'A culture of sustainability': Upcoming panel will highlight UTM’s environmentally-friendly initiatives
On Nov. 17, U of T Mississauga is getting specific about its plans for a greener future.
As part of University of Toronto’s ongoing tri-campus Adams Sustainability Celebration, Professor Shashi Kant — the founding director of the Master of Science in Sustainability Management program (MScSM) — will host a virtual panel to highlight some of the key elements of UTM’s draft sustainability plan.
The plan sets the framework for keeping campus’ initiatives as environmentally friendly as possible.
With sustainability one of the five priorities on UTM’s current academic strategy, Kant – a member of the Curriculum Innovation sub-committee at the President’s Advisory Committee of the Environment, Climate Change and Sustainability (CECCS) — hopes the panel will draw attention to the goals laid out in the draft plan.
“You can make your plans, but nobody ever reads them,” Kant says, with a laugh. “But this is a high priority for us, and it is a unique plan for U of T, to foster a culture of sustainability at UTM.”
The panel will include Beverley Ayeni, sustainability manager, strategic initiatives; Amrita Daniere, professor of geography and vice-principal, academic and dean at UTM; and Saher Fazilat, chief administrative officer.
“We have a lot of aspirations that we want to implement, but we need people’s support to do that,” says Fazilat, who is the co-chair of the Principal’s Sustainability Advisory Committee (PSAC), alongside Daniere.
Covering 225 acres and with a student body of 15,000 and 2,500 faculty and staff, UTM is the equivalent of a small city, with the potential to make a large environmental impact. PSAC spent a year creating the draft plan (which they aim to finalize for early 2021), consulting with students, staff and faculty to set sustainability goals.
“We’re growing as a campus, but with growth comes responsibility,” says Fazilat. “We want growth not just by increasing the student population, but with a commitment to move forward in a responsible way.”
The draft plan has set targets for five areas:
· Academic Programs and Curriculum
· Research
· Campus Engagement
· Civic Engagement
· Human Resources & Infrastructure
It features 26 goals aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
Sustainability is a long-time passion for Fazilat, who, in her previous role as division head of new construction and major renovations for the Town of Oakville, won both the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and Federation of Canadian Municipalities Community Sustainability Award for her work in sustainable design and construction.
She says members of the advisory committee hope the new plan, and the panel discussion, will increase awareness and advance UTM’s goal of becoming a global leader in green initiatives by fostering a culture of sustainability.
“When you talk to some people on campus, they aren’t aware of some of (our current sustainability programs),” says Fazilat. “The bees, farms, repair cafes … we already do a lot of work around sustainability, but it’s been under the radar.”
Even prior to the creation of the draft plan, she says, UTM had established a strong commitment to environmentalism, including:
· creating a Master of Science in Sustainability Management (MScSM) program
· hosting an awareness-building Sustainability Week featuring Meatless Monday, Trashless Tuesday, Wellness Wednesday, Tech Thursday and Future Friday
· offering UTM BikeShare, which provides free, 24-hour bike rentals and DIY, educational repairs
· reducing campus greenhouse gas emissions by more than 55,000 metric tons over the past decade and setting aggressive climate targets with the Low Carbon Action Plan
· achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) status for campus buildings
· earning Canada’s first Silver Fair Trade Campus designation in 2020 for Hospitality and Retail
· maintaining on-campus bee farms which produce almost 1,000 pounds of honey each year
· cultivating small vertical farms across campus, growing produce for on-campus meal preparations
As the panel moderator, Kant intends to explore not only what needs to be done, but how the combined efforts of various departments within UTM can make it a reality.
“I’ll be asking why sustainability should be a priority,” he says. “Where will it lead us? What is the process of implementation? How will we bring both academic and operations stakeholders together to get it done?”
The panel runs on Tuesday, Nov. 17 from 10-11:30 a.m. Register here for the panel.
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