THUNDER BAY -- Confederation College has made plenty of strides toward sustainability, but there are plenty of ways it can still make improvements, said school president Jim Madder.
It’s not good enough to follow what others are doing, the college must be a leader in the community, Madder said on Thursday, renewing the school’s commitment to sustainability, reducing its environmental footprint even further and creating a learning and working environment that encourages students and staff alike to put sustainability practices into use.
“Today we’re celebrating what we’ve accomplished over the last five years, which has been substantial." Madder said.
"But our sustainability committee has actually challenged us to move it to a higher level, to thoroughly embed sustainability practices inside all our curriculum, to move us ahead."
“We think we’re doing OK around energy use in our buildings, but they’ve pointed out, and the new technologies have pointed out, that we can improve our energy use in this building simply by turning our heads to new lighting.”
Madder pointed to a couple of major initiatives undertaken by the school in the past several years of evidence of an already existing commitment to the cause.
He cited the $20-million REACH building, which opened in 2011, constructed to silver lead status and the opening in 2014 of a on-campus biomass energy producing facility.
“We’re significantly reducing our demand for energy,” Madder said. “We’re also showing northern communities how you can use biomass to reduce the dependency on diesel.”
It’s only the start, the school president went on to say.
Improved recycling efforts and water stations that encourage students to use refillable bottles rather than bottled water, will also continue to grow, Madder said. The school is even delving into recycling cigarette butts.
“As we go ahead we’re going to take it to a higher level and increase the expectations we have of ourselves. Our students always push us around sustainability, which is a great thing to move ahead on,” Madder said, acknowledging cap-and-trade legislation is also pushing the agenda.
Student Union of Confederation College Inc. president Jodi Connor said the student body applauds the school’s efforts.
On Thursday the student union played its own part, handing out reusable plastic glasses and lunch containers to help students be more environmentally friendly.
