SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY’S SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY
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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY AN ENGAGED UNIVERSITY
WRITTEN BY
JOHN O’HANLON
PRODUCED BY
CRAIG KILLINGBACK 03
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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY’S SUSTAINABILITY OFFICE IS A FOCUS OF ACTION AT THE INTERSECTION OF PLANETARY REGENERATION, HUMAN HEALTH,AND SOCIAL JUSTICE.
O
ne can’t help thinking that the sustainability team at Simon Fraser University (SFU) have some of the best jobs in the
world. Most of the world’s young people, at least, are now swinging behind the awareness that we 04
are living during a time of climate crisis and that time is running out to change our behaviour if we are to avoid or mitigate the consequences of biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate change. That awareness is not unique to SFU, of course, but few higher education institutions have embraced sustainability principles so intelligently or realistically. The Province of British Columbia is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 2007 levels by 2050 and, in 2011, its capital Vancouver, home to SFU, set the goal of becoming the greenest city in the world by 2020. SFU is a partner in these broader goals. The University itself has adopted sustainability as one of its six core values, which means it is embedded in the fabric of the institution and the day-to-day decisions taken by every department.
The green wall by SFU’s Saywell Hall
The University is also in the process of developing a 5-year climate action plan to address the most urgent sustainability issue of our time. SFU recognizes that its institutional responsibility extends beyond its boundaries to include the social, economic and ecological sustainability of its campuses and the communities in which they operate. Therefore, these plans are being developed with the recognition that sustainability work broadly, and climate action specifically, cannot be done without w w w. s f u . ca
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“ THE MOMENT YOU STEP ON CAMPUS AS A NEW COMMUNITY MEMBER YOU GET INTRODUCED TO THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY AS A CORE VALUE” 06
— Candace Le Roy, Director of Sustainability, Simon Fraser University
addressing social inequities, racism, reconciliation and partnership with local Indigenous nations. To implement SFU’s sustainability values, eight very committed professionals are led by Director of Sustainability Candace Le Roy – they provide planning, consultancy, and support services to SFU community members to help them develop, scale, or promote their sustainability work and lead sustainability projects across the university. It’s by no means an act of enacting top-down policies, she hastens to say. “We recently finalised our 20-year Sustainability Vision, which identifies 20 strategic goals following a year-long community engagement progress involving all University stakeholder groups: thousands of people took part from students up to the Board. Everything we do in the Sustainability Office is in collaboration and partnership with the faculty, staff, students, and communities we are embedded in. Sustainability at SFU is a shared responsibility and a joint effort. Our office merely facilitates this joint effort so that it is coordinated, connected, and inclusive.”
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SFU OPENS NEW SUSTAINABLE BUILDING’ 07
PARTNERS IN ENGAGEMENT
awareness to what SFU is doing,
It’s this level of commitment, she
listen to their ideas, and help remove
observes, that makes the job so
barriers to their contributions in
rewarding. Every new student and
practice. At SFU, students aren’t seen
member of staff receives sustainability
as ‘end-users’ to be trained and
education through orientation: “The
delivered, but as partners in learning,
moment you step on campus as a new
discovery and community engagement.
community member you get intro-
The tripartite social, economic and
duced to the concept of sustainability
ecological view of sustainability is
as a core value. We want them to see
something that all alumni have an
how each individual can contribute in
opportunity to take with them into the
their area.” However she acknowledges
world beyond. To ensure that the work
that most people come in with a high
at SFU is connected with global goals
level of awareness these days – all the
the 20-Year vision and the emerging
team needs to do is connect this
5-year plan have been developed in w w w. s f u . ca
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
alignment with the UN’s Sustainable
alternative to the diesel-fuelled bus
Development Goals.
service. This project has been finally
Engagement with major British Columbia institutions is key to SFU.
council, and would speed up travel
For example, the Pacific Water
times and cut emission levels.
