Synergy+

What is Sustainability?

The concept of sustainability lies in the persistence over an apparently indefinite future of certain necessary and desired characteristics of both the ecosystem and the human subsystem within.

• Living within the limits
• Understanding the interconnections among economy, society, and environment
• Equitable distribution of resources and opportunities
• Sustainability is the "long-term, cultural, economic and environmental health and vitality" with emphasis on long-term, "together with the importance of linking our social, financial, and environmental well-being"

Synergy +

Capilano College is committed to developing and maintaining high standards of environmental stewardship. The college will be a global leader in environmental sustainability through innovative strategies which foster the protection and preservation of the environment.

Vision
We are a group of young leaders that will make Capilano College a leading institution of sustainability, and environmental conscientiousness, lasting and distinctive improvements through unparalleled customer responsiveness, integrity, professionalism, and accountability.

Mission
We want to develop a campus wide environmental management system through effective means of educating, and creating awareness among all students, faculty, and community on sustainability.

Values
Integrity and honesty

• We care for, and give back to the environment
• We demonstrate a positive relationship with our community
• We encourage growth through participation of sustainable practices
• We strive to solve sustainability problems, and challenges that best benefit our college
• We aim to develop our students, faculty, and community's knowledge and practices

The ideas of implementation at Capilano College

More than in anything else, the power of sustainable development lies in its bridging capability-its ability to facilitate integration, synthesis, and collaborative approaches to problem solving. To come up with ideas of implementation at Capilano College, we looked at every element carefully. We all agreed that our goals and objectives must be measurable, achievable, and clear.

Paper

• We aim to reduce copy paper by 35% by utilizing double sided printing and photo copying. This will be a campus wide mandatory policy for students and faculty. If everyone is using both sides of paper it should be an acceptable norm for assignments and exams. This practice will save our resources and conserve funding


• To increase the use of post consumer waste paper by 35%. We will use purchasing power to buy only 35% PCW for the campus to reduce solid waste reduction


• To increase mixed paper recycling by 20% by increasing awareness through posters on recycling bins and around campus detailing recyclable mixed paper resulting in further solid waste reduction

Water

• Our goal is to reduce water useage with existing fixtures by 10-15% by fixing leaky faucets and toilets by increasing the maintenance schedule resulting in water waste reduction


• We also aim to reduce water usage with new fixtures by 45% by replacing worn out fixtures with new low flow water fixtures and waterless urinals.
  

Energy

• Our goal is to simply reduce hydro energy use by 8% by turning off the lights and computers in areas that are not being utilized. This will conserve energy costs and preserve resources.
  

How will we meet our measurable goals?

Develop a committee

2 student co-directors, 2 staff co-director
1 student manager of internal affairs
1 student project co-ordinator
2- 1st 2nd year student ambassador
2- 3rd 4th year student ambassador

The committee will meet every Thursday at lunch for one hour, ten committee members will start the organization. Our goal is to recruit as many students and faculty as possible to join the committee or be involved.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.