Commuter Challenge is a national program that encourages Canadians to walk, cycle, ride-share/carpool, tele-work or take transit instead of driving alone to work.  Individual Canadians can participate in addition to workplaces.  We encourage you to give your car some time off in June and make a difference! Details at  www.commuterchallenge.ca

Are you part of SheridanCares? Do you want to be part of SheridanCares? Do you want to find out more? Make Suggestions or contribute ideas? Or just talk green? Come to the session on Thursday, April 30, 10:30AM, at Sheridan’s annual PD event, “Make It So”. See full program schedule.

Well, this is sort-of work related, since many of us come to Sheridan with store-bought coffee in hand. On Earth Day, Wednesday April 22, if you head in to your local Starbucks with a travel mug in hand, they will fill it with yummy Pike Place blend coffee for free! Details on Starbucks web site. Keep using a refillable mug and you get a 10 cent discount every time. Our on-campus outlets (Caf, Tims, Second Cup) also offer a 10 cent discount if you bring your own mug (BYOM).

I’ve been doing a little experiment over the last week. I moved the small trash bin out of my cubicle so it is not so “easy” to throw stuff out. I have to get up out of my cube and put waste in either the trash bin or the recycling centre in the main office area. It’s an interesting idea… it gets me out of my seat and also forces me to think about what I am throwing out.  I mentioned this to the person over the cube wall and he looked in his cube trash bin to find a couple things that should have gone to blue or green bins. Even with the best of intentions, we are busy so we can’t always be conscious of what we are doing. Perhaps try this yourself and see what you find out.

Halton Region is using the Trafalgar campus as a drop-off site for household hazardous waste and electronics on Saturday, May 23rd. See a full list of drop-off dates and sites.

Household hazardous waste includes: batteries of any type, paints, stains, acids (rust remover), aerosol cans (full), antifreeze, bleach, compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) & tubes, fertilizers, fuels, garden chemicals, most household cleaners, medications, motor oil and filters, pesticides, pool chemicals, propane tanks (including portable bottles), solvents and varsol.  Basically, anything that carries one of these symbols. NONE of these items should go out in regular garbage.

Turn off your lights during Earth Hour on March 28 2009, 8:30pm to 9:30pm.

“I’m just one person.”

The symbolic way in which this phrase was uttered by a single person at the beginning of the video and then by a multitude of voices (and those adorable kids at the end!) says it all.    During the first Earth Hour in Sydney, Australia, in 2007,  2,100 businesses and 2.2 million people participated, resulting in a 10.2% drop in power consumption.  During last year’s Earth Hour on March 29 2008,  Toronto’s power consumption was 8.7% lower than it normally would have been at that date and time, and Ontario saw an overall drop of 5.2% .  See more GTA figures.

Some people feel that this barely scratches the surface; that 8.7% or 10.2% is just a small drop in a huge, overwhelming, bucket and that participating in Earth Hour is pointless.  Maybe this is what our own PM was thinking last year when he left all the lights on in his residence during Earth Hour, even as the city of Ottawa participated. Observers reported seeing all the bright lights of 24 Sussex Drive blazing as they walked through the darkened city streets.  Regardless, it’s not just the act of turning off your lights for an hour once a year.  It’s about awareness; it’s about our relationships with others, with ourselves, and with the Earth.

“I’m just one person.”

Your one voice can be heard by many, and each person who hears has a voice of their own that can also be heard by many. Your actions are a model, an example, to everyone who witnesses.  As a single individual, you have the power to turn one hour into a hundred hours; those one hundred hours can become a hundred thousand hours; those one hundred thousand hours can become one hundred million hours.  Unfathomable achievements can be made when you believe in yourself, and when you believe in something enough to speak and take action.

Earth Hour: March 28th 2009, 8:30 to 9:30pm!

What are your plans for Earth Hour?

Post a comment and share!  Just remember that if you use candles, use them safely!!
25 Ways to Mark Earth Hour

More Information about Earth Hour:

Global Earth Hour Site
Earth Hour Canada
Earth Hour 2009 (Toronto Star) (also has some stats and photos from 2008)
Wikipedia: Earth Hour (history, issues/controversies)

Local Participating Cities:
Hamilton Oakville Burlington Mississauga Brampton Toronto

Oakville has given the okay to move the bus loop to Ceremonial Drive starting in fall 2009 (read Oakville Today article). Even better, GO buses will also begin to use the loop which will include 5 bus bays and “improved customer amenities”, whatever that means. It will certainly be better than the one shelter that currently exisits and, having taken GO for a month back in November, I can personally attest to what a great improvement it will be having their buses coming into campus.

The bad news is that disposable coffee cups cannot be recycled. The good news is that most cups, including Tims, can go in the Green Cart! This was news to me but it shows how you’ve got to keep open and learning on these things. A quick call to Halton Region Waste Management explained that disposable paper food packaging, if it can be easily ripped, can go into the Green Cart. (If it cannot be easily ripped, there is a plastic liner and it must go in the garbage.) Plastic coffee cup tops must go in the garbage.

Think how many cups we go through here at Sheridan (hundreds and hundreds a day) and the difference that could be made if they were diverted from waste. All it takes is people caring enough to set up a Green Cart in their office and then take it home to their municipal program. If you’re looking for one, try one the People Who Care.

On a related note, in the Career Centre we are starting an initiative called “roll up the rim to help others win”. Essentially if you buy a Tim’s coffee and win a prize (coffee, donut or cookie only) we are asking people to donate the winning back to support people in need. We saw this idea at another school and we think it would be great to try here.  Drop off your winning tabs in the bucket in the Career Centre!

We set up a water cooler in the Career Centre this week to help discourage use of individual bottled water. Bottled water has high costs for both the individual purchaser and the environment (see June 11, 2008 post).

I know, they say that tap water is the best option for the environment but many people don’t want to drink it so this is the next best alternative and is certainly better than individual bottles. We obtained a table-top cooler that does not have an integrated fridge in the base (wastes power), is EnergyStar certified, and only heats on demand rather than constantly.

In addition, the r/o purefied water comes from a local store and is brought in by Career Centre staff (rather than delivered) to reduce carbon footprint and cost (a large 5 gal jug of water is $2.50!) .

Yesterday’s Sheridan Sun carried an article titled “Sheridan Needs college-wide green plan.” It inspired me to add my $0.02 with this brief Letter to the Editor:

Further to your February 19th article, “Sheridan needs college-wide green plan,” I couldn’t agree more and I’m sure there are many others who care enough about the environment to feel similarly. But that doesn’t mean we need to wait to take action. Here in the Trafalgar Career Centre & CoOp, last semester we began our own green program and made a signed pledge detailing a commitment to reduce our environmental impact at work. People in the Continuing Education department heard about it and cared enough to join in too! Think globally, act locally. We look forward to participating in a college-wide plan once there is policy but when it comes to the environment, it’s time to take action and perhaps that will help drive policy too. We invite others who care to get involved.