Research Centre (PWRC) recently
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approved in principle by Burnaby city
Another promising project is the
hosted a seminar on Vancouver’s Rain
development of the Corix biomass
City Strategy to embrace rainwater as
district energy system on the Burnaby
a valuable resource and to conserve
Mountain campus which will reduce
90% of its annual rainfall. The
the campus greenhouse gas emis-
University also aims to support major
sions by 60%-80%. This — along with
shifts in behaviour such as its advocacy
the University’s achievement of
for a funicular (gondola) to connect
reducing the carbon footprint of the
its University campus on the top
University’s investment portfolio by
of Burnaby Mountain, providing an
50% below the baseline measurement
SFU’s Academic Quadrangle
reported as of 31 March 2016 —
Sustainable Offices adopt practices
demonstrates how the university is
that improve their environmental,
committed to working with on and off
economic and social performance.
campus partners to make big shifts in
They receive a toolkit, support and
the way they operate as an institution.
resources and that encourages others
A major project underway encour-
to participate.” This certification
ages ‘sustainable spaces’ across the
program has now been extended into
university’s facilities which integrates
events, vendors, and soon into labs.
sustainability principles into the
Large events such as the President’s
day-to-day actions of staff members.
annual staff appreciation BBQ are
Becoming a Certified Sustainable
certified sustainable events further
Office is a great way to encourage
demonstrating that all levels of
staff collaboration on sustainability
the University are contributing to
and to create a more robust, engaged
these efforts.
workplace, says Blok. “Certified
The bottom line, says Manager of
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Candace Le Roy, Director of Sustainability Guiding the institution-wide approach to sustainability leadership, Le Roy consults on risks and opportunities to integrate sustainability into the University’s core business. Over her 16 years at SFU, Candace has been dedicated to facilitating University-wide efforts to innovate and contribute meaningfully and measurably to the shift toward a regenerative, circular, and equitable society and economy. Candace works collaboratively with partners both within and outside the University to identify, develop, and deliver major cross-portfolio projects that contribute to this work.
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10 Campus Sustainability, Kayla Blok,
When our students graduate are they
is that sustainability should be
leaving with a holistic understanding
integrated into all projects, research
of sustainability? These are the type of
and teaching. It is also central to
questions we are asking.”
procurement, with all contracts and purchases over $100,000 required
THE ROAD TO ZERO WASTE
to be considered from a sustainability
It is never going to be possible to
point of view. “Whenever we go out
recycle 100% of waste, but by
to tender we have questions and
adopting ‘circular economy’ practices
requirements for suppliers, and
SFU is heading towards a goal of 10%
I support multiple request for proposal
waste minimization and 90% diversion
(RFP) committees by advising on how
from landfill. SFU started its zero
that should be done. When we under-
waste journey in 2012 at a time when it
take a project, are our staff seeing their
had only a two-stream waste diversion
work through a sustainability lens?
system and most items were being
sent to the landfill. Within 18 months, the initiative was diverting more than 70% of SFU’s landfill waste and had introduced circular economy principles to look at purchasing, and require suppliers to work towards recyclable and compostable packaging. Today, across the campus, there are four-stream waste stations allowing for food and compostables, paper and cardboard, recyclables and landfill garbage. It’s not hard to get buy-in these days, with the media full of reminders about things like plastic pollution and extinction rates, but people still need to be helped to
understand the circular economy – “ WHEN OUR that is where the Sustainability Office STUDENTS steps in to educate and encourage, GRADUATE ARE affirms Kayla Blok. The team, in conjunction with a large stakeholder THEY LEAVING group that includes departments WITH A HOLISTIC across the university, is currently set to UNDERSTANDING launch an initiative to eliminate singleOF SUSTAINABILITY?” use plastics and products from all three
— Kayla Blok, Manager of Campus Sustainability, Simon Fraser University
campuses, making them the first university in Canada to act on this issue. Research, business expertise, software engineering and the spur of environmental perils have come together in an exciting project that w w w. s f u . ca
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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
promises to contribute a great deal to achieving zero waste. And each of these facets has come out of SFU. The founders of Intuitive AI Hassan Murad and Vivek Vyas are both alumni of SFU, where they first developed software to tackle the problem of recycling. SFU itself may have made great strides but globally only around 3% of waste is recycled. Even in a four-stream system, waste identification remains a problem – what is recyclable, what is not, where should you put it? They began with a simple vision, 14
to create a zero waste world. This led
Erica Lay, Associate Director at SFU’s Sustainability Office presenting at a 20-year sustainability visions and goals session.
them to develop an AI platform driven by sensors that empower spaces to be more sustainable. Murad and Vyas launched Oscar,
consultations providing key facts, giving operational and logistical
an AI-powered visual sorting system,
feedback, and providing expertise.
