Green from top to bottom
Durham College president Don Lovisa, left, says that Ontario’s colleges can head up future green initiatives in the province. The college’s renowned Centre for Food, which has been internationally recognized for its sustainable practices, is one of them. Among those helping with the green charge on campus are Tanya Roberts, the college’s sustainability coordinator, and Tony Doyle, the centre’s associate dean.
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
The head of Durham College says the ongoing battle against climate change is one that can be led by Ontario’s colleges.
And those words are supported by the recently released report from Colleges Ontario which explains that the province’s 24 colleges are not only teaching the next generation of leaders what it takes to be sustainable, but are also taking steps as organizations themselves.
“Colleges have developed and implemented broad and significant measures to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change, in everything from the development of new programs in renewable energy and sustainable construction practises to facility and building upgrades that have cut energy use and emissions,” the report reads.
For Don Lovisa, the president of Durham College, that’s exactly as it should be.
“You have to put your money where your mouth is,” he says.
“It’s really sort of taking responsibility as an institution to help the environment and to do our part, and by taking a leadership role we prepare a whole generation of students that have that mindset.”
Among the different green and sustainable initiatives listed in the report, from Loyalist College’s carpooling program to the rooftop solar installation at St. Lawrence College, the largest of any post-secondary institution in the province, Durham College stands out from the pack with a series of sustainable movements that touch everything from policy to programming.
“We continue to look for new ways to be innovative and new ways to make our mark,” Lovisa says.
In particular, the college’s Centre for Food (CFF) in Whitby acts as a microcosm of the post-secondary institution’s mindset for the future.
The facility has received international recognition and countless awards for its field-to-fork initiative that sees the colleges culinary programs plant, care for and harvest a variety of fruits and vegetables on campus to be used at Bistro 67, the on-campus restaurant and cafe. Most recently, the CFF was recognized in Brazil by the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics with a gold achievement in its Green Colleges category.
“What we’re doing really, really impressed people,” says Tony Doyle, the CFF’s associate dean. “On a global stage, it’s coming together and trying to advance the idea of sustainability around food, but locally, for us, it’s realizing that what we’re doing it different.”
For Doyle, the centre is creating a generation of students who will be in high demand for future jobs in restaurants focused around the idea of sustainable practices.
The CFF is also not the only steps DC is taking, as the college has implemented countless recycling programs for everything from used electronics to old batteries to textbooks. The college also has 350 solar panels installed on the roof of the Whitby campus along with six, vertical axis wind turbines. The north campus in Oshawa also houses a 70-tonne geothermal system that provides efficient heating and cooling.
Several programs also deal with everything from alternative heating methods to sustainable carpentry and, according to Tanya Roberts, the schools sustainability coordinator, an audit of the school’s courses is underway to find ways to implement more sustainability measures and help the college on its way to a silver certification in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), which recognizes the sustainable milestones of colleges and universities.
“The biggest part of that is academic,” Roberts says. “We have over 4,000 courses, so trying to audit all those courses and trying to understand how much sustainability is in all those courses is a huge undertaking.”
The college hopes to improve on their bronze certification by the end of the year.
Due to all these steps, Lovisa says the province should be looking to colleges for guidance.
“We can do a lot to help the government sort of move the yardstick and to demonstrate to the community and our students and future leaders, what can be done at an organizational level,” he says.