Humber Sustainability launches new five-year plan

Oct 16, 2014 | Life

By Shaneza Subhan

Humber Sustainability kicked off its official five-year plan focusing on three main objectives: Campus Footprint, Learning and Engagement.

“There has never been such strong commitments to the specific things we say we’re going to do with the timeline attached to them,” said Lindsay Walker, Humber’s sustainability manager.

The Campus Footprint plan will focus on recycling and waste management, sustainable transportation, energy and climate change, landscape, water use and purchasing ethical sourcing.

Learning is focused on curriculum integration, learning outside the classroom and research, while Engagement looks at social equity and wellbeing, awareness and communication and investments.

According to the official 2014-2019 Sustainability Plan, its main goal is to outline specific sustainability-related priorities for the college by using the Humber community to highlight areas that are important to them.

“We’re looking at operations on campus, the academic side of things and what we’re teaching students in class,” said Walker.

This plan will be making sure that students understand what sustainability means in general and to them personally, she said.

The United Nations defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

In the past five years, the sustainability team hadn’t followed through with all of their priorities in the last five year plan. This year things will be different according to Walker, as this will be the official commitment to doing everything the plan outlines and sticking to it.

“That’s the difference between the last five year plan and anytime before,” said Walker.

According to the Plan, the team will hold meetings, events and workshops for the Humber community to ensure their voices are being heard.

They will also conduct a sustainability survey every three years to gather feedback and continuously ensure they are on track with their targets.

One thing the plan will implement within the next five years will be providing sustainable modes of transportation in order to minimize the impact transportation has on our local community.