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University of British Columbia 2006 Campus Sustainability Achievement Award Application

Category

Four-year and graduate institutions over 10,000 student FTE

Contact

Ruth Abramson
Manager, Marketing/Communications, Sustainability Office
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
(604)822-0473
ruth.abramson@ubc.ca

Governance & Administration

UBC not only has a comprehensive strategic plan, it has sustainability at the core of it. UBC's vision and mission (both published in 2005) state:

The University of British Columbia, aspiring to be one of the world's best universities, will prepare students to become exceptional global citizens, promote the values of a civil and sustainable society, and conduct outstanding research to serve the people of British Columbia, Canada, and the world.

And...

As responsible members of society, the graduates of UBC will value diversity, work with and for their communities, and be agents for positive change. They will acknowledge their obligations as global citizens, and strive to secure a sustainable and equitable future for all.

(http://www.ubc.ca/about/mission.html)

What's more, in 2006, UBC became North America's first university to launch a comprehensive Sustainability Strategy complete with 68 targets and actions designed to achieve the vision and mission.

(http://www.sustain.ubc.ca/ia.html)

The university long ago signed the Talloires and Halifax declarations and, in 1997 became Canada's first university to adopt a sustainable development policy. In 1998 we opened the first university Sustainability Office in Canada.

The office has always-including the past two years-been funded entirely by savings from its energy reduction programs. In the past two years, the SO, has employed seven staff members and 10 students.

Also in the past two years, UBC's Sustainability Advisory Committee has received several new appointments. The committee is a select group of faculty, staff, and student representatives who identify strategic opportunities for sustainability initiatives, help establish and maintain sustainability as a high-priority focus throughout UBC, and facilitate consultation with the university community.

UBC also has an Official Community Plan for Part of Electoral 'A' that is internationally acclaimed for its sustainability features. In the past two years it has guided construction of a University Town at UBC which consists of: conserved campus green spaces; mixed-use centres in a compact area; non car focused transit; and a cutting-edge Residential Environmental Assessment Plan or REAP (published in 1996).

REAP
Since the LEED system does not yet have a rating system for residential units, to ensure green building design in UBC's new residential developments, UBC developed its own green building assessment program. Residential developments at UBC feature:

• High density and small lots.
• Bicycle storage and fewer parking spots for automobiles.
• Energy-efficient lights and appliances plus electricity-use monitoring.
• Less use of volatile-organic-compound-emitting materials.
• Stormwater management and construction techniques that include sediment control.
• Central mechanical venting systems for improved air quality.
• Dual-flush and/or low-flow toilets in some units.

UBC is also a member of a number of sustainability organizations:

• Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
• University Leaders for a Sustainable Future
• Canada Green Building Council
• National Wildlife Federation (Campus Ecology Program)

Operations

UBC has so many successes in the past year alone it fills a 28-page report! Highlights include:

• The largest energy upgrade ever to take place on a Canadian campus finished in 2006. The project reduces energy use by 20 percent annually. It also cuts annual CO2 emissions by 15,000 tonnes and water use in core facilities by up to 30 percent each year.


• In 2005-6, UBC demonstrated leadership by purchasing enough Green Power Certificates to power two buildings.


• UBC Okanagan's 2006 geo-exchange heating and cooling system uses groundwater as an energy source. It'll save more than $100,000 annually. Over 20-years, it'll prevent the emission of more than 38,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.


• Sustainability Street is a new project designed to be the world's first closed-loop system integrating stormwater management, wastewater treatment, and ground source heat pumps. It will not only demonstrate the latest in sustainable "street" design, it will also teach and inspire the world to build with the lightest of ecological footprints.


• The new Life Sciences Centre won LEED gold certification in early 2006.


• The Aquatic Ecosystems Research Laboratory opened in 2005. It'll be certified at LEED silver.


• UBC's award-winning green buildings drew a steady flow of interested visitors. In 2005-6, the SO gave 35 tours, including groups from Regina and Seattle and as far afield as China.


• In 2005, UBC's custodial services began a project using certified green cleaning products. By early 2006, custodial services had expanded the project to nine buildings on campus.


• For the fourth year running, in 2006 UBC's 145 faculty and staff Sustainability Coordinators saved the university another $75,000 worth of electricity.


• Despite a 27-percent increase in students since our 1998-99 baseline, in 2006 UBC has reduced its use of virgin white, recycled white paper as well as recycled coloured paper (in 8.5-by-11, 8.5-by-14 and 11-by-17-inch sizes) by 19 percent. On a per capita basis, we've reduced paper use by 37 percent. And in terms of our total paper expenditure, we've increased use of recycled paper by 21 percent since 1998-99.


• In early 2005, UBC's Health Research Resource Office set up a new initiative designed to save money for researchers while salvaging chemicals that would have normally been thrown out. Researchers are now encouraged to donate their surplus chemicals to western Canada's first university central depository.


• UBC diverted more than 2,000 tonnes of garbage from the landfill. That's a diversion rate of 42 percent, which means that UBC is diverting almost half of its garbage. The rest of the campus's garbage went to composting and recycling.


• Canada's first university in-vessel composter opened in 2005. Since then, it has digested 130 tonnes of waste collected from more than 30 sites on campus, including residences, private housing developments, and institutional buildings.


• In 2006, UBC's sustainable transportation management department's universal transportation pass gave all students unlimited access to public transit services. U-Pass has boosted transit ridership by more than 53 percent.

