation."
Food for Thought
"We have to cultivate contentment with what we have. We really don’t need much. When you know this, the mind settles down. Cultivate generosity. Delight in giving. Learn to live lightly. In this way, we can begin to transform what is negative into what is positive. This is how we start to grow up." – Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Our Planning
SLC has adopted a strategic plan that emphasizes the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and our lenses of sustainability. Embedded in our planning and our decision-making, sustainability is a cornerstone of the organization. Strong financial health metrics enable SLC to take advantage of opportunities, innovate, and lead our campuses and communities towards a more sustainable tomorrow.
We are very excited to launch the SLC Sustainability Implementation Advisory Committee next month! The committee consists of staff, students, and faculty, and will provide guidance and direction on key actions required to achieve the multi-layered targets stated within the Sustainability Plan.
Food for Thought
"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction." – Rachel Carson