Often when we think about the food system we think about the process of getting food from farm to plate – the planning, planting, production, harvesting, processing, distribution, marketing and preparation of food. But what happens to the food that gets wasted along the way and the food that gets left on our plates?
Unfortunately, close to half of all food produced worldwide is wasted — discarded in processing, transport, supermarkets and kitchens. On campuses, this waste is often transported off of campus which results in transportation greenhouse gases in addition to the methane emissions produced by landfills. Food waste is discouraging and costly for campuses – which is motivating campus dining halls to find new and innovative ways of reducing waste.

Mt. Allison’s Food Waste Campaign

During their East Coast Campus tour, the Campus Food Systems Project National Coordinators Caitlin and Sarah saw how campuses were taking creative and diverse approaches to reduce waste.

•  Memorial University conducted an audit to determine how much waste was being generated and ways to reduce waste produced.
• St. FX found that going trayless is a great way to reduce the amount of food wasted and is saving 80 000 gallons of water used in the cafeterias annually.
• Dalhousie installed scraping stations which help build awarness of food waste and encourage students to only take the amount of food they plan to eat. Scraping stations are a part of the Green Report Card where Dalhousie received an “A” grade for food and recycling. Mt. Allison found scraping stations have decreased food waste by 44% over the past five years.
• Campuses are also finding creative ways to reduce and reuse campus food waste. Mt. Allison puts the organic food separated at its scraping stations through a food pulper to remove 88-90% of its waste. This is then sent to the twin Big Hanna composters which will be used on campus grounds.

These are just a few of the many creative solutions campuses are finding to build awareness about and actively reduce and reuse food waste. We’d love to hear other ideas and initiatives – feel free to send questions, comments and ideas to us national@studentfood.ca

Bad environmental habits when arriving home? Not at Quebec’s university and CEGEP residences.

The second edition of the PJDD’s Sustainable Residences contest will take place between February 4th and 15^th. The residences will compete for different prizes in 4 categories:

• Energy efficiency
• Waste management
• Sustainable management
• Participation

Last year Laval and McGill (down town and Macdonald) took the prizes home. This year CEGEP residences are invited to join the competition with the chance to win tickets for a park of Arbre en arbre, recycling stations of NI Corporation, T-shirts of PLB and many other prizes.

The contest is an excellent occasion for participating residences to emphasize sustainability initiatives in these dynamic places of public and private life that are often under represented in sustainable development projects. At the same time it offers an opportunity for students to engage themselves for a sustainable living environment by posing concrete actions in a friendly competition.

Follow the contest life on http://www.pjdd.org/concours-residences-durables and leave your comments to encourage the participants.

1- Tout le monde mange, tout le monde change
Comment motiver les mangeurs de ce monde à changer leurs habitudes? Joshna nous conseillait de commencer par une approche neutre. Selon elle, il faut d’abord réussir à créer un lien avec l’autre personne. Son truc! Réussir à faire vivre à son interlocuteur un souvenir concernant la nourriture dont il garde un sentiment positif (ex. : penser au meilleur repas que votre mère préparait lorsque vous étiez petit!) Lorsque le lien est bien établi avec votre interlocuteur, préciser votre besoin pour qu’il vous aide à changer le monde par l’alimentation responsable.

2- Un groupe c’est composé de deux choses toi et… le groupe, il faut prendre soin des deux!
Vous travaillez au sein d’un comité pour régler des problèmes reliés à l’alimentation, mais il règne une certaine confusion? Selon Carly, la plus grosse difficulté est que : « Dans un groupe, la perception du projet est souvent claire dans la tête de chacun, mais le projet commun n’est pas bien défini! » Sa solution! Définir ce projet commun, puis écrivez un document clé relatant l’idée du groupe par rapport à votre projet et signer ce document, même si c’est juste pour un an!

3- S’il y a un problème, on peut le régler!
Rencontrez-vous des gens qui ont une vision tellement différente de la vôtre qu’il ne constate pas les enjeux? Au lieu de s’enrager à essayer de changer leur vision du monde, Layton nous encourageait à préparer notre projet et attendre des moments charnières (un renouvellement de contrat de fournisseur, un changement de personnel, un audit environnemental, etc.) avant de prendre une approche offensive.

