University of Alberta
PAE-20: Inter-Campus Collaboration on Sustainability

The One Simple Act on Campus (OSAC) program invites the UAlberta community to make a personal commitment to adopt more sustainable behaviours into their lives. Leveraging the principles of community-based social marketing, OSAC not only encourages behavioural change but also provides prompts, incentives and removal of barriers to that change. Various tools and resources are openly available on our website to encourage other campuses to implement this program, including a campus toolkit as well as the promotional materials used to collect commitments (i.e. door hangers and commitment cards). We also have a comprehensive tips section on our website that is well-sourced and organized into themes.

http://www.sustainability.ualberta.ca/Projects/OneSimpleActonCampus.aspx

Office of Sustainability staff have also delivered a variety of presentations to local, provincial, federal and international audiences. Examples include "Student Engagement: Supporting and inspiring sustainability leadership on campus" delivered at AASHE 2010 and "Public Empowerment & Campus Sustainability - Meaningfully engaging your campus community" delivered at AASHE 2011.

Lastly, we presented our Deliberation on Campus Sustainability (DoCS) project at AASHE 2011. It also won the AASHE 2011 Case Study Award, making the planning, implementation and lessons learned components of that project openly available online as part of AASHE’s website resources.

The University of Alberta works with and/or is a member of these organizations that have a sustainability focus:
- Alberta Capital Airshed Alliance
- Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
- Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada (BOMA)
- Canada Green Building Council
- Canadian Alliance of College and University Sustainability Professionals (CUSP)
- One Simple Act - Alberta Environment & Water
- Recycling Council of Alberta

The University of Alberta works with and/or is a member of these organizations that have a sustainability component:
- Association of Physical Plant Professionals for North America
- Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO)
- G20 University Presidents
- International Facility Management Association
- National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)
- Western Canadian University Physical Plant Association (WCUPPA)
- Western Collaboration of Universities

EARTH HOUR
http://www.sustainability.ualberta.ca/Events/EarthHour.aspx

An informal working relationship exists between UAlberta and many other Edmonton based post-secondary institutions in regards to sustainability-related activities. This includes occasional communications and collaborations, an example of which is a inter-campus challenged surrounding Earth Hour.

Initiated in March 2010, UAlberta has hosted the “One Hour, no Power: Cross Campus Challenge”. Aligned with World Wildlife Fund’s international Earth Hour movement, our Cross Campus Challenge had five Albertan schools participate in a friendly competition. The winning school has the highest percentage of student and staff pledging to participate in the Earth Hour movement. Post-secondary schools involved to date have included: Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), NorQuest College, Grant MacEwan University and University of Calgary. The impact and profile of this competition has grown substantially in its first two years, and included 1,582 participants in 2011. As hosts of the competition we work with a representative from each school and provide them with promotional tools (i.e. posters, bag tags and door hangers).

UAlberta is also collaborating with schools to deliver the Sustainability Speaker Series.