At a research-intensive university like Â鶹AV, laboratories play a critical role both in advancing solutions for a sustainable future and making its campuses environmentally responsible places to study and work. In fact, Â鶹AV cannot hope to reach its goals of becoming zero-waste by 2035 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2040 without collaboration from the faculty, staff, and students who use these spaces.
Sustainable agricultural practices require considerable investments, and smallholder famers may not realize gains for years. Without secure land tenure, they lack incentive to invest in long-term benefits. Instead, many opt to use the land as intensively as possible each year since they have no guarantee for the future. This is just one example of how land tenure security intersects with sustainable development, a relationship explored in-depth in a recent book co-edited by Brian Robinson, an associate professor in the Department of Geography at Â鶹AV.
By: Â鶹AV Office of Sustainability/Human Resource
Originally published in the Â鶹AV Reporter on April 20, 2022
Â鶹AV has been named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers for the fifth consecutive year, Mediacorp Canada announced earlier today.
New standardized compost bins to be found on both the downtown and Macdonald campuses thanks to financial support from RECYC-QUÉBEC and the Sustainability Projects Fund, marking an important step towards becoming zero-waste by 2035.
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Follow the journey of environmental scientist and Â鶹AV researcher Klara Winkler on the search for bright spots of sustainability at Â鶹AV
Researchers at Â鶹AV have gained new insight into the workings of perovskites, a semiconductor material that shows great promise for making high-efficiency, low-cost solar cells and a range of other optical and electronic devices.
Scientists at Â鶹AV have developed a solvent-free method for making oligonucleotides, short strands of DNA of growing significance in research and the pharmaceutical industry.
Â鶹AV, as a member of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), is looking to appoint a SDSN-YouthÌýCampus Coordinator for the 2020-2021 academic year.
The Â鶹AV Sustainability Systems Initiative has just funded six new projects through the 2020 Innovation Fund. These one-year projects from Law, Science and Engineering were selected for their potential-for-impact on sustainability challenges. The recipients of this year’s funding, our third Innovation Fund to date, are below. You can see projects funded through previous calls here.
A research team led by Â鶹AV geochemist Peter Douglas has used a new method for measuring the rate at which methane is produced by microbes breaking down thawing permafrost. The breakthrough could lead to an improvement in our ability to predict future releases of the potent greenhouse gas as long‑frozen layers of soil begin to thaw.
With the federal ban of single-use plastics planned for this year, the demand for alternatives to everyday plastic products, such as straws, is set to increase.Ìý, a startup company born through a collaboration between chemistry professors from Â鶹AV and Lakehead University, is betting on cellulose for making drinking straws that don’t suck for the environment.
TheÌýÂ鶹AV Sustainability Systems Initiative isÌýlooking for big ideas in sustainability research from Â鶹AV faculty members based in the social sciences and humanities.
Solutions to sustainability challenges require much more than technological innovation, as viable plans to achieve sustainability must also address social and economic factors and conditions. For example, shifting society towards a more sustainable path will necessitate new norms, attitudes, habits, laws, economic incentives or instruments and public policies.
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SPOT earns Sustainability Bronze!
The School of Physical and Occupational Therapy has been awarded the Bronze level rating for the unit, by Â鶹AV's Office of Sustainability. The designation is a testament to the importance that the unit places on activities that are respectful of the three dimensions of sustainability: social, economic and environment.
POSITION
Office Assistant C (Climate & Sustainability Intern)
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POSITION
Office Assistant C (Sustainability Projects Fund Intern)
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