4- Apprendre des autres, mais agir avec notre intuition
Vous est-il déjà arrivé d’avoir la tête remplie d’opinions, de conseils et de données, mais de ne pas savoir comment agir? Dans un domaine où l’esprit scientifique est roi comme celui du développement durable, Nitha nous donnait cette sage leçon : « soyez curieux, prenez les avis de tous, mais agissez avec votre “guts” ». Les dynamiques des campus au Canada sont très différentes et votre « feeling », « guts », « intuition » (appeler ça comme vous voulez!) peut devenir un outil très utile pour sortir de cette complexité apparente.

5- Ensemble on peut changer plus de monde plus rapidement!
Tina nous a confirmé que grâce aux étudiants, entre autres ceux de Mcgill, l’Aramak un géant de l’alimentation change de plus en plus ses pratiques. Aussi, des établissements d’enseignement réservent une partie de leur jardin pour offrir la récolte à Tracy qui les distribue dans des banques alimentaires locales. À Toronto, des étudiants ont créé le Dig in campus agriculture network pour supporter et encourager les projets de jardinage communautaire. Des initiatives comme ça, le sommet en a relevé des tonnes! Joindre un mouvement comme The National Student Food System, c’est motivant et cela sauve beaucoup d’énergie, car on peut apprendre énormément de toutes ces initiatives.

6- Il faut faire évoluer « quoi? » à « maintenant quoi? »!
Qu’est-ce qui vous a surpris dans cet article? Qu’elle ait la notion apprise qui pourra vous aider dans le futur? Comment pouvez-vous agir dès maintenant pour mettre en pratique cet apprentissage? C’est ainsi que Lisa a terminé sa conférence, j’en fais donc de même. Pour ma part, maintenant que je connais The National Student Food System, j’en fais mon devoir d’aider les étudiants québécois à prendre leur place au sein de ce mouvement national. J’y travaillerai entre autre chose à travers la campagne Café durable qui vise pareillement l’amélioration des services alimentaires sur les campus et qui propose plusieurs idées, des études de cas, un tableau compilation des projets existants, etc. Ensemble, ces deux projets offrent une multitude de ressources à tous les niveaux qui je crois sont des incontournables pour allé de l’avant maintenant. »

Vous étes curieux d’en apprendre davantage sur les personnes citées je vous incite à lire leurs biographies au http://studentfoodsummit.ca/?page_id=123

Alexandre Ouellet
Agent de développement durable
Partenariat jeunesse pour le développement durable (PJDD)
Attaché à la FEUQ

From August 24 to September 7, a team of paddlers from the KI Indigenous Nation will travel 400 km beyond the nearest road to travel the ancient trading route from their remote fly-in community to Hudson’s Bay.

The Fawn River watershed is the keystone to the KI Nation’s culture, and is also at the centre of the world’s largest intact forest. In response to the threat of mining in this sacred place, the KI people are calling on Ontario to respect their deep connection to the Fawn River and to protect the area for future generations.

“The KI people have protected our entire home watershed through Indigenous Law,” said KI Chief Donny Morris. “Now we are calling on Ontario to respect our protection before this sacred landscape is poisoned by the diamond, gold, and metals mining companies who have set their sights on it.”

The team will communicate throughout their travels through satellites in order to transmit blogs, photos, and audio to thousands of supporters via social media portals. They will be sharing the landscape with threatened woodland caribou, wolves, sturgeon, polar bears, beluga whales and the iconic northern lights. You can follow their journey at www.kilands.org.

KI and their allies have already stopped mining companies like Platinex and God’s Lake Resources from carrying out exploration on their land. Through bold action campaigns, the community has also successfully pressured the Ontario government to withdraw approximately half of their watershed from all mining activity.

The ultimate goal now is to protect the entire watershed, which accounts for more than 13,000 square kilometres of pristine wilderness. Ontario has yet to recognize KI’s right to protect this space in its entirety and to govern their Homeland. Much of the community’s watershed remains open to speculation by gold, diamond, and metals mining companies.

