Last Thursday morning a group of dedicated and passionate individuals were found in the Abbotsford Library Atrium, engaging passerby’s in discussions about sustainability. With free coffee and Timbits, students, staff, and faculty came together to voice their opinions on how UFV and the Fraser Valley community can become more sustainable.
Some suggestions put forward were:
- Increasing the availability and consistency of garbage, recycling, and composting; and actually composting items
- A UFV Farm to supply food for cafeterias, which could lead to an opportunity for student employment
- Campus Carpool initiative
- Green roofs and solar panels on our campuses
- A course where students are responsible for greener changes and the upkeep
- A light rail line to the Fraser Valley
- Encouraging the reduced use of Ziplock bags and use of more recyclable bags or boxes or reusable containers to pack your meals in
The School of Business along with Sustainable UFV encouraged discussions amongst students around the topic of the United Nations 17 global development goals, and answered questions on how their current course research projects could be shaped into an essay entry for the Sustainable Development Essay Competition running till May 01, 2017 (for more details see https://www.ufv.ca/UNgoals).
“It was encouraging to hear from students about what research that they are currently doing and how they wanted to apply it to helping our communities reach the UN’s Global Goals. I think that as staff and faculty members, it is our job to encourage our students to delve into topics around social responsibility and sustainability. I am really looking forward to hearing about all the amazing ideas that will be brought forward within the essay submissions,” said Karmin Gray from the School of Business.
If you missed the event but still wanted to ask us questions around the competition, or suggest ideas for how we can all meet the Global Goals, we would love to hear from you, just email us at prme@ufv.ca