Campus Sustainability Assessment
The CSAF is a project that seeks to conduct research on dozens of social, environmental, and economic indicators to ascertain how sustainable of a campus is Brock University. Examples of indicators could include water, greenhouse gas emissions, land use, governance health, and ethical purchasing. This project has been started at eight universities across Ontario, and has already been completed twice at Concordia University. Concordia University completion of the CSAF has led to numerous benchmarks which the institution set for itself as guide lines to work towards becoming a more sustainable institution. Since the completion of it's first assessment in 2003 it has led to numerous initiatives on campus including: energy retrofits in renovation projects, and in building efficient buildings, four new academic courses are being offered on sustainable development through Continuing Education and the department of Geography, Planning and Environment. In addition at the administrative level support has come to host the Sustainable Business Conference for the past three years. Financial support for sustainable development has been demonstrated through an undergraduate fee levy, and the creation of two sustainability positions at the administrative level. The indicators that the CSAF will focus its initial research on at Brock University will entirely depend on which indicators that the initial stakeholders consider being a priority. Currently OPIRG Brock staff in connection with Professor Richard Mitchell of Sociology have hired a Campus Sustainability Officer, responsible for literary research and the production of a report on the state of sustainability as it pertains to the CSAF and a basic report on where Brock University currently stands. OPIRG Programming and Campus Relations Coordinator, Please ask for more information at the Resource Centre or call 905-688-5550 x.4430 |
A concerned group of campus organizations including the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) Brock, the Fair Trade & Ethical Purchasing Policy Committee, the Brock Environmental Advocacy Network and Eat Local Niagara have stared the initial stages at organizing the Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework (CSAF).