I couldn’t forget to talk about UBC’s largest sustainability club, Common Energy! I’ve heard a lot about Common Energy and their projects through my co worker, Marisha. I sat down with Marisha to learn more about the club and what she does as a club member!

Explain your involvement with Common Energy and why you chose to get involved!

I’m a coordinator for the Student Energy team at Common Energy. I was looking for people that were passionate about sustainability, and heard that Common Energy was one of the largest campus sustainability groups.

Student Energy is a team that is part of a global charity. The charity that chapters in more than 30 other schools! At UBC, the Student Energy team works under Common Energy. The team has about 10 people and is project based.

One project we recently ran was a Big Team, where folks from all 5 Common Energy teams (or anyone that’s interested) comes together as one sustainability community. At the Big Teams, we eat dinner and listen to speakers. At the one my team planned, we talked about sustainable agriculture, and we had speakers come in that are experts in sustainable cannabis production and sustainable agriculture. There were quizzes, prizes, and it was very successful!

How many students are involved in Common Energy at UBC?

There are at least 60 members, and 5 different teams. I really like how interdisciplinary it is- we have members who study policy, engineering, science, political science, etc. Sustainability isn’t just for one group. Interdisciplinary work is so important as we tackles such a big issue!

What does sustainability mean to you?

It makes me think of the long term- it’s not just about energy or the environment, but about anything we can sustain over time.

If you could change one thing about sustainability at UBC, what would it be?

We’re working on a carpool initiative right now. So many students, faculty, and staff drive their own car to school, which comes with gas and parking costs. We want to connect faculty, staff, and students and provide the infrastructure for a carpool system that will save UBC community members money, and will contribute to improving our environment.

How can others get involved?

There is a Waste Audit happening February 28th from 8am-5pm. At the waste audit, Common Energy will determine whether or not waste is being properly sorted at the Nest. As can be found in the Facebook event page, from data from last year’s audit, only 22% of items thrown in the garbage were actually garbage and 59% of items were actually compostable material. Students can register to volunteer at the event and contribute to the data collection process.

It was awesome to learn a bit more about Common Energy and the sustainability work that they’re doing. I was particularly interested in the commuting challenge that Marisha brought up, that she’s hoping to address shortly. About 75% of UBC’s student population commutes into campus. According to this UBC transportation document, approximately 46,000 people drove alone to UBC a day in the fall of 2017. Carpool numbers into campus are much lower than they used to be in 1997, and folks are using public transit much more often than they did in 1997. The transit information makes sense to me- we have such a solid transit system now- but I’m surprised that the number of carpool folks has dropped by 14,000 individuals when our overall campus enrollment numbers have been growing. Why don’t folks carpool into campus? What could make the carpooling process more appealing to students, staff, and faculty? I’ve lived on campus throughout my entire UBC degree, so maybe you have more ideas or thoughts about this than I do! I hope Common Energy and Marisha find a solution that is convenient and works well, so that our numbers of folks transiting into campus via single occupant vehicles can drop significantly.

Today, I had the opportunity to attend the UBC Sustainability Fair at the Nest. The event was run by a number of different sustainability groups on campus, as well as some external sustainable groups. I was excited to see which booths I would find at the event, and wanted to learn more about what different groups are doing on campus to promote sustainability.

A UBC Sustainability Fair banner in the Nest

When I first got to the event, I was drawn to the booth run by ChopValue. ChopValue is an organization that turns used chopsticks into tables, cutting boards, coasters, and other wooden objects. According to the company’s website, the organization has recycled over 15 million chopsticks. I think this a pretty cool concept- I would hate to see all of our used chopsticks going to waste! The items/samples of their products that they had at the sustainability event were quite beautiful.

A ChopValue collection bin

ChopValue reminds me of the Circular Business Models outlined in the Forum for the Future article we read for class. I think this business and its products fall into the “Upcycling” category- as the organization is turning used products into a new, improved product. It’s also a super local organization, and there are 86 recycling locations across the lower mainland (two near/at UBC: Pacific Poke and FP Innovations!) Maybe next time you swing over to grab Poke, you can give your used chopsticks to ChopValue so they can recycle them!

This is an example of how ChopValue can use chopsticks to make a product-building material!

