New five-year plan plants the seeds of sustainability
Posted: January 13, 2016 2:30 p.m.
The U of R's official launch of the Strategic Plan for Sustainability. (l-r) Dr. Thomas Chase, Provost and Vice-President (Academic), Nwakaku Okere, environmental systems engineering student, Dr. Vianne Timmons, President and Vice-Chancellor, Warren Steinley, MLA. Photo by Trevor Hopkin - U of R Photography.
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The University has launched its first Strategic Plan for Sustainability.
Over the next five-years this plan will help the campus become a leader in environmental responsibility.
University of Regina President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Vianne Timmons says that with this plan the University has taken a bold step forward in its commitment to sustainability.
“Our new plan for a more sustainable campus came together through the work of many people,” says President Timmons. “It’s a bold plan that puts sustainability at the core of our teaching, research, and campus life, ensuring that we embrace emerging opportunities in sustainability and take into account the economic, cultural, social, and personal wellbeing of our campus community.”
Five areas of focus are outlined in the plan – leadership, waste, energy, transportation, and communication and engagement. Also provided are steps people can take toward sustainability, such as expanding the University’s recycling programs and working with the City of Regina to improve transit service.
Sustainability is already a part of campus life – from classes such as Psychology and Environmental Change, to water bottle filling stations designed to reduce waste from disposable plastic water bottles. This plan is to further motivate the University community to engage in sustainable initiatives - actions that will elicit real and positive changes.
For Nwakaku Okere, an environmental engineering student who helped work on the plan as part of her Co-operative Education work term, working on the plan itself was inspirational.
“I wouldn’t hesitate to call my working on this plan transformative,” says Okere. “During my time as the Sustainability Intern I was exposed to so many different people, from so many different backgrounds, all of whom made me question my definition of sustainability and helped me to grow both as a future engineer and as a person.”
To find your own inspiration, read the Strategic Plan for Sustainability.
Sustainability Stories:
Looking at reducing bottled water at the University of Regina