RED Forum is one of our favourite days of the year. Not only do we get to meet and engage with people from around the College, but there is always something new and interesting to do and learn.

Large events can have large environmental impacts which is why we have partnered with RED Forum to help make it greener. Planning an event with a small environmental footprint can be hard without the right tools and resources to help you. We’ll be launching a Green Event Guide soon to help you green your College event, but in the meantime our partnership with RED Forum is a great opportunity to not only demonstrate the College’s commitment to sustainability but to also showcase some of the ways to help make any event a little greener.

To help RED Forum Go Green we need your help! Here’s a list of what you can do to green your RED Forum experience and what we’re doing too:

SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION

There will be a lot of people coming to the Notre Dame Campus on May 10 from many different directions – this can add up to a lot of traffic and a lot of GHG emissions. Consider greening your commute by trying one of these sustainable transportation options:

Bus – Plan your bus trip to NDC by using Winnipeg Transit’s easy-to-use Navigo.
Carpool – If you’re driving to RED Forum, we encourage you to team up, share your ride and carpool – particularly if you’re coming from our regional campuses. Finding carpool partners can be done through word of mouth at your campus. Or, you may want to try GoManitoba, the college’s online ridematching platform. GoManitoba can also be used to match biking or busing partners.
Bike – Bike racks are located around campus for your convenience. Remember to use these bike locking tips to help keep your bike secure.

SUSTAINABLE COMMUTING PRIZE PACK: If you use sustainable transportation to get to RED Forum, come by the Sustainability table in the Library Hallway during registration to get a sustainable commute pin and to enter to win an awesome prize!

REDUCING WASTE

A big event often means a lot of waste. Here are some ways you can help reduce the amount of waste generated at RED Forum and some of the ways we’re working to reduce waste too:

Pack Your Reusable Water Bottle and Travel Mug

Keep your coffee warm and your water cool and avoid the disposable cup by remembering your reusable water bottle or mug. Not sure where to fill your water bottle? Check out the list of drinking fountains and bottle fill stations near RED Forum venues.

WIN A PRIZE: At any point throughout the day, get “caught in the act” using a reusable drink container by one of our Sustainability team members and be entered to win!

Go Digital

Did you know you can bookmark the RED Forum sched site on your phone and download your schedule to your calendar? Save some trees by using your phone as your guide to a great RED Forum instead of using a paper schedule (you may be less likely to lose your phone too!). Click on the “Mobile App + iCal” icon located on the right in sched for more information.

Did you know that RED Forum has never printed presentations as handouts and has reduced the number of printed handbooks by half? That’s a lot of paper saved!

INCREASING WASTE DIVERSION

Reducing waste is the first step in reducing the impact our waste has on the environment. But once waste is created, we want to divert as much of it as possible from the landfill. Look for Pitch In signs in the hallway to help you sort your waste into the correct stream: container recycling, paper recycling, and landfill.

You can compost your food and compostable waste too! Watch for the compost bins at the Voyageur and key locations in the morning, and at the food trucks at lunch. Volunteers will be on hand to help your sort your waste properly.

We have asked food vendors to provide recyclable and compostable materials where possible.

SHOWCASING SUSTAINABILITY

For the second year in a row, RED Forum is giving presenters Red River College branded stainless steel water bottles instead of bottled water. These water bottles are not only sleek and functional, they are also a strong statement to anyone that attends from the College and beyond that RRC is committed to sustainability.

Throughout the day, you can attend various sessions focused on the different pillars of Sustainability (look for the sessions highlighted green in sched) including a session about how the Mechanical Engineering Technology department drastically reduced their printing and won this year’s BRAVO Award for Sustainability Leadership (Keeping Paper from Becoming a Staple in the Classroom at 2:45pm).

Our team will be around throughout the day, please feel free to talk to any of us about your sustainability ideas.