Western University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

The Indigenous Food and Medicine Garden is an outdoor space that fosters a welcoming and inclusive community on-campus and promotes Indigenous presence, Indigenous Knowledge exchanges, and community involvement while engaging peoples in growing Indigenous organic and sustainable foods and plants for future generations.

The community garden on campus is run by EnviroWestern, a USC student service that seeks to promote environmental sustainability at Western across a variety of initiatives like gardening, green campus tours, residence outreach, waste diversion, and lots more!

Green Campus Tours are open to campus community members as well as the general public.
Student volunteers from EnviroWestern provide the tours, which can be catered towards your areas of interest. With 12 green spaces and natural features to visit, 13 LEED® Certified green buildings, and a few other stops along the way, this tour offers participants lots of great places to explore, learn about how you can contribute to a more sustainable campus, and find ways to get involved.

Western Serves (WS)
Community engagement is a priority for Western University. We understand that Western is part of a larger community within the city of London, Ontario. Therefore, we have developed programs that help get our students engaged in community service, while at the same time helping raise awareness on critical sustainability issues, such as the environment, social justice, poverty, hunger and more.

Western Serves provides ongoing and project-based support to nonprofit organizations in the London community, raising awareness of the social issues they tackle, and helping ensure organizations have the means to fulfill their respective mission statements. Over the past years, students have been able to develop: awareness campaigns for Epilepsy, run charity events to support research initiatives, perform sustainability assessments and help install solar panels for low-income housing initiatives, organize symposiums and events that raise awareness on social justice issues, and more.

This past year, Western organized the first ever Orientation Serves, where more than 2,000 first year students were engaged in service with the community as part of their O-week events.

Western was founded in 1878 and spans over 450 hectares of land. We take pride in our landscape and beautiful buildings. We strive to incorporate sustainability into the maintenance of our green spaces, as well as into the planning and design process of new buildings and renovations. This includes promoting energy conservation in the operation of facilities, provision of facilities and land to support alternate transportation arrangements, and the protection of natural and wetland areas throughout the campus. Building designs will recognize the use of buildings as learning tools and offer examples of sustainable designs for our students. These buildings and landscape design elements incorporate and demonstrate low-carbon and climate positive infrastructure to students and the community.

LEED BUILDINGS:
Western will put forth its best efforts to undertake building design and construction projects in line with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. Western has a number of certified buildings:
Claudette MacKay Lassonde Pavillion - LEED® Gold (2010)
McIntosh Gallery - LEED® Silver (2012)
Stevenson Hall and Lawson Hall - LEED® Silver (2014)
WINDEEE - LEED® Silver (2014)
Ontario Hall Residence - LEED® Silver (2015)
Western Centre for Public Health & Family Medicine - LEED® Silver (2015)
The Collider - LEED® Silver (2015)
Ivey Business School - LEED® Gold (2015)
Physics and Astronomy Building - LEED® Certified (2015)
Music Building - LEED® Gold (2017)
Delaware Hall Residence - LEED® Silver (2017)
Amit Chakma Engineering Building- LEED® Platinum (2019)
Additionally, Western is in the process of certifying the following buildings:
Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB) - Targeting LEED® Gold status
Western University Engineering Building (WUEB) - Targeting LEED® Platinum status"

Western was founded in 1878 and spans over 450 hectares of land. We take pride in our landscape and beautiful buildings. We strive to incorporate sustainability into the maintenance of our green spaces, as well as into the planning and design process of new buildings and renovations. This includes promoting energy conservation in the operation of facilities, provision of facilities and land to support alternate transportation arrangements, and the protection of natural and wetland areas throughout the campus. Building designs will recognize the use of buildings as learning tools and offer examples of sustainable designs for our students. These buildings and landscape design elements incorporate and demonstrate low-carbon and climate positive infrastructure to students and the community.