with a camera that detects people
The testing phase was carried out on
approaching a bin, automatically
our downtown Vancouver campus and
identifies each item and tells people
we were successful in providing space
where to place it. “This is a true
for them to test the platform and
innovation story from SFU,” explains
promote their message.” The Surrey
Blok. “They spent a great deal of time
campus now houses the first higher
formulating this idea at our labs on
education Oscar waste station in
the Surrey campus. We were able
Canada and have been taken up
to support this project right from
at coffee chains and an airport in
the ideation phase, and the Sustain-
Toronto. Intuitive is currently part
ability Office was there at the initial
of the Next AI accelerator in Toronto
and the VentureLabs business accelerator at Simon Fraser University. Oscar is as much about data as it is about making life easier for the consumer of a cup of coffee. The software can identify brands, patterns of consumption by area and demographic information all of value to the airport, shopping mall or university where it is located – garbage in, valuable data out. It’s by leveraging this data that Intuitive AI will monetise its software in the future. “Perhaps the most promising part of the technology is that it provides robust data,” says
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Kayla Blok, Manager of Campus Sustainability Overseeing the Campus Sustainabilityportfolio, Blok liaises with operational functions across all three campuses to implement and scale sustainable decisions and practices. Her work ensures that the University operates in alignmen with its sustainability plans, visions, and goals. Blok offers consulting services for all SFU Community members and works closely with internal and external partners on signature projects and initiatives.
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Kayla Blok. “We look forward to seeing how we can apply this data to influence design, planning, and purchasing decisions, for example. Our hope is that it will help our operational as well as sustainability goals by creating targets to improve waste management at the campus.”
AWARENESS AND PERCEPTION Oscar has attracted a lot of media attention thanks to its visibility. “This is a really good example of the kind of thing that happens at SFU due to 16
our culture of, and commitment to, innovation, community engagement, and student empowerment,” says Candace Le Roy. “Our students get to work on projects that they take out into the wider world and the benefit comes back to the institution through new projects and initiatives and the application of technology. In the 16 years I have been at SFU, I have seen the students always at the forefront of major initiatives at SFU and then they carry this leadership to the communities and organizations they serve when they leave.” Even with the impetus provided by the rapidly increasing media coverage of
the climate crisis, getting sustainability thinking embedded in a large, transient and diverse university population is not a simple feat. It might seem like a no-brainer to ban plastic bottles, but many overseas students come from cultures where bottled water is the only safe water. “We constantly have to customize our communication tactics and infuse them with humanity,” she says. “On the one hand, we have to keep up with innovations in industry, research, politics and international targets and do things like ban single use plastics and dramatically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and on the other hand we also have to bring people along with us on this journey. We need to help people understand how their consumption decisions affect the planet and people, but we can only do this if we make an effort to understand them not has consumers, but as people who have unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. Sustainability efforts have been rightly criticized for being led primarily by rich white people who come from a particular (mostly
SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue
Western) perspective. If we are to truly address sustainability issues we need w w w. s f u . ca
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to design solutions from all perspectives and with all people in mind.” Justifiably proud of the nuanced and holistic way in which the organisation has taken the lead on advancing sustainability best practice, Candace Le Roy, her team, and their colleagues at SFU work tirelessly to gain the support of all stakeholders. “Getting a major initiative off the ground at a university is usually the first and biggest hurdle because we value the engagement of all relevant stakeholders and engagement takes time. But the 18
effort put in is well worth the quality that is the result,” she says. She points
SFU’s Asia Pacific Hall in the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue
to the cross departmental teams that have been formed to work on initiatives like the BC Cool Campus challenge, spearheaded by SFU but spread across British Columbia, to reduce energy consumption by simple actions and the Fair Trade and Changemaker Campus designations SFU has achieved. In the end, all of this is about changing the way we see the world and our place in it. Virtually every decision we make has an impact on people and the planet, good or bad, she concludes. “At the end of the day
“ SUSTAINABILITY GIVES UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND MAKES US MORE RESILIENT TO INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL THREATS” — Candace Le Roy, Director of Sustainability, Simon Fraser University
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it’s not about recycling or using less
political and ecological climate.
energy. Sustainability work is about
Addressing sustainability challenges,
understanding how to make better
like the climate crisis, gives universities
decisions based on a strong under-
and colleges a competitive advantage
standing that humans are a part of
by making us more relevant to our
nature not outside of it. We need to
communities and more resilient to
learn from, respect, and apply
internal and external threats.�
Indigenous ways of knowing and leave no one behind. This means constantly being aware of the interconnections between ecology, politics, economics, and social inequities. It’s planning to ensure we survive on this planet and our institutions survive in the current w w w. s f u . ca
Simon Fraser University 8888 University Drive Burnaby, B.C. Canada V5A 1S6 www.sfu.ca