Thompson Rivers University
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy

In 2012-2013 Tom Owen, past Director, TRU Office of Environment and Sustainability, served as a member of the BC Public Sector’s Carbon Neutral Committee, which “has been active since early 2010 and acts as a point of contact between core government and the broader public sector. Meetings occur quarterly and provide an opportunity for both groups to receive and provide updates, discuss issues, and raise questions related to PART 2 and PART 3 of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act as well as the Carbon Neutral Government Regulation.” (http://spoabc.org/documents/Carbon_Neutral_Newsletter_%28Oct_22%29.pdf) From 2013-2014 to the present, Jim Gudjonson, current Director, TRU Office of Environment and Sustainability, is involved or was involved with the following bodies: • BC Colleges and Universities Climate Change Working Group (J. Gudjonson, Co-Chair) • BC Hydro and the BC Ministry of Advanced Education (to develop a provincial wide revolving energy fund; J. Gudjonson will present at the upcoming symposium and be a panellist) • BC Provincial Carbon Neutral Committee--Higher Education Group (this group reports to the BC Climate Action Secretariat’s Office every 3 months) • Thompson Nicola Regional District, Airshed Management Plan (J. Gudjonson, Technical Committee member) • Workplace Conservation Awareness Advanced Education working group • BC Hydro Energy Manager and Energy Specialist training group • Canadian Alliance of College and University Sustainability Professionals • Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education • Billion Dollar Challenge (J. Gudjonson, Technical Advisor - http://greenbillion.org/) Furthermore, other staff members from the TRU Office of Sustainability continue working with the City of Kamloops to help improve the public transit system and the bike paths in and around campus, as well as on a new zero-waste strategy. These initiatives can help make these forms of transportation more accessible and popular, and minimize the amount of wate that ends up in the local landfill.