Indigenous communities like KI are dependent on the integrity of ecosystem functioning and the safeguarding of water sources in order to survive. Last year, an overwhelming majority of individuals from the KI community voted in support of the KI Watershed Declaration, which places the entire 13,025 square km of their vast intact watershed off limits to industry under KI’s Indigenous Law.

The wetlands of the KI Homeland, located in the expanse of Canada’s Boreal Forest, form part of one of the world’s largest on-land carbon sinks, which plays a critical role in mitigating climate change. The Boreal is also the world’s greatest reservoir of fresh water, and is among the largest unlogged forests left on earth. Some of the spectacular rivers in the world flow through territories of Indigenous Nations in Ontario’s Far North, each running for hundreds of kilometres, unimpeded by dams or manmade constructs. The pure water is stored in expansive, pristine watersheds, which provide an invaluable source of clean water for the peoples of Canada’s North.

Please support the KI Nation and help protect their land and water. Here is what you can do:

- Share KI’s story. Follow the KI Watershed Expedition at http://kilands.org//waterexpedition/. They will be posting blogs, photos, videos, action alerts and more throughout the expedition.  Please share the story through your networks by re-posting emails like this one on on facebook, twitter, websites, and email lists.

- Tell the Ontario government to respect KI’s demands to govern their territory and protect their land and water from unwanted mining.  http://kilands.org/tell-mcguinty-to-respect-ki-sacred-landscape/

- Join the KI Supporter facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/TorontoKISupport   

- Link to the KI Watershed Expedition page.  There is a web button for you to embed and share. http://kilands.org/?p=997

- Post a blog about the event on your web page. A sample blog that you can adapt is online at: http://www.mediacoop.ca/blog/jessicabell/12142

By Ellen Dashwood, Sierra Youth Coalition Executive Committee Member

ExComm member Ellen travelling on Via Rail

This year I had the opportunity to take a solo journey from Vancouver to Ottawa by train. This is a trip I probably would not have done at 25 years if I were not a member of the Sierra Youth Coalition and its Executive Committee (ExComm), and of course if it were not for the organization’s partnership with VIA Rail Canada.

At the end of June, the ExComm and Staff of the Sierra Youth Coalition gathered in Ottawa for a weekend-long training and retreat to mark the start of a new “ExComm” term. This will be my second year as an ExComm Member but my first time attending the training retreat, which happens every year. Since a few days of travel is required to get from the West to the East, I unfortunately could not afford the time last September when I was knee-deep in grad school commitments.

This year, thanks again to our unique partnership – and to having a bit more time on my hands since finishing (most of) my master’s requirements – I was able to embark on this unforgettable travel experience and attend an energizing retreat with fellow ExComm and staff. The weekend allowed us to engage in team-building and strategic short- and long-term action-oriented planning that I have no doubt helped to prepare SYC for the beginning of a successful year ahead. I also don’t think we could have asked for a more dedicated and talented staff and ExComm, so I feel very fortunate to be a part of this team.

Because we were so busy all weekend with back-to-back learning and planning, I failed to take any pictures in Ottawa, but I did of course take a number of shots along the way from Vancouver to Ottawa. I’ve posted some of my favorites below. Hopefully these pictures capture reasons why train travel is so exciting and enjoyable.

It might take much more time than flying, but it offers so much more that you really miss while travelling at 30,000 feet. Not to mention the carbon emissions saved by taking the train! Some quick research found that approximately 3500 km is travelled from Vancouver to Ottawa. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization Carbon Emission Calculator, this distance travelled by plane generates about 275 kg of CO₂, while the same distance travelled by rail generates less than half (about 110 kg of CO₂, according to the Carbon Footprint’s public transit carbon footprint calculator).

If you’re interested in taking the train – I truly recommend it. I also strongly recommend becoming a member of the Sierra Youth Coalition to receive up to 40% off Via Rail travel anywhere in Canada. By becoming a member, in addition to the Via rail discount, you gain other member benefits such as networking opportunities with a growing community of students and young professionals in the field, and regular newsletters with info on upcoming conferences, workshops, and relevant jobs.