UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
USask spotlights Earth Day: Six sustainability suggestions

Since the first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970, the world-wide movement to protect the planet continues to grow.

The annual day to spotlight protecting the environment and supporting sustainability has expanded to 193 countries, with Canada one of the first to lead the way. Sustainability is a key commitment at USask, with the start of the Office of Sustainability in 2004 and the establishment of the School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS) in 2007. Sustainability was also a key pillar of University Plan 2025 and the focus of USask's Sustainability Strategy 2021-2030.

On Campus News asked Matt Wolsfeld in the Office of Sustainability for helpful hints on living more sustainably and being more environmentally friendly.

While large-level societal solutions (industrial standards and regulations, international trade and diplomacy) are incredibly important, collective action of billions of individual choices around the world also make a difference. From limiting our impact on the earth (reducing energy and water use, emissions output, and cutting waste) to supporting renewable energy policy and programs, important individual decisions in aggregate carry the potential to tilt societal norms towards positive change. As collective desire for cleaner energy rose over the last 20 years, there has been an increase in government incentives, development of renewable energy infrastructure, and availability of energy-efficient technology (from solar panels to EV vehicles).

Landfills are major emitters of methane, a greenhouse gas. To reduce emissions, the Waste Hierarchy Pyramid is an inverted pyramid model that prioritizes (in order):

• Prevention: Avoid waste by choosing long-lasting and durable products over disposable alternatives.
• Reduction: If that fails, reduce the amount of disposables you use to minimize outputs.
• Reuse: Find ways to reuse waste (turning old clothes into rags or art supplies, using empty food jars for storage, etc.).
• Recycle: For anything that is recyclable, do your best to sort beverage containers, paint, electronics, batteries, non-deposit glass, flexible plastic packaging, and foam packaging.
• Disposal: When all else fails, safely dispose waste in landfills to avoid further environmental contamination, and always use your green bins for composting/organics to reduce methane.

While plastics are a genuinely useful and durable technological marvel, our growing reliance on their overuse in disposable goods has turned that durability into a major environmental and health problem. When purchasing consumable products like food, try to find alternatives that use non-plastic packaging.

SARCAN now accepts flexible plastics like Saran or shrink wrap, which are some of the worst offenders for escaping waste streams during transport and contaminating the environment. On-line purchases make it difficult to choose exactly how things are packaged. If you cannot replace it with locally-bought, minimally packaged alternatives, try to search online for products that minimize plastic packaging.

Community gardens are a great way to create a healthier local food system, improve the environment, and increase people's interaction with nature. Join sharing groups like the Library of Things YXE and take part in volunteer-led community repair events to help reduce the need for unnecessary purchases. Create and participate in local reuse markets, take part in household swap events and neighbourhood garage sales, and put out "free tables" to give items that you're done with a new life in another home.

Personal vehicle transportation accounts for 10 per cent of Canada's total emissions. These emissions are highly climate relevant because they are regular, large-scale, and sensitive to lifestyle changes. One Statistics Canada study found that a hypothetical complete transition to remote work across the country could lead to an annual reduction of direct emissions from Canadian households the equivalent of two million cars disappearing overnight.

The City of Saskatoon is also making strides in designing and developing the Bus Rapid Transit system. It's estimated that one full bus takes 27 cars off of city streets. Outside of transit, try starting a carpooling club. If it's too far to walk, hop on a bike in warmer months. Electric alternatives like e-bikes or e-scooters are immensely less impactful than vehicles and often result in similar travel times under normal driving conditions.

Another important consideration is your air travel choices. A single commercial flight can create as many per passenger emissions as 50 round-trip commutes by car, and USask-funded air travel emissions composed six percent of USask's total 2025-25 GHG emissions. Be conscious about your business air travel and avoid where possible through mechanisms like virtual collaboration and consolidating many trips into one.

From supporting events like EcoHack and joining the USask Horticulture Club, to taking a campus sustainability tour or working in community gardens, there are many ways to learn about sustainability. For those interested in a deeper dive into sustainability studies, there are a variety of courses and programs in SENS, starting with the Undergraduate Certificate of Proficiency in Sustainability, as well as four graduate programs.

There are 10 undergraduate environmental degree options in the colleges of engineering, arts and science, and agriculture and bioresources, as well as five Indigenous and land-based sustainability programs and certificates.