LEED BUILDINGS:
Western will put forth its best efforts to undertake building design and construction projects in line with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. Western has a number of certified buildings:
Claudette MacKay Lassonde Pavillion - LEED® Gold (2010)
McIntosh Gallery - LEED® Silver (2012)
Stevenson Hall and Lawson Hall - LEED® Silver (2014)
WINDEEE - LEED® Silver (2014)
Ontario Hall Residence - LEED® Silver (2015)
Western Centre for Public Health & Family Medicine - LEED® Silver (2015)
The Collider - LEED® Silver (2015)
Ivey Business School - LEED® Gold (2015)
Physics and Astronomy Building - LEED® Certified (2015)
Music Building - LEED® Gold (2017)
Delaware Hall Residence - LEED® Silver (2017)
Amit Chakma Engineering Building- LEED® Platinum (2019)
Additionally, Western is in the process of certifying the following buildings:
Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB) - Targeting LEED® Gold status
Western University Engineering Building (WUEB) - Targeting LEED® Platinum status"

Energy Dashboard:
Western Environmental System (WES) is the single most significant tool in energy consumption on campus. It is an advanced HVAC system that can remotely control campus air systems allowing the Facilities Management department to schedule the shutdown of service to areas of non-occupancy (ie: evenings and weekends).
A large majority of buildings on campus (50+) are supported by the system and each new building is added as they go online. Retrofitting of older buildings will be a gradual upgrade. There is also an energy dashboard that allows you to monitor the energy use of your campus building -or the use of any building across campus – utilizing the Real-Time Energy Dashboard. By logging on to energy.uwo.ca, users can view campus wide energy demand at that time, as well as a building-by-building breakdown showcasing energy use across most of the university’s facilities. Clicking on an icon gives users an up-close look at that particular building’s electricity use.

Fair Trade Campus:
In November 2015, Western received its designation as a Fair Trade Campus Designation. Fair Trade Western’s goals on campus and in the London community are:
- Raise awareness about Fair Trade
- Increase the availability of Fair Trade products
- Increase the visibility of Fair Trade products where they are sold

Western is constantly working to encourage people to purchase Fair Trade products and take simple actions that can make a difference. We do this through a variety of events, some of which are fundraisers, including:
- Fair Trade Campus Week – a campus wide week-long “celebration” of Fair Trade
- Fair Trade bake sales
- Scare Them Fair – a Halloween event that promotes the purchasing of Fair Trade chocolate for Halloween
- My Fair Valentine – before Valentine’s Day every year we sell Fair Trade chocolate candy grams

Fair Trade Certified products (including coffee, tea and chocolate) are currently available in many locations across campus, including;
- The Wave and Spoke Tavern
- Western Film
- Grocery Checkout
- Hospitality Services
- locations providing Fire Roasted FT coffee;
- All Residence Operations
- Quotes Cafe in Weldon Library
- Talbot College
- Western Student Recreation Centre
- Natural Science
- Lucy's Café in Somerville House
- North Campus Building
- Law/Chambers Café
- Great Hall Catering

Students, staff and volunteers for the Sherwood Fox Arboretum (all natural areas on campus) maintain records of the collection of all wood species providing a way to analyze species composition and distribution. This inventory is in the late stages of migration to a GIS database that will in time have a public facing tool for users to interact with the data.

The ecosystem restoration course has participated in the assessment of some natural areas on campus and the creation of restoration plans. Through this coursework they have also taken part in buckthorn busts in the fall term the help with the mitigation of invasive species on campus.

We are in the planning stages in support of an experiential learning program that will study naturalized areas of campus in collaboration with indigenous experts from local communities and members of the Earth Sciences department. They will integrate traditional knowledge with western teaching to develop a multi-year research, planning and restoration program to enhance the biodiversity of these spaces.

In collaboration with the USC, we created the community gardens in spring of 2021. This space allows all members of the campus community to experience the joy of gardening and growing food on campus.

Solar EV charging station
Interdisciplinary Consulting Project ENVRSUST 9200X:
As a member of a Consulting Team Group, students undertook a consulting project for a 'real world' client, related to the field of environment and/or sustainability. Students completed several assignments which reflected the life of an environmental consultant, such as writing a project proposal, budgeting and tracking hours spent on client related work; they prepared invoicing and time-planning project tasks - which all contributed to final project reports. Final project findings were presented to all clients in a formal 'conference type’ day.

