Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 50.13
Liaison Ronnie Dorsnie
Submission Date April 25, 2023

STARS v2.2

John Abbott College
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.60 / 4.00 Roberta Silerova
Program Dean
Dean's Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Campus Engagement

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement:
Campus Engagement

- a student group created a poster campaign to raise awareness of the climate impacts of plastic production and encouraging a reduction of plastic use. (Environmental Geography, F21)

Classes of students have been mobilizing to get climate education/climate literacy across the curriculum, holding friperies/used clothing fashion shows, holding a "climate conversation" circle that was attended by the local MP and his political attachée, creating posters showing the environmental/climate platforms of the different political parties; kiosks promoting vegan diets; creating and distributing sustainable living pamphlets

Public Engagement 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Public Engagement?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Public Engagement:
Public Engagement

- local politicians were invited to speak before the election in Fall 2021. Many of the student questions were about climate change.

- Lectures held on campus featuring leading activists and thinkers on Peace and Social Justice, Gender issues, Indigenous issues, and Climate change

Air & Climate 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Air & Climate?:
No

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Air & Climate:
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Buildings  

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Buildings?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Buildings:
Buildings

A student group collaborated with FMS to plan a mini- green roof installation consisting of a few raised beds with pollinator flowers (Environmental Geography, F21)

- The Ann Marie Edward Building has interactive educational tools which highlight the environmentally friendly and sustainability features of the LEED-certified building. Engineering Technology students use the data in class/lab settings

Energy 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Energy?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Energy:
Energy

A student group collaborated with FMS to plan a possible installation of solar panels on the roof of the Casgrain bldg., to be used for heating the pool (Environmental Geography, F21)

Food & Dining 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Food & Dining?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Food & Dining:
Food & Dining

- Student groups have worked on making the College cafeteria more sustainable, including reduction of single use plastics, vegetarian meals, affordable meals and composting.

Grounds 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Grounds?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Grounds:
Grounds

- Three classes participated in a project to observe and quantify pollinators who use the native bee habitat on campus. The project began with the installation of the habitat in collaboration with McGill University, and classes will continue to report the data each year to McGill, while learning about the importance of native pollinators.

- a student group collaborated with FMS to install pollinator gardens around the perimeter of the Oval, with sitting areas for JAC community to spend time enjoying the installation (Environmental Geography, F21)

- a student group collaborated with the Theatre workshop to build 3 birdhouses that went up in trees along the Lakeshore, to help biodiversity. (Environmental Geography, F21)

another class worked in planting trees/pollinator gardens/pollinator boxes around campus

Purchasing 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Purchasing?:
No

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Purchasing:
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Transportation 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Transportation?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Transportation:
Transportation

- A student group developed a report for the College on how to attain the VeloSympathique certification, which is certification provided to bike-friendly campuses in Quebec. The students delineated the next steps for the College and also participated in a college-wide “bike-to-school” day in April 2021, which encouraged students and staff to take active transportation to campus.

- students in the Sustainability Committee initiated a campaign to get bus users to push for more frequent buses, in the hopes that better service will mean more ridership.

Waste 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Waste?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Waste:
Waste

A student group collaborated with FMS to increase the number of brown bins for compost collection. They made a map of new locations for bins, and created a visual that can go on the tables in the cafeteria, showing what can go in the bins. (Environmental Geography, F21)

A class of students worked to improving composting at the Oval (student cafe)

Water 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Water?:
No

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Water:
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Coordination & Planning 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning?:
No

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning:
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Diversity & Affordability 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability?:
No

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability:
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Investment & Finance 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance?:
No

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance:
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Wellbeing & Work 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work:
Students participated in an intensive 24h Sustainable Happiness Certificate course in Spring of 2022. Although this is a non-credit course, it has formal learning components and a capstone project which participants must complete at the end. Over the course of three days, students learned about sustainability, positive psychology and well-being, among other topics. They made use of the infrastructure and operation available on campus: from planting a new pollinator garden, touring and learning about existing sustainability initiatives on campus, and using the campus for their own projects.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s living laboratory program is available:
https://www.johnabbott.qc.ca/sustainability-at-jac/sustainable-happiness/

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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