C.E.R.E.S.

CERES is organizing a week (November 13-19) completely dedicated to the environment. It will include events and activities themed around sustainability (bottom of page).In addition to the events, there will be a green pledge in which willing students and staff will take on the challenge of being more sustainable for one week.

The pledge includes attainable goals (all listed below). To bring attention to the challenge people who sign up for it will be given a green pledge bracelet.

Why? Being the faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences puts our Macdonald campus in a unique position for addressing environmental issues. Our aim is to address environmental issues through united action among all members of the Macdonald community.

We encourage both students and staff to participate in the pledge in order to increase awareness on what each of us can do individually to improve our environment. To thank all the participants, we are planning an event on Nov 19 in which we will acknowledge and reward those who took on the challenge.

Easy:

-Tell at least 2 fellow Macdonald Campus users about the Green Pledge

-Use reusable bags (rather than plastic bags)

-Bring your own mug and dishware (rather than use disposables)

-Don’t print, if you have to, print double sided as much as possible

-Flick-OFF! (turn off the light when you are done)

-Use water fountains or bring your own water (don’t buy bottled water)

-If you don’t need it, don’t buy it. Reduce your consumption, use the Swap Stuff Box.

-Compost (at home or bring it to Gorilla Composting)

-Take a walk at least once instead of turning on the TV or the computer

Optional: Participate in Green Pledge Week activities and/or choose an additional challenge from the medium or pro levels

Medium:

includes all the rules from the "easy" pledge plus

-Do the Mac campus scavenger hunt

-Inform yourself about an environmental issue that you know little about (see suggestions on website)

-Unplug appliances that are not in use and reduce electricity use (turn down the heat, wear more layers)

-Take a shorter shower

-Opt for local, organic, fair trade and in bulk products

-Think of ways of improving the campus and post it on the poster in the MS lobby or on the website discussion board

-Reduce fossil fuel consumption, take the bus, walk, carpool, etc.

Pro:

includes all the rules from the "easy" and "medium" pledge plus

-Participate in a Green Pledge Week event (aside from scavenger hunt)

-Collect all your weeks garbage (not including compostables and recyclables) into one bag and tell us what makes up the bulk of it, and what can be done to reduce it (go to the discussion board)

-Become vegetarian for the week or eat less meat

-Talk with people about environmental issues

-Do not purchase anything plastic-wrapped

-Get in tune with your local environment, learn to identify one local species

-Challenge yourself: make your own goals and challenges and tell us what they are, and how you achieved them (go to the discussion board)