Guelph Students for Environmental Change

The Meeting

1.Community Energy Integrative Planning
2.Q and A Period

Time Sensitive

3.Tonight 7pm Mackinnon 228 EARTHLINGS SHOWING!!!!
4.Mug Spotting Survey[in process need volunteers]
5.OPIRG DAY OF CELEBRATION NOV 18th
6.Student/Admin Meeting Energy on the agenda Nov 20
7.U of G DOCURAMA: Who Killed the Electric Car Nov 21 TUESDAY War Mem!
8.Buy Nothing day callout get involved! Nov 24

Not so Time Sensitive

9.Intermural GSEC team for the Winter semester
10.Otesha Cycling and Presenting Tour and Change your World!
11.Sustainable consumption guide really easy to read
12.Deep sea trolling Petition in Canada [online]
13.Spirit Bear Petition [online]
14.Climate Change petition [online] to the Canadian government (great declaration)
15.Items GSEC has taken on so far and items that have been brainstormed. E-mail the
GSEC account if your interested any of these ideas or have new items (items from SLEF
brainstorming and disposable brainstorming).
16.UofG Sustainability Coordinator as a resource for some of the ideas

1—————————————————————
Community Energy Integrative Planning

On wednesday instead of the meeting a couple of members went to this talk in OVC. The
head of Physical Resources was there as well as Guelph Hydro. Notably absent was Nancy
Sullivan, Alastair Summerlee, and John Miles.

The speaker Peter G. world renowned energy consultant talked about Guelph’s plan to
reduce Guelph’s energy consumption by a substantial amount. Currently Canadians use 6
times more energy then the world average per head (US 5, UK 3), Guelph’s goal is to lower
energy usage to the world average 1. As you can imagine this is a substantial amount.
(Now that Farbridge is elected at least Guelph has a chance at striving for this goal).

He also mentioned University of Guelph is the largest user of energy in Guelph, thus an
integrative community plan needs the university’s cooperation and action.

2—————————————————————
Q and A

Becky asked the question whether it was a better idea for U of G to take a loan and spend
a large upfront fee in improving energy efficiency on campus or to not take a loan and
make small changes over a course of many years:

Peter G. responded cautiously:
He said that it depended on the situation the environment and interest rates. However he
did give a case study that Lakeland Community College in the states that were presented
with this problem.

They had a choice of an upfront cost for efficency or a extended time plan.

Under the upfront cost the Net gain is 9 million dollars.
Under the extended plan the Net gain is 6 million dollars.

Needless to say they chose the upfront costs.

Peter G. argued that doing a piece by piece method over an extend time may also disregard
large platform projects that may cost a lot but if not done all together will not connect
the smaller pieces together. In the end you get no net change, in energy efficency since
your basically upgrading buildings at the same rate that the buildings are degrading. (he
didn’t really say that but thats what I inferred from his comments)

I asked Peter G. about Multi-Stake holder committees and he said it was a great idea he
gave an example from his glass blowing company where managers, workers, staff would sit
together and discuss energy efficency. In the end the energy savings were 50% locating
problem areas fixing things, and upgrading old equipment, 25% was actively installing
energy efficency items, 25% was educating employees about the new efficency equipment and
having a committee to talk about energy efficency. He also added that 25% of the 50% of
the upgrades would not have happened if the committee did not recognize the lack of
efficency in the system. Thus having a committee really meant that they were responsible
for 50% of the overall energy efficency simply by having a space to recognize problems,
and note areas that could be improved.

When I asked Bill Maclauglen about Multi-stake holder committees he said that this was
why Gillian Maurice’s postition was created as Sutainablitity minister. He also said
that perhaps he would consider in the future formalizing this process more especially
after I noted that many students graduate after 4 years. (hopefully this means a
promotion for Gillian)

I think thats about all I can remember from the meeting.

3—————————————————————
Earthlings showing tonight:

A film that shows the interconnections between humans, wildlife and nature.

4—————————————————————-
Mug Spotting Survey

Hi everyone,
Jon and I have been working on the quantitative survey’s for
lug-a-mug. So we have 2 survey’s one we can use to compare with the
old survey. This one has 20 survey opportunities for people. The
other survey is a new more efficient and hopefully accurate survey
that will be used to get a better idea of campus wide mug use. This
has less survey opportunities for people.

Please sign-up for survey spots in either system. Send
me back your times by wednesday and I’ll try to confirm and remind you
of your commitment. If you don’t recieve a confirmation e-mail show up
at your time anyways. The worst that can happen is that 2 people will
show up to survey at the same time. One will stay and the other can
go on to do other activities. If you don’t show up to a survey you’ve
agreed to do and no one else does then the survey breaks down.

Check out the spread sheet there is a list of times and locations as
well as a sign-up slot. Fill out what you can do (please try for 3
spots) and send me back your new revised spread sheet or simply e-mail
me with your times and I’ll add it to my master sheet and send out
reminders and notices of times that have not been filled out.

Okay goodluck everyone.

