NOVEMBER 5 2003

News 5

Greening the Ivory Towers

UNBC Campus selected to participate in sustainability project

“Since you are young, fresh, innocent, can you took at ail the beauty of the earth, have the quality of
affection? And can you retain that? For if you do not, as you grow up, you will conform, because that
is the easiest way to live. As you grow up, a few of you will revolt, but that revolt too will not answer the
problem. Some of you will try to run away from society, but that running away will have no meaning.

You have to change society, but not by killing people. Society is you and |. You and I create the soci-
ety in which we live. So you have to change. You cannot fit into this monstrous society. So what are

you going to do? (Krishnamurti, 1974, pp. 14-15).

PGPIRG is happy to announce to you our involvement in
perhaps what may be seen as our largest project yet

The Sierra Youth Coalition (SYC) the youth branch of the
Sierra Club of Canada has asked UNBC to be 1 of 10
Universities across Canada to participate in their Greening
the Ivory Towers Project. The Prince George Public Interest
Research Group (PGPIRG) will be acting as the organizing
body for the GITP here at UNBC.

University campuses across this country are becoming
increasingly aware of why they need to become more sus-
tainable, however much work needs to be done to improve
practices that put the sustainability of our institutions at
risk. The Greening the Ivory Towers Project is meant to pro-
vide institutions with the tools to determine its strengths
and weaknesses with regards to sustainability.

The Greening the Ivory Towers project is based on an
academically developed Campus Sustainability
Assessment Framework (CSAF), which was designed to
help students holistically assess campus sustainability by
understanding the socio-economic and environmental
impacts caused by their institutions. The CSAF is the result
of over two years of intensive work that involved more
than 30 students, professors and experts in the field
of sustainability. The

framework is a direct response to a common need by those
involved in campus sustainability initiatives for a consis-
tent way of measuring socio-economic and ecological sus-
tainability on campus.

The CSAF consists of 170 indicators, which cover every-
thing from economic to social to environmental sustain-
ability. PGPIRG is breaking down these indicators in order
to include as many orgainsations, clubs, classes, faculty,
staff, administration and individuals as possible in this pro-
ject. Organisations such as the UNBC Planning Club and
the Northern Women's Centre are participating in this pro-
ject. The goal of the project here at UNBC is not only to rec-
ognize our sustainability weaknesses but to celebrate our
strengths.

The GITP can be broken down into two main categories,
social /economic and ecosystem.

Over the years the word “sustainability” has received a
bad reputation. Multinational corporations have taken the
phrase away from us and turned it into something corrupt,
they have used it in their ad campaigns, they toss it around
as if it were just the most current trendy buzz word. Its time
for us to take the word ‘sustainability’ back!

A sustainable campus community acts upon its local and
global responsibilities to protect and enhance the health

~ and well being of humans and ecosystems. It actively
engages the knowledge of the university commu-
nity to address the ecological and social chal-
lenges that we face now and in the future.
Higher education institutions play a unique
and important role in society. They are
leaders, innovators, and problem-solvers.

The current challenge of making progress

towards sustainability poses a great

opportunity for institutes of higher edu-
cation to realize their role, and responsi-
bility, as a societal leader.

Knowledge

Health
& Well Being

Economy
& Wealth

The Egg of Sustainability

“Do you know that the world
is mad, that all this is mad-
ness - this fighting, quarrel-

ing, bullying, tearing at each
other? And you will grow up to
fit into this. {s this right, is this
what education is meant for, that
you should willingly or unwillingly fit
into this mad structure called soci-
ety?” Lindsay Cole

UNBC FACTS

*The PGPIRG Compost Program is the
largest University Composting program in
western North America (and to think its all
volunteer run).

*UNBC has one of the highest per capita
rankings of clubs available in on campus
The GITP is a great opportunity to get Canada.
involved and make a difference at UNBC.
PGPIRG is looking for students, staff and faculty
willing to work on this project. There are many
indicators to choose from and a number of great
| people to work. with. For more information on
.»| the Greening the Ivory Towers Project contact
PGPIRG by: coming by our office, phone: 960:
7474, or email: pgpirg@unbc.ca.

* The UNBC endowment lands include
part of Forests for the World, meaning
that we have the highest percentage of
protected areas on campus in Canada.

o “NEVER DOUBT THAT A SMALL GROUP OF THOUGHTFUL, COM-
_ MITTED CITIZENS CAN CHANGE THE Meee INDEED, “asi nies

ONLY THING THAT EVER HAS. s
: ‘MARGARET MEAD