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Re: Green Procurement Language in Municipal Code
2009-07-15 10:58:50 UTC
http://www.procuraplus.org/index.php?id=4611
This manual from Procura+ is a pretty useful resource - it has examples of procurement documents, suitable language to use and decision-making tools.
If you haven't done so already, ICLEI is worth googling (it's related to the above document), as is the Responsible Purchasing Network.
Ian Rowberry
Campus Sustainability Initiative
Canada -
Re: On-line Sustainability Course for Professional Development of staff
2009-05-14 12:42:51 UTC
Hi there Julie,
The course described below is fantastic and free, but participants have to have met certain educational criteria beforehand. An alternative source might be the Natural Step's e-Learning introductory courses, which I can also personally vouch for as being solid and thorough but at the same time accessible and easily understood. These courses do, however, cost money! Either way, check out
http://www.naturalstep.org/elearning for more.
Hi everyone, can you please pass this on to your networks? Please note the application dates for the summer course.
Summer and Fall Sustainability Distance Learning Courses through Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden. http://www.bth.se/site/sustainability.nsf/pages/sustainability-distance-learning
We are pleased to announce the first summer offering of our distance learning course Introduction to Strategic Sustainable Development. http://www.bth.se/site/sustainability.nsf/pages/mi2407_distance
Summer offering: mid-June - mid-September 2009. APPLY NOW: Applications open May 7th-21st 2009, applicants who meet the basic requirements are admitted on a first come, first served basis.
Fall offering: mid-September to mid-December 2009. Applications open August 17th-31st, applicants who meet the basic requirements are admitted on a first come, first served basis.
The purpose of this graduate-level course is to learn about core concepts in Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD), including a thorough understanding of a structured planning and decision making model for application to real world issues.
The course focus includes:
· Sustainability challenges facing today's society, including some of the causes of both environmental and societal problems
· The major components of a framework for strategic sustainable development
· Independent application of a strategic planning tool (the ABCD analysis) in an organization
· Foundational concepts of sustainable development, including basic science, economics, organizational learning and strategic management.
· Different tools and concepts relevant to sustainable development participants will apply the SSD framework to describe how these tools and concepts are best utilised.
The course is delivered through pre-recorded online lectures, readings, 2 group assignments, live class webinars, an individual presentation and final exam.
This is a part-time study course worth 7.5 ECTS Credits at the Masters Level. Students should expect to commit approximately 4 hours per week to view online materials and participate in online sessions. Additional worktime is required for assignments and readings.
***Please Distribute to your Networks****apologies for cross-postings
Fiona Wright, MSLS
Course Coordinator, Strategic Sustainable Development
Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden
Currently based out of Ottawa, Canada
Ian Rowberry
Campus Sustainability Initiative
Canada -
Re: Resourcing Impact from Implementing a Sustainability Program
2009-02-19 11:33:21 UTC
Hello again Sam,
Have been feeling bad that I rather flamed your request for help here. Whilst I stand by my feeling that one cannot have a sustainable state-run lottery, I recognise that this kind of response from one member of the pro-sustainability community can set back efforts to at least reduce the harm that such an organisation as the OLG inflicts upon the natural environment in the course of its everyday operations.
So, I'd like to re-open this thread and hope that there might be someone out there with more tangible feedback and ideas for you and the OLG to work with.
Ian.
Ian Rowberry
Campus Sustainability Initiative
Canada -
Re: Drinking Water for Public Events
2009-02-19 11:23:27 UTC
Hi Rebekah,
You're with the city of Vaughan? Talking to your water supply engineers, I would hope you'd get the response "a suitable alternative would be tap water that we already provide to most dwellings in the city". The city should already be ensuring that city water is clean and safe to drink, shouldn't it? City water supply is subject to more stringent water-quality testing than bottled water in any case, so this issue might be a red herring, one that is planted in the public's mind by the marketers of bottled water around the developed world.
My second thought is to ask where you are holding the event(s). Does the venue have drinking water fountains or city water plumbed in already? If so, speaking to the venue managers to see if glasses/beakers, jugs, etc. can be sourced/rented/bought by the city for future event use might be a suggestion.
If this is an outdoor event that's a long way from a building with a city water supply, I'm stumped for ideas right now!
Ian Rowberry
Campus Sustainability Initiative
Canada -
Re: Resourcing Impact from Implementing a Sustainability Program
2009-02-04 11:48:55 UTC
Hi Sam,
Great to hear that the concept of sustainability is filtering into the OLG.Do you feel that there is sufficient understanding of what sustainability means at OLG? For me, it's more than just resource impact, or rather, it needs to encompass other aspects of life in order to minimise resource impact.
Do you suppose that this comprehensive sustainability program will include an examination of the sustainability of maintaining a gaming corporation in the first place, for example? From what I've gleaned, the social impacts of gambling, the income-brackets from which it draws its greatest sources of income, for example, are such that gambling on average decreases the abilities of gamblers to meet their basic needs. When people are less able to meet their basic needs, they are less able (and inclined) to look after their environment, and so their "share" of responsibility for minimising resource impact on the planet (for want of a less clunky term!) is less likely to be met.
The upward transfer of wealth from low-income brackets to higher-earners (or into the tax pool of the province, which is then mostly aimed at middle-incomers) is not conducive to building a sustainable society. It's a fundamental sustainability concern that, no matter how green you build the building or what you print your scratchcards on and with, you'll not be able to reconcile. A full-spectrum sustainability study of the OLG, for example, could recommend the OLG's closure. Is this a possibility? (*Fingers crossed here!*)
Such a study of the Olympics might well conclude that its environmental impacts are fairly unsustainable, but at least there one can say that the outcomes (inspiration of young people to adopt a healthy sporting lifestyle, self-discipline and dedication, overcoming adversity, all that feelgood stuff that comes along with the medals, for example) can be weighed against the environmental costs and decided upon. I'd not sure that the social benefits of gambling could ever outweigh the negative environmental impacts of a provincially-owned gambling infrastructure. "Something for nothing" is what gambling promises to its participants, and unless the prize fund is some solar energy, I'm not sure you can get more unsustainable!
Ian.
Ian Rowberry
Campus Sustainability Initiative
Canada -
Promoting Alberta? (URL Included This Time!)
2008-12-19 06:39:56 UTC
In the interests of balance on this forum, which I'm not really sure is for promoting Alberta's parks any more than promoting parks anywhere else, here's an alternative youtube promo for Alberta that you might enjoy...
Ian.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kwCoeLGp5u8 -
Re: Ireland's Plastic Bag Levy - Increased Plastic in Landfills?
2008-12-04 09:03:30 UTC
Hi Bart,
Isn't it a shame that the burden of proof seems to fall on you in this case? It seems to me that a body as august as the Alberta Plastics Recycling Council should be able to give pinpoint verifiable references for their claims when participating in such public discussions. They're the 'experts', after all. I suggest you spend as much energy badgering the representatives as you do the Irish government. Don't let them get away with making unverifiable claims in these community sessions!
Ian.
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