The next group I talked to at the sustainability fair was SASC– the Sexual Assault Support Centre. This is an organization on campus that supports and empowers sexual assault survivors of all genders (and their friends and family). I was pretty surprised to see SASC at the event, as it is not a group at UBC I typically associate with the word “sustainability”. After thinking about the booth for a while, I realized it was probably focused on the social aspect of sustainability. I approached the booth and asked if I was correct, and they said it’s true: they support students in having sustainable relationships and sustainable mental health experiences. I asked Catherine, a volunteer with the SASC, what social sustainability meant to her. She said it means making sure what you are doing now socially will not negatively impact you in the future. What that means to her is maintaining a positive work-life balance, saying no when you need to, and avoiding taking on too much. She says sometimes, for extroverts, it can be socially healthy to connect with many people around them, and for introverts, it can be socially healthy to make boundaries and ensure time alone. It was great to hear from SASC and the ways in which we can ensure social sustainability for ourselves.

SASC at the Sustainability Fair

Finally, I had a great chat with a student named Ben from the UBC Engineers Without Borders (EWB) club. He is a part of the sustainability venture within the club, and shared a lot about the sustainability projects that the organization has been working on. As we typically focus on businesses in the sustainability world, it was refreshing talking to an organization focused on a different discipline- Engineering.

Anyone can join Engineers Without Borders- not just engineering students!

The first thing that Ben emphasized was that anyone can join this organization- even if they don’t have engineering backgrounds! Many folks in the group come from different education backgrounds, and different skills and perspectives are needed to make the group successful. Ben is passionate about sustainability and is not an engineering student, but enjoys contributing to the Engineers Without Borders efforts.

On the UBC or campus level, there are local-level sustainability projects that the club works on. Ben shared two different UBC Engineers Without Borders sustainability  projects with me. One is Aquaponics, and the other is Scrapless.

Aquaponics is a technology that combines hydroponics (using water instead of soil in agriculture) and aquaculture (fish production). The fish tank produces waste, which is used as a fertilizer for the plants that are growing in the water. The plants pick up the waste and end up growing much faster than they typically would. Further, through the aquaponics system, there is no nitrogen runoff, and the use of pesticides and chemical-based fertilizers is not necessary. It’s also space efficient, based on the output per square meter. It solves the problems of conventional farming and uses almost no water, so it’s efficient in places where water is scarce. Also, you can grow almost anything with the system!

The aquaponics project is currently operating on top of the UBC CIRS building (the Centre for Interactive Research and Sustainability). EWB is in the process of securing funding for the use of solar panels for the aquaponics structure, so that the system can have a negative carbon impact.

The next project we talked about is called Scrapless. Scrapless is an app designed by EWB members at UBC. Basically, the app will connect food producers with students that are looking for food. The food producers on campus will typically throw out food at the end of the day. Instead, Scrapless allows food producers to send a notification to all students, to allow them to pick up food at a reduced price or for free. This will reduce food waste and has business benefits, as the businesses will be able to sell a bit more at the end of the day. EWB is currently beta testing the app- the organization is looking for people to download it and test it for bugs. Soon, it should be up and running! There is a lot of interest from groups in the Nest and around UBC to use this app.

Ben from Engineers Without Borders

Because I was curious, I asked why Ben wanted to get involved in the sustainability projects within EWB (especially as he is not an engineer!) He shared that he grew up in BC, and really values the culture of sustainability here. He wanted to expand on his sustainability degree to use his passions and interests, and has enjoyed getting to work with students from the engineering faculty!

I really enjoyed learning about the various projects that Engineers Without Borders is working on. I had heard about aquaponics once before, but I had no idea that it was being implemented right here at UBC. Today in class we talked about reducing water usage, especially in food production, and I think this is such a great example of how we can find food and agriculture solutions that use less water! Further, it is an excellent example of a circular process- the waste from the fish is used to fertilize the plants.

Also, I think Scrapless is an amazing idea! Students are always on the lookout for free/cheap food, and it drives me bonkers to know that so much food is wasted at UBC just because it wasn’t sold on a certain day. If businesses around campus adopt the app and train their employees to use it well, I think it could become extremely popular with students. Plus, it’s a local product that was made by UBC students, for UBC students, which is awesome! I’m so grateful that Ben took some time to explain his work to me, and I think it would be extremely beneficial for more collaboration to happen between the business and engineering faculties to solve sustainability issues.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time at the Sustainability Fair. It was great to see businesses, student organizations, and clubs come together to talk about solutions to the environmental problems we face today.