Curriculum & Research

UBC is the birthplace of some of the world's most important breakthroughs in sustainability including:

• Today, Bill Rees and Mathis Wackernagel's concept of the "ecological footprint" is used worldwide by governments, corporations, and NGOs. Last year alone it was adopted by Australia's largest property group, among other organizations and governments.


• The Centre for Human Settlements was the first of its kind in Canada. In the past two years it has conducted multidisciplinary research and capacity-building programs related to regional, urban, and community development. Today, CHS projects include studying new industries and inner city change, urban transformation in Canada, and how to mitigate extreme event risks.


• The Global Sustainable Solutions Exchange (GSSE) was launched in 2006. It'll help users put "ideas into action" through an open source repository of information. It gives every teacher, student, professional, and worker in the world free access to the best knowledge, training, and capability-building resources related to sustainability.

Also:

• More than 300 researchers and faculty members are researching in five broad areas related to sustainability: International Human Rights, Global Citizenship, Social Policy, Cities and Settlements, Green Building, Environment and Resource Management, and Economics and Business.


• UBC offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate courses dealing with issues of sustainability across all faculties.

The following are among the many 2005-6 course and curriculum highlights:

• UBC Okanagan's Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences began offering a Sustainability 100 course in 2005-6.


• In September 2005, the Faculties of Arts and Science launched a new "Global Citizenship Seminar Series." Its primary mission is to educate undergrads on pressing global issues. The project includes a website and the design of a future interdisciplinary course.


• Several departments, including Land and Food Systems and the School of Community and Regional Planning, have now adopted sustainability as a core value.


• The Learning Exchange's Trek program facilitates community-based service learning and sends UBC student volunteers to inner city schools and non-profit organizations during reading week. Last year, at least 25 percent of more than 800 students received course credits for their involvement. Many also received sustainability training.


• UBC's Social, Ecological, Economic Development Studies (SEEDS) program gave hundreds of students the chance to get course credits while working with faculty and staff on campus sustainability issues.


• UBC Okanagan just created a Summer Institute for Indigenous Studies to respond to the needs of mature mid-career indigenous students.


• Researchers from UBC Okanagan's Faculty of Management, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, and the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences began collaborating on a research and education project to record the history of the Kettle Valley Railway's Myra Canyon trestles. (A national historic site, the trestles were lost in the Okanagan wildfires of 2003 and are now being rebuilt in a program slated for completion in 2007.) This project promotes the economic sustainability of the Myra Canyon Park and its estimated $5-million annual contribution to the Okanagan region's economy.

Community Service and Outreach

In 2005-6, six SO-employed students conducted student outreach, including:

• Promoting a campus-wide Graduation Pledge for Sustainability program that included a monthly newsletter, career planning, training, and networking sessions.
• Developing a sustainability training program for UBC's 500 first-year student orientation leaders.
• Running a residence Sustainability Coordinator program in two junior residences that house 500 students.
• Staffing booths at more than 10 fairs and information sessions, as well as staging various presentations that reached hundreds of students on campus.
• Operating Canada's only tri-mentoring program in sustainability. In the program's second year, 33 industry mentors were paired with 66 junior and senior-level students.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

The SO website received an average of 4,000 hits per day in 2005-6. Interested parties checked in from all over North America, as well as from such overseas nations as India, the Philippines and the UK.

We responded to more than 250 inquiries from individuals, institutions, governments, and businesses locally and from around the world, and SO initiatives attracted local and international print and web coverage due to their ground-breaking and inspirational impact on the campus sustainability movement. This included 25 media such as:

• The Vancouver Sun
• The Vancouver Courier
• Time magazine

Events

More than 500 students attended UBC's second annual Student Sustainability Day in October 2005. The event hosted booths from 15 sustainability-related groups from UBC and beyond, including the UBC Farm, Natural Resources Canada, and the UBC Reiki Club. The day also featured a drumming circle and a huge display of one day's worth of garbage collected from the Student Union Building.

Campus Media

The SO either produced articles or was featured in at least 10 UBC campus media.

Off-campus Presentations

Throughout the year, a variety of noteworthy organizations and events approached us for our expertise. SO staff members presented UBC sustainability initiatives to 15 organizations including:

• State University of California at UCLA, Davis, Santa Cruz, and Santa Barbara
• Kao Siung University, Taiwan
• University of Kuwait

UBC Presentations

SO staff conducted more than 15 presentations for campus groups and classes. We also:

• Distributed a DVD on sustainability at UBC to 40 organizations and individuals and showed it to a variety of campus audiences.
• Mounted 10 booths at various events on campus
• Displayed two UBC green buildings at the Ideas that Last Exhibition hosted by the new Design Centre for Sustainability on Granville Island.
• Moderated a panel for the BC Energy forum and consulted for the University of Guelph.

JOINT VENTURES

In 2005-6, the SO:

• Joined forces with the Sierra Youth Coalition to launch UBC's second annual Campus Sustainability Day in October.


• Worked with UBC Properties Trust and Adera Properties to investigate the impacts of different energy- saving measures on the performance of buildings. The results were used to refine the new Residential Environment Assessment Program.


• Worked with the Greater Vancouver Regional District's Low Rise Task Force to help develop a strategy for making low-rise residential buildings more sustainable.

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