Gord McLeod shows off the budding bounty! Red River College is pleased to be participating for the first time in Winnipeg Harvest’s Grow a Row Project.

Grow-A-Row’s roots date back to 1986 when Winnipeggers Ron and Eunice O’Donovan produced more potatoes in their backyard garden than they could consume. Their vegetables were so well received by Winnipeg Harvest the O’Donovans encouraged friends and neighbours to donate their surplus produce too. Since then Grow-A-Row has yielded millions of pounds of fresh fruit and veggies.

At the College, the project is being led by Gord McLeod and his Pavement & Grounds team. In between weed-whacking, mowing and their other regular duties, Sandhu, Brady, Rob, Ron and student employees take time out of their day to tend to the garden. Read More →

Sue Hayduk – RRC Polytech Sustainability Coordinator

Hi everyone. Last week I confessed that I had never commuted to work by bike. I’m pleased to let you know that I succeeded in my commuter challenge and biked to work!  I found that once I got on my bike and started riding, any fear I had at the outset melted away. I prepared by using the City of Winnipeg’s 2013 Cycling Map to plan my bike route and took note of the bike lanes or wider roadways on my drive home. What really made the difference was mapping my route on Google Maps using the bike filter. I was surprised to see that the commute was only 9 km. I thought, “I can do that”, and, well, I did!  The savings to the environment were also significant. I saved 1 litre of fuel and avoided 1.87 kg of CO2 from going into the atmosphere! Read More →

I know that driving alone to work is not a sustainable mode of commuting, yet day after day I drive to work. I decided that I needed to make a change, and the Commuter Challenge is helping motivate me to explore more active, sustainable commuting options. Read More →

Jennifer Berger from the Manitoba Eco-Network gave a great presentation about the many benefits of  Organic Lawn Care. She reminded us to treat our lawn like a natural system, one that needs the right balance of nutrients to live and grow well. Along with the many reasons why we should eliminate chemicals from our lawns, she shared some great tips and tricks on how to properly aerate, mow and seed our lawns to out-compete weeds, and offered some advice on other sustainable garden-like alternatives to lawns.

Some of the highlights from the session were: Read More →

RRC’s Green Prosperity Act consultation

A big “thanks!” goes out to all of the sustainably-minded folks at Red River College who took time out of their day to share their views on the Province of Manitoba’s draft sustainability legislation – the Green Prosperity Act. Since legislation can be so far removed from our day-to-day lives it’s easy to focus on more immediate priorities at work and at home. This new act is important to all Manitobans though as it sets the social, economic and environmental stage from which sustainability policies, agreements, plans and milestones will be formed. Read More →

On Saturday March 23 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm., Red River College will be powering down for Earth Hour. By participating in Earth Hour the College will conserve approximately 2,000 KwH of electricity… enough to power a Winnipeg home for more than two months!

The Sustainability Office reminds you to do your part to celebrate Earth Hour – at work and at home. At work, before you leave for the weekend, remember to turn off office lights and shut down your workstations. At home, celebrate Earth Hour by turning your lights out, taking a moonlit stroll or having dinner by candlelight. Help us celebrate Earth Hour, the largest movement for the planet in human history, spanning 7,000 cities, 152 countries with a digital reach of 200 million.

In our second Sustainability Speaker Series, Michael Lee from Manitoba Hydro shared some great tips on how to save $$$ and energy in your home.

Michael provided lots of great information, including:

• How to order a FREE water and energy saver kit for your home.
• How to read your Manitoba Hydro bill.
• How to save money with LOW or NO cost energy saving tips.

To learn more energy saving tricks and tips and how to qualify for the Power Smart and PAYS Financing programs check out his presentation here.

What’s next:

Watch for information on the next Sustainability Speaker Series presentation coming May 14th. Food Matters Manitoba will be on campus to talk about local food, food security and sustainability.

Q) What do these bins have in common?

Bins, bins and more bins.

Read More →

If you are planning an event – MAKE IT GREEN

Greening an event means taking steps to minimize your environmental impact. Start by looking at your event as a whole, break down each activity and use the 4 R’s – Rethink Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Planning and executing a green event is an easy way to adopt the practice of sustainability; not only will you reduce your impact on the environment, but you typically will reduce costs and set a leading example for others to follow.

An event can be large or small, a small event might be a coffee meeting where you ask everyone to bring a reusable mug, or you ask your caterer for glassware instead of plastic plates and cups for a lunch meeting or workshop. When planning a large event consider things like, electronic invitations, using local growers and organic food, encouraging guests to carpool or take transit. These are just a few ideas – the options are endless.

One large event we are helping to green on campus is the annual Chili Cup. Working with the Wellness Committee, the Office of Sustainability put forward these recommendations to reduce waste: Read More →

Have you been thinking about leaving your car at home? Not sure what to do without it? Let the 2012 Commuter Challenge be the time to give it a try!

RRC is taking the Challenge and we encourage you to join in! During Environment Week, June 3^rd to 9^th, join the more than 7,000 Manitobans who will cycle, walk, run, skate, bus, carpool or telecommute their way to work!

The Commuter Challenge is a friendly, national competition that encourages daily commuters to choose greener modes of transportation. Whether you ride Transit on a regular basis, or cycle to work for the first time ever, you qualify as a Commuter Challenge participant. So register for the Challenge and be counted – the more of us that participate, the better our chances of winning! Read More →