| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 54.38 |
| Liaison | Jennifer Martel |
| Submission Date | Jan. 31, 2023 |
University of the Fraser Valley
EN-3: Student Life
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Does the institution have an active student group focused on sustainability?:
Name and a brief description of the active student groups focused on sustainability:
SustainableUFV
The purpose of the SustainableUFV collective is to connect those who are passionate about the environmental impact of our operations at UFV. The team is willing to champion the communication and actions that help spread awareness amongst our own colleagues and peers of our initiatives, projects, and programs. We welcome you to share your ideas on what our priorities should be, and what activities and communication strategies could be used to green the UFV campus.
The team is supported by the Facilities Management department and, for many initiatives, BC Hydro's Energy Wise Network. Participate as much, or as little, as your schedule and interests allow.
Does the institution have a garden, farm, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery program, or an urban agriculture project where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems?:
A brief description of the gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, and/or urban agriculture projects:
UFV's Pollinator Garden
The UFV Pollinator Garden is a collaboration between a variety of UFV departments such as the Office of Sustainability, the School of Land Use and Environmental Change (SLUEC), the Biology department, the groundskeepers, and the SLUEC and Agriculture Student Associations, as well as the City of Abbotsford. The garden not only benefits the pollinators, but it also provides a teaching space for courses on plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate biology as well as biodiversity and conservation.
Maintaining the garden will also provide students and volunteers with an opportunity to get involved.
Does the institution have a student-run enterprise that includes sustainability as part of its mission statement or stated purpose?:
A brief description of the student-run enterprises:
UFV Enactus Student Group
Enactus UFV is a student-led organization that works in collaboration with the UFV School of Business, faculty, business leaders, and the community to form business projects that create social change and empower those they interact with. They use our entrepreneurial mindsets to create businesses that address social initiative issues in our community.
Enactus UFV continues to innovate and take initiative through our team members. They have created two sustainable projects that benefit different demographics of people across our community. The team is continuing to grow and the members have devoted numerous hours to improving the lives of people in the Fraser Valley community.
Enactus UFV's mission is to develop and implement projects that create positive economic, ecological, and social impacts in our community. Their team values include innovation, integrity, and inclusivity.
https://www.ufv.ca/business/enactus-ufv/
UFV Fairgrounds Cafe
The Fairgrounds Cafe is a student-run cafe at UFV that sells fairtrade coffee and tea. The cafe is run by the Student Union Society and employs students.
https://ufvsus.ca/fair-grounds
UFV Oak & Earth
Oak & Earth is a social enterprise dedicated to helping improve the lives of Indigenous peoples in the Fraser Valley. Oak & Earth markets, produces, and sells handcrafted soy candles, then invests a portion of the profits in the partner organization, the Fraser River Indigenous Society (FRIS). This partnership allows them to work closely with the organization to support the Indigenous community.
Does the institution have a sustainable investment fund, green revolving fund, or sustainable microfinance initiative through which students can develop socially, environmentally and fiscally responsible investment and financial skills?:
A brief description of the sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives:
UFV Strategic Initiative Fund
In 2021, The University of the Fraser Valley invested $224,000 to support 30 projects developed by the UFV community aimed at implementing the University’s integrated strategic plan: IYAQÁWTXW: House of Transformation. A total of 38 proposals were submitted in response to the Provost’s call for funding from the Strategic Initiatives Fund.
Funding was open to any department or unit across the university and applicants were encouraged to identify projects related to one or more of the strategic imperative themes. These proposals were reviewed by members of senior leadership with feedback provided by Deans in corresponding areas.
Has the institution hosted a conference, speaker series, symposium, or similar event focused on sustainability during the previous three years that had students as the intended audience?:
A brief description of the conferences, speaker series, symposia, or similar events focused on sustainability:
UFV The Creativity Lab Series:
A Creativity Lab is a structured, facilitated process that allows participants to build cohesive ideas. Through activities that stimulate creativity and collaboration, this process has been proven to generate vibrant, actionable solutions. In the Labs, individuals work with people from different organizations and communities to generate project ideas that will help the Fraser Valley (re)build for climate resilience.
UFV hosted three Labs in 2022, and each has a slightly different focus:
Lab #1 Rebuilding for Climate Resilience. Saturday, May 7, 10 am-1 pm, UFV
Lab #2 Community Contributions to Climate Resilience. Saturday, May 28, 10 am-1 pm, UFV
Lab # 3 Confronting Climate Crisis. Saturday, May 28, 2 pm-5 pm, UFV
The Fraser Valley Flood: An Environmental Policy Forum
The Fraser Valley experienced historic flooding in November 2021. As part of its Politalk Roundtable series, the Political Science department hosted a virtual panel to address this historic flood, the ways that governments have contributed to the environmental crisis, and what people can do to affect environmental policy.
Speakers:
- Kathryn Harrison, professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia
- Tyler Olsen, managing editor of the Fraser Valley Current
- Bruce Banman, MLA for Abbotsford-South.
- John Vissers, Green Party of Canada, Fraser Valley Conservancy, and Abbotsford Development Advisory Committee.
The UFV Politalk series has been around since 2015, created by the UFV Political Science department. The roundtable talks occur a few times a year and center around current issues. Past Politalk topics have included: Trump’s One Year in Office; China in Global Economy; and Canada’s Emergencies Act.
https://blogs.ufv.ca/blog/2022/01/the-fraser-valley-flood-an-environmental-policy-forum-jan-21/
Has the institution hosted a cultural arts event, installation, or performance focused on sustainability with the previous three years that had students as the intended audience?:
A brief description of the cultural arts events, installations, or performances focused on sustainability:
UFV Theatre: Climate Change Theatre Action
Description:
Climate Change Theatre Action 2021 is a globally distributed theatre festival, now in its fourth iteration, made up of 51 short plays by world-renowned playwrights and creators from every continent on earth, to encourage conversation, community, and action around the climate crisis. This festival is presented in conjunction with the biannual United Nations Climate Change Talks, held this year in Glasgow (COP 26).
UFV Theatre has created theatrical videos of 10 of these short and engaging plays. After a season of performing live online due to the pandemic, making these videos marked a restart to creating, rehearsing, and designing theatre live and in person. Students are utilizing a wide variety of tools available at UFV to create the videos, including editing software, green screen technology, costumes, make-up, sets, lighting, video design, indoor and outdoor shoots, and Adobe animation software.
The plays range from an exploration of the personal costs of turning Canada into an ecological preserve 150 years in the future, to the comic perspective of a baby salmon in our waterways in B.C., to an in-depth look at what “consultation” between government and First Nations truly means, from the perspective of a Palawa author.
Does the institution have a wilderness or outdoors program that follow Leave No Trace principles?:
A brief description of the wilderness or outdoors programs that follow Leave No Trace principles:
UFV Wildlife Protection Club
The UFV Wildlife Protection Club is a student-run group working to protect native wildlife. Activities of the club include organizing art shows, fundraisers, and litter-picking. Leave No Trace principles are followed by the club.
Has the institution had a sustainability-focused theme chosen for a themed semester, year, or first-year experience during the previous three years?:
A brief description of the sustainability-focused themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences:
Does the institution have a program through which students can learn sustainable life skills?:
A brief description of the programs through which students can learn sustainable life skills:
UFV Drawdown Ecochallenge
UFV created an Ecochallenge team in 2021 to challenge students & employees to create sustainable daily habits. This challenge focussed on how daily habits can impact their environmental impacts. Participants choose actions, track and share their progress through the online platform, and earn points for taking action. The Drawdown Ecochallenge included 27 different metrics in categories such as food, transportation, energy consumption, waste, and exercise.
https://blogs.ufv.ca/blog/2021/10/join-the-sustainable-ufv-ecochallenge-now-through-oct-29/
https://campus.ecochallenge.org/teams/ufv-ecochallenge-2022
UFV Sweater Week
In 2019, UFV took part in Sweater Week. The annual Sweater Week event is conducted in winter in order to promote warm workplace attire. This event ran from the 11 to the 15 of February and built on the successes from the 2016 and 2017 events. On an operational level, it was decided that the temperatures would be lowered by 2°C (to a minimum of 19.5°C instead of the previous year’s minimum of 21.5°C). These reductions would be realized across all buildings – academic spaces and offices, excluding laboratories – at both of the main campuses in Abbotsford and Chilliwack. This decrease was in full effect for the entire week, rather than administering a progressive reduction of temperatures, as was done in 2016. This new action reduced GHG emissions more significantly than by using the previous strategy, as well as creating more talking points, which afforded more opportunities for participation.
Does the institution offer sustainability-focused student employment opportunities?:
A brief description of the sustainability-focused student employment opportunities offered by the institution:
The UFV Sustainability Office has a student co-op position as well as several part-time student work positions to help support on various efforts, including STARS certification.
Does the institution have a graduation pledge through which students pledge to consider social and environmental responsibility in future job and other decisions?:
A brief description of the graduation pledge(s):
A brief description of other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives that do not fall into one of the above categories:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.