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With the publication of the College Sustainability Report Card 2010, more than 1,100 school survey responses from over 300 institutions are now available online. In total, these surveys offer more than 10,000 pages of data collected from colleges and universities during the summer of 2009. To access surveys from other schools, go to the surveys section of the website. To see grades, or to access additional surveys submitted by this school, please click the "Back to Report Card" link at the beginning or end of the survey.
Name: Victoria Barnett
Position (in student organization): Coordinator
Date survey submitted: July 22, 2009
STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
1) Please describe the student-run campus environmental/sustainability organization in which you have a leadership role.
****This is taken directly from our website, but is the best description that we have***
The SPC is a student-led network of organizations on campus that are passionate about the role of the university in building a sustainable society at the local and global level. Our intention now is to help York operationalize its existing commitments to sustainability and social justice in an effective way – in other words, to go beyond rhetoric to meaningful action.
Our mission is to look at one specific set of policies and practices at York University: the use of York's financial resources as levers of sustainability. Our financial resources are deployed every time the University purchases goods, services and investments.
We are particularly interested in (a) how York University can use its purchasing power to promote sustainability, and (b) how purchasing policy reform can be a model for how York builds its capacity to model participatory, multi-stakeholder decision-making, itself one of the critical dimensions of social sustainability.
The SPC is a non-heirarchical organization, consisting of a Core Team (with members from each of the working groups), and currently 3 working groups. The three working groups are as follows:
Fair Trade Coalition
Green Purchasing
Sustainable Eating
Name of organization: Sustainable Purchasing Coalition
Number of active members: 10
Website: www.yorku.ca/spc_ft
Date of last meeting: June 2009
Frequency of meetings: Every other week for the SPC core team, and every week for the 3 different working groups.
Key issues addressed and programs implemented since August 2008: The SPC has been very active within York. We have been pushing for 4 main targets since the beginning (2005) and currently have been working on 3 main targets from 2008-2009 and onwards. Our first main goal was to implement a No Sweatshops policy at the university. We finally implemented this policy after rallying the university for 3 straight years- last April 2008 the policy was put into place.
For fair trade, we have been working heavily on a fair trade policy for the university from June 2008 until now. The policy is ready and must be presented to the university for debate and implementation hopefully soon.
Our local foods working group has held a few different activities and plans on working towards issues such as waste management, local procurement, and organic farming methods. We hope to educate students on campus about food issues, push for more sustainable choices to be offered on campus, and hold some fun events for students, such as movie nights and educational workshops. We are also focusing on food security, composting, food packaging, vegan / vegetarian options, and supporting Ontario farmers. By changing the food choices offered at York, we can help make the campus a more sustainable and healthy place for both students at York and communities at a local and global level. A local foods workshop was held this past May 2009.
The green purchasing working group has been very small since it's inception. There has only been a few meetings held thus far, with small goals set, but nothing accomplished as of yet.
Progress made on each issue/program since August 2008:
The implementation of the No Sweatshops policy by the university was a huge success. The other major progress was the creation of a Fair Trade policy, that has yet to be looked at or adopted by the university... much work needs to be done for this, but the creation of the policy has been a huge success.
SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES AND COMPETITIONS
2) Does your group organize any sustainability challenges/competitions for your campus and/or with other colleges?
[X] No
*The SPC has not done this, but there are other groups on campus that may have done this. The sustainability council may do something like this, or continue programs currently existing already, but I do not know what those are.
[ ] Yes. Please list details for each competition.
#1 - Name of competition:
Year initiated:
Frequency of competition:
Participants:
Incentives:
Goal of competition:
Percent of energy/water/waste reduced:
Lasting effects of competition:
Website:
SUSTAINABILITY IN STUDENT GOVERNMENT
3) Does your student government include a specific position or committee dedicated to campus sustainability issues?
[ ] No
[X] Yes.
Please describe:
**Please refer to to following website for further information: http://yfs.ca/
The YFS has been actively involved in many different campaigns and advocacy issues. Currently they are working on the "Drop Fees! For a Poverty Free Ontario!" campaign, as well as many other campaigns that have been successful on the campus. It is important to not that sustainability is NOT solely environmental sustainability- it relates also to the sustainability of the student son the campus, to transportation, to fees, to food, to human rights and equity. The YFS continues to be active in these and many other issues related to campus sustainability, and plenty more information (including contact information if necessary) is available on their website above.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
4) Please describe any additional campus sustainability activities or projects that you or your group has initiated at your school:
The Sustainability Council was a very important program that the SPC initiated. Without our continued push for sustainability, and demands for the administration to adopt a no sweatshops policy, the sustainability council would probably not exist. The sustainability council is very new at York and thus far has not had a lot of student involvement, but hopefully this will change in the upcoming years, and more sustainability initiatives and goals can be made and attained.
5) Please list and briefly describe any other student-run organizations related to campus sustainability at your school, and provide URLs if available (e.g., student groups; student government committees; student-run food co-ops, gardens/farms, bike co-ops) and provide contact information of the student leaders, if possible:
***I do not have a lot of this information, but this is what I have found. There are a bunch of grous on campus, but I do not have an extensive list.***
1. http://myideayorku.wordpress.com/
2. www.yorku.ca/susweb
3. www.yorku.ca/spc_ft
Questions 6 is for informational purposes only; your response will NOT be included in the Report Card evaluation process.
6) Please list any regional or national networks with which your group is affiliated (e.g., Energy Action Coalition/Campus Climate Challenge, Sierra Student Coalition, a state PIRG, a state student sustainability coalition):
York does have an OPIRG: http://www.opirgyork.ca/
In terms of other affiliations, I'm not entirely sure if there is anything else. But OPIRG York is very active in many campaigns on campus, and has connections (of course) with the national PIRGs.
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