Dal's director of sustainability wants to see a greener campus
Rochelle Owen is encouraging environmentally friendly practices at Dalhousie. Even though her position was created less than a year ago, she’s making a significant difference.
(0)Thanks to Rochelle Owen, Dalhousie University is on its way to becoming green.
Owen is Dalhousie’s first Director of Sustainability. It’s a position she has held since January. She works with students and departments at the school to increase awareness about environmental issues, raise funds for projects and develop new policies to make Dalhousie more environmentally friendly.
She is also creating publicity about the university’s ongoing projects.
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Rochelle Owen says environmental changes will become easier as people change their attitudes and behaviour.
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Since the position’s inception, Owen has worked closely with Dalhousie’s Eco-Efficiency Centre. The centre focuses on introducing environmental technologies, products and policies.
This year the Eco-Efficiency Centre was rewarded for some of its efforts when Dalhousie became the first Canadian school to be awarded an EcoLogo Environmental Stewardship Award.
Dalhousie was recognized for introducing green cleaning products that are safer and more energy efficient, as well as less toxic and less expensive. Owen says this initiative was underway before she arrived at Dalhousie.
“Facilities Management started the process of switching to green cleaners two or three years ago,” she says. “They’ve focused on using concentrated products with less fragrance.”
Owen nominated Dalhousie for another award it received. The school won a 2009 Champions of Sustainability in Communities Award from a non-profit organization called the Sustainable Endowments Institute. The institute refers to the Eco-Efficiency Centre’s efforts to improve “their environmental and economic sustainability through education, research, and service.”
Before working at Dalhousie, Owen worked for Environment Canada.
“I knew about the Eco-Efficiency Centre at my previous job, and I wanted to have them recognized for their work,” she explains.
Room for improvement
Dalhousie may appear to be ahead of other universities as a leader in environment and sustainability. However the College Sustainability Report Card, also issued by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, tells a different story. The report card examines the environmental policies and plans for 300 universities in Canada and the U.S. Dalhousie University received a C+ overall.
Dalhousie did well in some categories. The school is recognized for its efforts in working toward a sustainability-themed master plan. The categories of student involvement and recycling also received high scores.
Owen acknowledges that Dalhousie still has a lot of work to do in several areas, including transportation, energy efficiency and green buildings.
“We are working on a transportation management plan,” she says. “We already have a rideshare program, but it hasn’t been well promoted and I want to change that. We’ve also applied for a Transport Canada grant so we can start to take a better look at which transportation issues need to be dealt with.”
Owen also says that Dalhousie will introduce a plan in the next year and a half to reduce its greenhouse gasses. She adds that upgrades are being made to existing buildings to make them more energy efficient, and future buildings on campus will be more environmentally friendly, with improved lighting, heating and lab setups.
Owen says the most important changes occur when people adjust their attitudes.
“Behavioral view is key. We want to launch comprehensive sustainability teams to focus on environmental efforts. This will be a kind of grassroots initiative to get people from Dalhousie’s community involved. I think the importance of how people think about the environment can be underestimated sometimes.”
Planning ahead
Owen has a number of plans coming up in the near future. One of these is an electronics recycling program to properly dispose of old computers that are no longer in use at the university. Dalhousie is one of the first institutions to introduce such a concept.
Another project is a light bulb exchange for students and staff. Owen says this will occur in November, and will allow students and staff to exchange their old incandescent bulbs for more energy efficient compact florescent bulbs at no cost.
Owen is also involved in promoting the CBC’s One Million Acts of Green campaign, which encourages people to perform small acts around their homes and communities to help the environment, and to encourage others to do the same.
Students are noticing the difference around campus.
“I think (Dalhousie is) doing a good job, I feel like I can get involved with environmental projects,” says Arts student Arielle Goldschlager. “I find Halifax is generally a pretty green-conscious place.”
Owen realizes that she has a lot of work ahead of her, but she remains optimistic for the future.
“It’s a good time be involved in this position,” she says. “Dalhousie is very interested in continuing to promote the environment.”
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