Our Goals for 2009-2010

Action Based, Skills Oriented Learning:
No more will the term education campaign signify placing volunteers behind a table, handing out pamphlets about this or that issue and telling people to change. Yes, tabling and this kind of awareness raising can be effective, but for the challenges we face today, we also need action.
So here at the Sustainability Initiative, our education campaigns are actions based and skills oriented. What does this mean? It means that LUSU strives to send you away, not only with knowledge about a particular issue, but also with the skills to take meaningful action. This year will be full of volunteer opportunities, skills workshops and roundtable talks that send you home with more than just bad news.
Sustainable Business Practices:
LUSU is a not-for-profit corporation. As such, we conduct business in ways similar to other corporations. In order to be sustainable, LUSU is dedicated to moving towards more socially and environmentally accountable practices. We must lead by example. This year we have three main objectives:

Green Power: LUSU is dedicated to moving our power consumption habits away from non-renewable, detrimental sources. It is our objective to power one of our social spaces (the Outpost or the Study) with 100% clean, renewable energy by the end of this academic year.
Composting: LUSU is committed to reducing our waste. As a part of this commitment, LUSU is establishing a composting program that will serve all of our offices, centres and the Outpost. The main compost site is already established in the LUSU Eco farm, located in the center of the Braun Building.
Purchasing Policy: Last year, two members of the Sustainability Committee created a purchasing policy for LUSU. The policy includes progressive purchasing requirements that ensure that all business conducted by LUSU is good, clean and fair. We intend to have the policy passed and implemented by the Board of Directors this year.

Consensus and Vision Building:
In order to make meaningful changes to our campus and communities, we must first have a vision for sustainability that is inclusive and community driven. SO, this year, the Sustainability Initiative will be running a program called ˜What We Mean, Here", designed to first engage our communities about what they want a sustainable campus/community to look like, and then develop a long term strategy for sustainability based on what comes out of the program outreach. The program includes surveys, interviews and open houses so that all community members may participate in the development of a local vision for sustainability.
Permanence:
The Sustainability Initiative has already seen some great successes, however, in order to champion a long term vision of sustainability, the initiative, the commissioner and their programs must establish a more secure, permanent place in the LU community. In order to establish a stable foothold, the Sustainability Initiative is dedicated to beginning the transition from a dependency on granting monies to self-reliance through the generation of revenue and other non-traditional value streams.

The 2009-2010 year is gearing up to be a big one! Having successfully received $27 000 from the NOHFC to hire a full-time Sustainability Commissioner, we began the new year in May. Since then, the commissioner, Alex Boulet, the LUSU team and the Sustainability Initiative volunteer crew have been hard at work to prepare for the school year. So far we have established the LUSU Eco-farm Prototype, established a local food brand, grown and sold LUSU Local produce at the farmers market, set up an office compost, established a website (this one!) and began the planning of a Sustainable Communities in the North conference, tentatively scheduled for the beginning of March 2010.

The fall will be an exciting time of growth, learning and, of course, harvest! The first component of the year will be based around the LUSU Eco farm project and food security. And, no, we're not just talking about sitting at a booth in the Agora telling people to change their lives. What we're talking about is action, giving students tangible skills and spaces to grow and learn as they please. Some of the things we have planned are canning workshops, learning to jam, jelly, pickle and dehydrate and generally preserve the summer's harvest. We will also offer a soil building workshop for students who want to get ready for next year's growing season and an Earthship building workshop! Throughout the year, we will be introducing DIY alternative technologies into the Eco-farm, and the fall technology will be a solar dehydrator.

Finally, we'll be hosting an open house/party at the Study Coffee House to kick off the year and get input from all our community members regarding what they want their Sustainability team to be working on with/for them during the busy school year. In order to remain transparent and valuable to the student body, the Initiative has only tentative plans for much of the remainder of the year. Following the open house at the Study on September 16, 2009 (7:30 until close), we will schedule the remainder of the year (winter and spring) based on your input, so please come out and have your say in the how the year takes shape!