page 17
NE W S
Osgoode sustainability initiatives
continued from cover
food, as well as the Bistro’s willingness to incorporate our suggestions. Also, Osgoode’s commitment to the Bistro became evident through the
re-introduction of the Food Services Advisory
Group. Two students, along with faculty and
staff of Osgoode, as well as the Aramark’s Food
Services team would meet to discuss sustainability issues, food complaints and suggestions, and
other initiatives that could be introduced at the
Bistro. Jamie Prsala, a member of the Sustainability Committee and attendee of the January
2014 Food Advisory Services Group meeting
has written about his experience in this Obiter
Dicta green issue. Please refer to “Sustainability
Through Collaboration: Food Services Advisory
Group,” to learn more.
To highlight a few of the progress
items:
Fair Trade Coffee: We are excited that the Bistro
has agreed to re-introduce Las Nubes coffee
along with regularly brewed Starbucks offerings.
This coffee stems from the Pacific slope of the
Talamanca Mountains in southern Costa Rica,
and has been made possible by the Faculty of
Environmental Studies of York University. The
coffee has been certified sustainable by the Costa
Rican Ministry of Agriculture, reflective of biodiversity protection, shade-grown coffee, water
and soil conservation, and fair labour and fair
trade practices. Thank you to Zach D’Onofrio
for the suggestion! Visit http://www.lasnubes.
org/coffee/ for more information.
Re-introduction of Reusable Mugs/Cups:
In 2013-2014, students were able to utilize
reusable mugs for coffee and reusable cups for
water if they had forgotten their own at home.
When many of the items went missing, Aramark decided to remove this amenity from the
Bistro. With the encouragement of the Sustainability Committee, Aramark has re-introduced
the mugs and cups. Peter Lee will be developing return stations throughout Osgoode, so that
students are less likely to accidentally take the
items from the school, and reusability can be
maintained.
Vegan Mondays: Aramark’s York University wide-initiative has been recently brought to
Osgoode. In the spirit of “Meatless Mondays,”
students are encouraged to try locally grown,
healthy, and vegan options available on Mondays
at the Bistro.
Osgoode Campus Group
In Fall 2013, Ronald Neal and Gun Koleoglu
led a “Lighting Efficiency” signature campaign,
receiving one hundred signatures in support of
a more efficient campus. Students have noticed
that even after the Ignat Kaneff building has
closed for the day, lights remain on in almost
every room. The signature campaign was sent to
Dean Sossin in October as a symbol of student
support to supplement a meeting with an engineering and energy services company retrofitting buildings on York campus.
A second initiative of the group has revolved
around the establishment of an e-waste bin in
the Osgoode building. The bin will provide students with a location to drop their used batteries
and printer cartridges to allow for sustainable
disposal. The group hopes to complete this initiative by the end of the school year, so that come
next Fall, a location for easy disposal will be up
and running.
Tori Chai established a double-sided printing poster that has now been adopted by the
Osgoode library. The poster instructs students
about how to double-side print on the upstairs
printer – make sure to check out the instructions
if you do not already know how. Unfortunately,
at this time, double sided printing is only available on the upstairs printer. Sarah Virani has also
been working to create an educational coffee disposal poster campaign on campus. Unbeknownst
to many coffee drinkers, each part of a coffee
cup must be disposed of in different receptacles.
The cup itself usually has a wax coating on the
inside and must be thrown out in the garbage.
The paper sleeve is recyclable in the paper bin,
while the lid is to be placed in the plastic bin. As
a result of student confusion, we are working to
create a sticker that will be placed on all garbage
bins throughout the school including directions
for proper disposal.
Events Group
Lug-A-Mug in February 2013 was such a success that the Osgoode Sustainability Committee worked to bring back the event in the Fall.
To encourage students to bring reusable coffee
mugs to campus, we provided some incentive.
During Lug-A-Mug week, students who made an
effort to utilize a reusable container (for water or
coffee) won a free coffee from the Bistro. Lug-AMug will become an annual event at the school,
but we remind students, faculty, and staff that
every day is an occasion to lug-a-mug! You also
receive a $0.15 discount on your coffee purchase
at the Bistro if you do..
February 2014 marked the first Fork Drive,
an initiative led by Hongyi Geng, Jamie Prsala
and Tori Chai. Osgoode’s Sustainability Committee teamed up with Aramark to return metal
forks, spoons, and knives to the Bistro. In past
years, Aramark provided metal cutlery to students, faculty, and staff, but this was unfortunately stopped when borrowed items went
unreturned. Based on encouragemen