November 20, 2008
Thompson Rivers University students and fellow Kamloopsians will have the opportunity to participate in the university’s first sustainability week beginning Monday, Nov. 24.

Coordinator Vanessa Montagliani said TRU ECO will be hosting a series of events throughout the week with different themes for each day.

“It’s part of the Go Beyond campaign and this is the first time [they have] done it and I think it’s the first time there has been a sustainability week at any of the universities… Hopefully it will be an annual thing,” she said.

The week starts off with Stepping in Front of Cars, a lecture by Ian Currie on climate change, Monday night at 7pm in the Alumni Theatre of the Clock Tower. Currie worked with Al Gore’s Climate Project Canada. Admission is free.

“I want a lot of people to come to the talk on Monday. That’s one of the biggest things, so we’ve been trying to promote that a whole bunch,” Montagliani said.

On Tuesday from 8:30 to 4:30 there will be a waste audit, and information sessions by TNRD on reducing and recycling.

Volunteers are invited to get down and dirty when ten of the 26 buildings on campus will be audited throughout the day. “We’ll basically just go through and say what’s organic material, what’s recyclable, and then we’ll weigh it, and we have data from last year that we’ll be comparing it to,” she said. Anyone interested in helping with the audit should contact Marcia Cleveland at 250.572.6072.

On Wednesday TRU Culinary Arts grad Donovan Cavers will be conducting a presentation on sustainable food practices, and in the evening there will be a community kitchen.

Montagliani said space will be limited to about 15 people, and a small charge will be required to cover the cost of groceries.

Thursday is transportation day, and TRU ECO will encourage students to walk, bike, carpool, or transit to work and school. As well, there will be a place in Old Main where students can sign up for carpools over the Christmas holidays.

“Whoever is going home for the Christmas break can sign up for carpools there, and we might have some carpooling for next semester as well, it all depends how well that turns out.”

To promote Buy Nothing Day (Saturday Nov. 29), and to work against consumerism and overconsumption there will be a stuff swap on Friday. Here people can bring in items from their house that they don’t use anymore, and see if there is anything at the swap they may need.

TRU ECO members will have tables set up all week in Old Main to answer any questions. For more information about the sustainability week contact Bonnie Klohn at tru@campusclimatenetwork.org

TRU ECO works on and off campus to raise awareness of significant environmental issues and to encourage positive changes.

Contact

• Sustainability Week: Bonnie Klohn, Go Beyond,
  (C) 250.819.1571, (E) tru@campusclimatenetwork.org
• Waste Audit: Marcia Cleveland,
  (T) 250.377.8673 ext 2229,(E) clevelandmac@gmail.com