The Sustainability Soirée, held on May 16 at the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, is an annual celebration of staff, faculty and student contributions to sustainability on campus.
UBC’s sustainability champions gathered together on May 16 for the Sustainability Soirée at the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, to celebrate UBC's commitment to sustainability on campus. The annual event shines the spotlight on faculty, staff, and student contributions to sustainability-focused research projects and employee engagement programs.
Over 150 participants from the SEEDS Sustainability Program and the Sustainability Coordinator Program in offices and labs gathered for the event. They represent just a portion of the nearly 1,000 participants in applied campus sustainability research projects and employee engagement programs which support achieving UBC’s sustainability targets, operational priorities, international commitments and sustainability learning.
Michael White, Associate Vice President of Campus + Community Planning.
“It's been an excellent year for sustainability and we are making significant progress in achieving our targets, in large part due to the dedication and leadership of the staff, faculty, and students here today,” said Michael White, Associate Vice-President of Campus and Community Planning.
With the help of conservation efforts across campus, White announced that by the end of 2016, UBC had reduced campus greenhouse gas emissions by 33% relative to 2007, despite the growth of the campus. With UBC’s Climate Action Plan 2020 update recently completed, UBC is now working towards the next set of ambitious climate targets.
Dr. Rickey Yada, Dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems with student Madeline Wilson and Marie-Claude Fortin, Professor at Faculty of Land and Food Systems.
White made special mention of the UBC SEEDS Sustainability Program, which was recognized last year with several awards including from the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC). The program creates partnerships between students, faculty and operational staff to collaborate on innovative research projects to advance sustainability on campus.
Sharing their sustainability stories
Six presenters shared their experiences with the SEEDS Sustainability Program and Sustainability Coordinators Programs. They represented just a few of the diverse sustainability projects which take place across campus each year. However, each presenter had one thing in common - a passion for sustainability.
Speakers at the event included (from lef)t: Jude Tate, Director of Equity and Inclusion; Karen Reid, Research and Operations Manager at Michael Smith Laboratories; Blair Satterfield, Assistant Professor at School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture; Kristy McConnel, graduate from School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture; Brianna Brown, Masters of Management student at Sauder School of Business; and Karen Bartlett, professor at the School of Population and Public Health.
Kristy McConnel, a recent graduate of the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) spoke about her SEEDS research project on urban agriculture in campus multi-unit residential buildings.
Karen Bartlett, a professor at the School of Population and Public Health shared her experiences as a Sustainability Coordinator in a research environment.
For her SEEDS Sustainability Program project, Brianna Brown, a Masters of Management student at Sauder School of Business, worked with the UBC Bookstore to develop sustainable packaging guidelines for gifts and clothing.
“We have a responsibility to serve our community members – in this case, the bees,” said Blair Satterfield, a professor at the School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture (SALA) who spoke about his Design Media class’ collaboration with the SEEDS Sustainability Program and the City of Vancouver’s City Studio to deliver designs for “pollinator-houses” (for bumblebees, mason bees, wasps, butterflies, and other pollinators).
A seasonal menu
Sampling fresh and seasonal foods.
This year the event’s organizers challenged UBC Food Services to cater a sustainable menu that was low carbon (containing no cow milk or meat), locally and seasonally sourced, and Fair Trade. David Speight, Executive Chef & Culinary Director of UBC Food Services, pulled out all stops and delivered a 90% locally sourced, plant-based menu.
UBC’s first vegan, Fair Trade dessert.
Amongst the innovative menu items was a homemade rhubarb lemonade bottled right here on campus, a sorghum salad with veggies from the UBC Farm, and the first dessert to be served on campus made entirely of Fair Trade ingredients - a vegan chocolate tart.
Katherine Hastie of the UBC Farm speaks to guests at the interactive station.
An interactive station gave Katherine Hastie from the UBC Farm the opportunity to speak with people about how they are working with UBC to support seasonal, locally sourced and plant-based choices on campus.
UBC Food Services team including Colin Moore, Director, Food Service Operations, Melissa Baker, Manager of Nutrition and Wellbeing, and David Speight, Executive Chef & Culinary Director of UBC Food Services.
A successful year for SEEDS
Liska Richer, manager of the SEEDS Sustainability Program.
Liska Richer, Manager of the SEEDS Sustainability Program highlighted the program‘s recent successes. This year they had 946 participants, including 750 students, 77 faculty, and 124 staff and community partners in 9 faculties and 40 departments. SEEDS managed 135 projects and integrated sustainability-focused projects into 41 undergrad and graduate courses. Slides shown during the event highlighted a wide-range of SEEDS projects from tree policy, to wellbeing, food recovery, and biodiversity.
Bringing sustainability to offices and labs
Hannah Land, Green Labs Energy & Water Coordinator and Charlene Ponto, Sustainability Policy Implementation Coordinator.
Charlene Ponto, Sustainability Policy Implementation Coordinator and Hannah Land, Green Labs Energy & Water Coordinator shared an update on the Green Offices and Labs program. They recognized the support of the Sustainability Coordinator Program which is comprised of 140+ faculty and staff departmental champions. The Green Offices and Labs program provides support, skills, and tools to the Sustainability Coordinators so they can foster sustainability in offices and laboratories across campus.
In her remarks, Ponto shared some of the achievements of the Green Office program. One of the successful initiatives was the Seasonal Shutdown campaign, a campus-wide effort to turn down the heat in buildings and engage staff and faculty to complete energy-saving tasks before leaving for winter holidays, resulting in energy savings of 357,000 kWh and cost savings of $20,000.
Other achievements included launching a new energy conservation campaign, an updated UBC Sustainable Purchasing Guide for the campus, and hosting workshops and training opportunities for staff and faculty. In addition, they encouraged hundreds of UBC employees to participate in Bike to Work Week, leading to UBC being recognized as a regional champion.
Sustainability Coordinators in labs: Katherine Serrano, Clinical Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine; Ligia Gheorghita, Environmental Services Advisor, Risk Management Services; and Karen Reid, Research and Operations Manager at Michael Smith Laboratories.
Land shared some of the impacts the Green Labs program had over the last year. One of the highlights was the Chill Up Challenge held at Michael Smith Laboratories, which engaged 250 researchers to conserve energy by adjusting the temperature ultra low temperature (ULT) freezers which consume as much energy as a single-family home. Following the challenge, over half of the ULT freezers are now set to the new temperature, saving 38,000 kWh of electricity each year.
The Green Labs program engages hundreds of researchers to minimize the environmental impact of UBC’s research footprint through quarterly events, tours and educational activities. This year, Sustainability Coordinators who work in labs tackled themes including improving solid waste management, enhancing air quality, and reducing wastewater pollution prevention.
Douglas Justice, Associate Director, UBC Botanical Gardens and Santokh Singh, Senior Instructor in the Department of Botany.
UBC’s sustainability champions play an integral part in helping UBC achieve its sustainability goals in the classroom, research environments, and in everyday operations.
To learn more and to get involved: