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Sustainability

Energy reduction leads to STARS sustainability gold—again

The Ring

The McKinnon pool heat recovery system is just one of many initiatives that have helped UVic achieve its second gold rating with the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS). The 2017 score maintains UVic’s gold ranking, originally established in 2014, and makes it the second highest-rated university in Canada.

Queenswood legacy lives on in salvaged objects

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In preparation for building renovations at the Queenswood site, several hundred items—fixtures, healthcare and commercial kitchen equipment, plumbing fixtures, millwork, appliances, even dishes and hot water tanks—have been salvaged for re-use by a variety of departments and off-campus organizations, including UVic Food Services, the University Club, Bamfield Marine Centre and Beacon Community Services.

Millennia-spanning forest study awarded

The Ring

Outstanding research in ecology was announced this week by the Ecological Society of America. A team of UVic researchers and grad students were recognized for their contribution to the fields of plant ecology and biogeography with the William Skinner Cooper Award for their research study, "Intertidal resource use over millennia enhances forest productivity," published in Nature Communications last year.

Knowledge: snowpack science

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A significant amount of freshwater in western Canada and the North originates as snowpack from the Rocky Mountains. Terry Prowse, a UVic geographer and a senior federal research scientist who studies hydrology, water resources and freshwater ecosystems.

Banting fellows shed light on Indigenous language, orca survival

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An endangered Indigenous language and an endangered West Coast wildlife icon stand to benefit from the work of two new Banting Postdoctoral Fellows at UVic. Valued at $70,000 per year for two years, the fellowships are intended to groom Canada's next generation of research leaders.

Controlling invasive species on campus

The Ring

A small army of volunteers is on the march to eradicate the spread of plant species that threaten native-growing flora on the UVic campus. Their project on invasive species management is one of four projects approved and funded this year by the Campus Sustainability Fund, which provides one-time allocations to campus projects that focus on water savings, sustainability awareness and learning opportunities.

A ‘power-full’ future for UVic

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The site has been chosen and planning is underway for a new energy plant to replace UVic’s aging energy heating infrastructure. The new natural-gas fired plant will boast more efficient boilers which, in combination with new control systems and ultra-efficient energy transfer stations across the campus, are expected to produce significant energy savings.

Foundation increases support for students, sustainability

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At its August meeting, the UVic Foundation approved a record $14.5-million budget to support students and the university’s 2016-17 academic mission—an increase of $600,000 from last year. The foundation also created a pilot Fossil-Fuel-Free Fund for donors who wish to create new endowments that will not be invested in companies with coal, oil or natural gas reserves.

Citizen science on BC Ferries

The Ring

Passengers on BC Ferries this summer have an exciting opportunity to help scientists better understand ocean health and declining salmon populations in the Salish Sea.

Knowledge: extreme thinking

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Science is closer to linking some weather-related disasters to human-caused climate change. This spring, a US National Academy of Sciences committee—on which Zwiers served—released a milestone report acknowledging that progress is being made on attributing some extreme events to climate change caused by human activity.

Power to the people

The Ring

Melina Laboucan, a 33-year-old member of the Lubicon Cree First Nation, came to UVic's Indigenous Governance (IGov) master's program in 2013 with a clear purpose: to develop a solar energy project plan that would tackle Indigenous and environmental issues in her home town of Little Buffalo, Alberta.

A digital field guide for BC central coastal species

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Take a virtual tour from seaweeds and sea stars to wolves and eagles, with a new digital field guide. The guide provides experts and amateurs with a tool to identify over 700 species in the Great Bear Rainforest to help deepen our appreciation of the biodiversity along BC’s central coast.

How 'green' is UVic?

The Ring

Across the board—academics, research, operations, administration—sustainability is a fundamental component of life at UVic. Here are just a few highlights—from the past year and ongoing—of UVic's contributions to a green and sustainable environment.

Canada Prize for Nancy Turner

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Ethnobotanist and ethnoecologist Nancy Turner is a long-time champion of Indigenous traditional knowledge and a world expert on traditional plant use. Her book, Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge: Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples of Northwestern North America, was announced the winner of the 2016 Canada Prize in the Social Sciences by The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, on Monday, April 11th.

Campus Sustainability Fund

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Do you have an idea that would make our campus more sustainable? There’s a new fund that can help make that idea a reality. The newly established $100,000 Campus Sustainability Fund is available to provide financial assistance for a variety of sustainability projects.

‘Sorting-at-source’ office recycling

The Ring

Pitching in to reach our waste-diversion goals

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