This is an exciting time to be a student at McGill involved in sustainability work. Having been a student here for 5 years (2005-2010), and then working at SSMU for the last two years as Sustainability Coordinator, I’m really excited about what is shaping up. I’ll try give a bit of the flavor of why this moment feels the way it does.
The process over the last couple years to bring together many sustainability efforts on campus has been Vision 2020, which has created a framework for Sustainability at McGill. While not perfect, it has set direction for future sustainability efforts in the community around categories of research (what research is conducted here and how), education (what are people learning about here and how), connectivity (how are we connecting with each other and communicating and collaborating in this and other communities), operations (the physical impact of the campus, like water, energy, food, waste, etc.), and administration & governance (how decisions are made an implemented here). The contents of the Vision 2020 draft Action Plan are really exciting, especially considering it is largely a document for inspiration and there are infinite possibilities for more actions. People around McGill have been involved in crafting the vision and intention behind these actions and are now carrying them forward. Tangible projects are sprouting up all over the place and getting connected in ways that will hopefully allow them to thrive. Just take a look at the 100+ projects of the Sustainability Projects Fund. We very recently became a Fair-Trade Certified Campus (official McGill news story). A couple examples have passed through the Community-Engaged and Experiential Learning and Research (CEELR) group; two complementary online databases of sustainability activity in teaching and research, and the student-led ECOLE project to create a living and gathering space in the McGill community with a focus on how people interact with their environment and each other have both and been helped out by the CEELR group. Ideas and concrete projects that move the community toward sustainability are coming from students, professors, and admin & support staff. There are certainly some roadblocks, but altogether it feels like there is a whole lot of momentum about to be realized in some really cool projects and lasting changes.
Working with students on this subject keeps me on my toes in the best way possible with continuous sharp logic and profound insights on topics ranging from organizational power dynamics to modern-day racism to the definition of sustainability. The concepts we learn and learn to challenge are really interesting and difficult. The experiences and curiosities of professors here bring questions and ideas forward that I had never considered (eg. Have there been “sustainable” societies in human history? Which variations in gene expression are due to geographic versus environmental factors?) The ability of some profs to look at (higher) education broadly and communicate their perspectives has brought me an equal number of “ah ha!” and “uh oh!” moments (eg. being shown a map of which disciplines cite which other disciplines in published academic papers). The admin & support staff here enjoy learning, often feeding off the energy of students and profs and adding a lot of their own through their work.
Working with these people on the actions and goals that have emerged in the Vision 2020 consultative process is very exciting and energizing and all-around cool. That the Vision & Goals of Vision 2020 were endorsed by all four umbrella student societies (SSMU, PGSS, MCSS, MACES) is testament to its community-wide scope and support. It is work that everyone can be part of and is part of it as we are all continually shaping what is around us. With new students coming onto campus, many recently-hired faculty members settling in, and two new upper-administrators having just arrived (including new Principal Suzanne Fortier, the 2nd female and 1st francophone to hold the title in all 192 years of our history, and a new Deputy Provost, Ollivier Dyens), this is a hugely exciting moment rife with opportunity. It’s amazing how much could happen in the next little while, how much progress could be made. Hopefully I’m not jinxing it here when I say that efforts have been building up for years and it feels like we’re approaching a tipping point on sustainability at McGill. But going over a tipping point is never inevitable. It takes energy in the right direction to get there, and championship at the relevant levels (which is often a missing ingredient in big communities). You can absolutely be part of this push, and it’s great experience for your life after McGill. There is a conference being put on by SSMU Environment Committee on November 2nd (details to come) where you can meet people and learn lots, including about the Student Ambassador Board for the McGill Office of Sustainability (MOOS) that is currently forming that you apply to be on. So check out the documents, get on the newsletter, keep an eye on facebook and twitter, come out to events, get into conversations, cause a ruckus (or not), and make something happen. It’s going to be really fun!