One of the topics that was undertaken by a group from this MES course was a feasibility study on solar powered charging stations (electric vehicle, equipment). Students were asked to develop a feasibility study, including a business case, for installing electric vehicle charging stations across main campus. It was thought that due to increasing electricity costs, the feasibility of solar powered charging stations needed to be explored at Western as a strategy for supporting our community and a low carbon economy in Ontario. The study was required to help meet Western’s goals of reducing our environmental footprint while enhancing services on main campus; all while aligning with the suggested measures that the Government of Ontario set forth in its 2016 Ontario Climate Change Action Plan.

Waste Audit
As part of the MES program, students assisted the sustainability coordinator and the sustainability manager with an annual waste audit. In accordance with O.Reg 102/94 and 103/94 the institution must conduct an annual waste audit to measure the contamination in all streams. In accordance with these regulations, the institution also puts together a waste audit report, and a waste reduction action plan. This type of experiential learning is coordinated and continued on an annual basis, helping the students witness the reality of the waste that is created and consumed on campus.

Waste Diversion Training and Education
EnviroWestern, a student run group, took part in visual audits of the Dining Hall Waste Stations in student residences to ensure that bins were placed appropriately, that signage was posted and current, and was asked to observe student behavior and use of the waste stations. After these findings were analyzed, it was determined that waste management infrastructure was operating effectively and that student training and education needed to be formalized and broadly applied. The Sustainability Office will continue to work with EnviroWestern to develop a training and education program to that end.

MES Sustainability Coordinator Position:
Every year, MES students are hired to complete placements in various positions across campus. Typically, students are hired in the faculty of science, and other departments on campus including: hospitality services, residence operations and facilities management. The majority of the placement is project-based, with incumbents managing one or two major projects throughout the summer term, while maintaining other important day-to-day activities. Students hired in this most recent year were responsible for the following:

- determining a long-term vision for waste management at Western, mid and short-term objectives, and communications and marketing strategies attached to those objectives, in an attempt to enhance waste reduction and recycling at Western.
- address these four areas (waste, water, energy and GHG emissions) in order to reduce energy consumption, water use and develop an engagement campaign for staff, students and faculty pertaining to behavior change.
- working with countless stakeholders on campus to obtain data for the AASHE STARS submission. This included identifying gaps in sustainability performance, and preparing a report for internal staff about the future of sustainability at Western University.
-performing walkthroughs on several buildings on campus to document locations, quantity and asses the urgency of the replacement of ultra-freezers. These ultra freezers help with the storage of biological and chemical samples from researchers throughout campus. However, they are turned on at all times and work to maintain sub-zero temperatures of -80C; many of these units are old and energy intensive. The students were asked to talk to researchers, investigate alternative options and participate in the development of a business case for the purchase and install of new ultra freezers on campus.
- identifying all vending machines on campus, which area they belong to and what characteristics they have; identify alternatives, if need be to reduce their energy consumption.
- helping with the operation and enhancement of the Green Office program, updating Green Boards and signage around campus, completing and publishing Western’s annual waste audit, and generating content for social media.

Students have also helped with the following in recent years:
- GHG Inventory
- Annual Report for hospitality sustainability
- Shut the Sash Campaign for labs on campus
-embedding sustainability into orientation week on campus

Wellness Education Centre
The Wellness Education Centre (WEC) offers all Western students a safe, comfortable environment to get connected with the wellness resources available at Western and in the London community. Students, staff and faculty have the opportunity to unwind and get support for achieving healthy lifestyles. The WEC focuses on 6 broad areas of wellness, including Mental, Physical, Academic & Career, Environmental, Financial and Social.

Some of the services reference by the WEC include: FRESH (peer nutrition education program created by and for Western students), Academic Counsellors in all faculties and within the Student Experience portfolio, EnviroWestern (on-campus club that provides action and advocacy for environmental issues), among many others.

https://sustainability.uwo.ca/