The University of Regina has launched its first Strategic Plan for Sustainability, with the goal to become more green.
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 said 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 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 towards 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 and actions that will elicit real and positive changes.
“At a time of shrinking resources and challenges, we need to focus on sustainability in many ways and some of it is going to require resources for us to invest,” said Timmons.
“I don’t think you’ll see anything dramatic, but you’ll see incremental changes over the next five years that will change the face of the campus.” The strategy took three years to come together. During that time, the university gathered input from more than 1,400 staff and students.
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.”
“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.”
