York University
EN-4: Outreach Materials and Publications

1. York maintains an active sustainability presence on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. These pages are used to promote sustainability-related events, institutional achievements and sustainable living tips. The main objective of our social media platforms is to create high levels of awareness of sustainability at York University and beyond.
https://www.facebook.com/york.university.sustainability
https://twitter.com/YUsustain
https://www.instagram.com/yorkusustainability/

2. York University's central newsletter called YFile publishes sustainability news, celebrates successes and provides community updates. The articles and features contained in this publication illustrate the work underway by students, faculty and staff across all Faculties and divisions at York University. In addition, all articles on Y-File that encompass the UN SDGs are tagged to help filter articles related to sustainability-inclusive topics. https://yfile.news.yorku.ca/

3. Sustainability is featured in the York University Magazine through stories - for example in Fall 2023 a feature of Professor Usman Khan research of flooding forecast.
https://magazine.yorku.ca/issues/fall-2023/rain-check/

1. The cafeterias run by York’s Food Services all include signage that highlights sustainable food choices such as vegetarian and vegan options.
2. All tri-bins across York's campuses are labelled to help create community awareness on how to sort waste and recycling 3. All kitchenettes on campus have Zero Waste posters with tips on how to reduce food waste.
https://www.yorku.ca/sustainability/priorities/whole-institution-approach/operations/

1. York University has an virtual interactive campus map for the Keele and Glendon campuses. The interactive map highlights the location of various sustainable features around campus, including but not limited to battery bins, EV charging stations, green spaces such as gardens and woodlots. https://map.concept3d.com/?id=1200#!bm/?ce/32584?ct/29101,29093?t/2169:1

2. The Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change offers campus tours for future and current students which are hosted by Peer Mentors. They are offered in person every Monday for an hour. The tour highlights various sustainable features on campus.
3. York University highlights various sustainable features on campus through videos our social media accounts, highlighted here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CigHXq0gWx5/ and https://www.instagram.com/reel/CclATHKlxIV/

4. A Green Building Audio Tour for the The Bergeron Centre for Engineering Excellence, which provides highlights of the sustainable features through an image slideshow. https://greenbuildingaudiotours.com/buildings/bergeron_centre_for_engineering_excellence_lassonde_school_of_engineering

5. Student Recruitment and Admissions at YorkU integrates sustainability facts about York University during their campus tours for future students.

6. The alternative campus tour serves as a tool to equip and engage students and community members to critically examine conceptions of the campus space and community. The project collects material and stories about different sites of the campus and makes them widely available to the campus population and the wider public. By walking the campus as tourists and talking about the campus as tour guides, the alternative campus tour seek to enable students to learn and converse about the historical context of their university. Learn more here: https://alternativecampustour.info.yorku.ca/

1. York sets up "FreeStuff" tables for residence move-in/ move-out. Students are able to place their unwanted clothes, books and household items for others to take, and at the end of the move-out period, all remaining items were donated to the Oasis Clothing Bank. Although this program was temporarily halted due to COVID-19, it resumed in 2022.

2. Residents engage in a conversation around sustainability the same day they move in at their house meeting; the conversation centres around instilling the importance of our collective responsibility to engage in sustainable practices, as well as brainstorming specific ways that residents can engage in sustainable actions in our buildings (such as turning off lights when not needed, not leaving water running, unplugging electronics when not in use, etc.).

3. Residence Life launched a Living Learning Community (LLC) specific to Sustainability during the 2023-2024 academic year. LLCs engage residents in a series of learning opportunities to provide a more advanced engagement with a theme or academic program; in particular, the Sustainability LLC seeks to address UN SDG 12 (Ensure sustainable production and consumption patterns) and 13 (Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts). Consisting of 44 residents annually (chosen through an application process), the Sustainability LLC will provide participants 1-2 learning strategies (events, workshops, intentional conversations) per month; these opportunities will be sequenced through an educational plan to ensure appropriate scaffolding of learning. Learning opportunities will be designed by members of the Residence Life Management Team in collaboration with key content experts across the institution, and will be facilitated by these consent experts as well as a work- study position (Living Learning Community Leader).

The Sustainability LLC will advance climate action at York University through the development of participants as sustainability champions equipped to engage in climate action at York University and beyond. Connected to Residence Life’s Residence Curriculum and educational priority (“York residents will engage in transformative experiences that foster empathy, compassion, belonging, and a commitment to their enrichment of their communities and one another”), by the end of April each year, participants will be able to act upon principles of sustainability. In addition to the annual 44 participants who will be developed on a deeper level as sustainability champions, the larger Founders residence community (254 residents) will be able to participate in many of the learning opportunities provided, which will support a broader culture shift within our communities. The Sustainability LLC will contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions at the University through behaviour change of participants in the program. On-campus housing is naturally a contributor of GHG; while there are infrastructural elements that are beyond the scope of this project, a behaviour change in students living in residence can result in a reduction of emissions. Previous initiatives such as Res Race to Zero have attempted to engage in this reduction of emissions, but they do not necessarily lead to long term change in behaviour or a foundational understanding of the principles of sustainability. By focusing on the foundations of sustainability and sustainable behaviour in addition to the actions residents can engage in, the Sustainability LLC will result in longer-lasting change that will have impacts on the York community even after the participants leave residence. Given their participation in this program, it is possible that they will seek out leadership opportunities with York more broadly and bring their new learning with them, infusing this culture shift more broadly within student organizations and community at York.