SMU student union going for green

Vice-President Adam Harris says the SMU student union’s sustainability policy is encouraging recycling and waste reduction throughout the school. (Photo: Jake MacDonald)

The introduction speaks with foreboding and ominous language, like the opening scroll from the movie Star Wars. 

“Our Planet Earth and all of mankind are in jeopardy,” the document begins.  It later warns that humans “threaten the future well-being of all living species.” 

It may sound frightening, but Adam Harris, a vice-president with the Saint Mary’s University Student’s Association, believes in it. The final-year environmental studies student helped author the sustainability policy (http://smusa.ca/Sustainability.asp) aimed at reducing the association’s waste. 

“We had a little bit of fluff at the beginning” to introduce the policy, says Harris, “and then we had some specific targets in there as well …. We thought it was a really good balance.”

The association compared sustainability policies from other universities, such as Dalhousie and the University of Alberta, and tried to draft practical goals, tailor-made for the association. 

“Things that are sustainable sometimes cost more money,” says Harris.  He says the association’s budget is directly tied to enrolment, and in a year with fewer students like this one, it has to be “really careful about what kind of things to aim for.”

The nine-page document aims to reduce consumption. For example, the association will buy only environmentally friendly paper and will use far fewer pages, cutting paper use in half by 2010 and saving almost 60,000 sheets per year. The paper is 100 per cent recycled and costs 30 per cent more, but using less will save money.

The policy also calls for free bike repair for students and promotes carpooling and recycling.

The association drafted the policy largely out of frustration with the university’s administration. Harris says the association decided to take charge and make some changes of its own. The administration has “taken notice of the positive steps we’ve taken, and have kicked up their heels a little bit,” Harris says.  They have also added sustainability tips to the university’s website.

The association’s policy is being felt throughout its various branches, though so far the waves of change may have only amounted to gentle ripples.

Mark Downey, student lounge manager at the campus bar, says the policy has cut the Gorsebrook Lounge’s paper usage through double-sided printing.

“It’s a small step to take,” says Downey.  “If it helps, it helps.  It’s not a big deal to us.”

Though the actions may be modest, Pam Feltmate sees the policy as part of a bigger picture.

“People are a lot more conscious of where they’re putting their waste and what they’re using,” says  Feltmate, an administrative assistant with the association for seven years.

“I can tell that it has really caught on throughout the university.  It’s a very positive thing.”

Harris admitted the policy was not supposed to be earth-shattering.  The small, achievable goals are designed to create tangible success, and perhaps work toward what the policy’s introduction describes as the promotion of “a culture of responsible global citizenship to the campus community.”

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