Peter

You can also look at template of the suvey sheet you can create one by hand.
Mug Survey updated as of Nov 16
Template for mug spotting you could make by hand
Check this post for updates of the mug survey as slots get filled I will upload the updated version

5—————————————————————

OPIRG-Guelph’s 30th Anniversary Celebrations: Still Activist After All These Years!

Dear OPIRG Guelph Alumni and friends,

Join us for a full day of celebrations on Saturday November 18th, 2006.

ACTIVIST SKILL BUILDING AND SHARING WORKSHOPS 12:30pm & 2:30 pm
Location: Dublin Street United Church
Cost: Free!
Limited spaces are available for each workshop. This part of the weekend is aimed mostly
at current PIRG members.
Workshops to include: “Conducting Effective Research for Social Change”, “Creative
Resistance” and “Legal Rights of Political Protesters”

ALUMNI DINNER 5pm
Location: Dublin Street United Church Main Hall
Cost: Waged-$20.00 / Unwaged & Students-$5.00
Tickets must be reserved ahead of time.
Join us for a fabulous dinner and reflection on 30 years of activism at OPIRG-Guelph.
Get a chance to mix and mingle and enjoy a slideshow on the history of OPIRG-Guelph.
*No FREE dessert!* Participate in OPIRG’s Cake Auction…
Get together with your table to purchase one of the amazing desserts we will have
available.
Be a part of this very fun activity and get a great dessert out of it. All proceeds will
go toward the cost of the 30th celebrations.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS 7:30pm
OPIRG’s 30th Anniversary Keynote Address with Winona LaDuke
Resistance is Survival: Creating a sustainable & hopeful future
Location: War Memorial Hall, University of Guelph Campus on College Avenue
Cost: FREE! Reserving a seat is strongly recommended.

Winona LaDuke is a world-renowned Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) writer and activist from the
White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. She was a two time US vice-presidential candidate
for the Green party with Ralph Nader. LaDuke and the White Earth Land Recovery Project
(which she founded) recently received the prestigious international Slow Food Award for
their work with protecting wild rice and local biodiversity.

PARTY FOR A JUST FUTURE 9-11pm
Location: War Memorial Hall, College Avenue, University of Guelph
Stick around after Winona’s talk to dance, drink and enjoy the musical mastery of local
band Mambo Nation.
This after-party is being organized by the Aboriginal Resource Centre. Space is
limited…all dinner attendees will be guaranteed a spot.

SUNDAY NETWORKING
Still haven’t chatted enough with other PIRGies?
Join us at the OPIRG office at 10am for a few snacks and a chance to check out our space
and networking.
The OPIRG office is located at 1 Trent Lane on the University of Guelph campus, just off
College Ave, between Gordon and Powerhouse Lane.
TO GET TICKETS, MAPS AND INFORMATION CONTACT opirg@uoguelph.ca OR 519-824-2091 OR VISIT
US AT 1 Trent Lane just off College Ave, between Gordon and Powerhouse Lane.

OPIRG is Student Power for Social Change…30 Years and Counting!

6———————————————————————
Student admin meeting- CONFIRMED TIME NO MORE CHANGES NOVEMBER 20th

We have some talking points from Fraser for meeting, that Becky can use. This might be a
good opportunity for newer members to witness a student admin talk. Good opportunity to
ask questions.

Here are the details:
THERE IS A STUDENT/ADMIN ENERGY MEETING MONDAY NOV 20 AT 12-1PM.
Nancy Sullivan, John Miles, Brenda Whitside and others will be there. It would be great
for GSEC members to attend especially those involved in the retrofit! Perhaps we can
stress the importance of a multi-stake-holder committee instead of sporadic meeting
between fragmented groups of students!

The student/admin meeting is this Monday NOV 20th from 12 – 1 pm in the EXEC boardroom on
the 4th floor. If you go up the stairs nearest to the CSA (just beside safewalk), walk up
to the 4th floor, and then go straight through the doors and down the hallway without
making any turns, the boardroom will be on your right.

I also let the organizer know that there may be extra students attending who are leaders
in energy issues on campus. So please feel free to invite GSEC people – I think the more
people we get out, the better, especially because they’re talking about budget as well -
of which energy use is a big part.

7————————————————————————
This week’s U of G DOCURAMA series film is WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR – following the
politics behind the death of the first mass-produced electric vehicle – Tuesday, Nov. 21

8———————————————————————–

Buy Nothing Day 2006

Emails: wsergean[at]uoguelph.ca, jchoquet[at]uoguelph.ca, mmullen[at]uoguelph.ca,
helgeark[at]hotmail.com, seumas[at]uoguelph.ca, sraheb[at]uoguelph.ca,
cwoynars[at]uoguelph.ca, bparsonsa[at]uoguelph.ca , mreid03[at]uoguelph.ca,
gmaurice[at]uoguelph.ca, ckeefer[at]uoguelph.ca, jbonnar[at]uoguelph.ca
gsec[at]uoguelph.ca, smccrind[at]uoguelph.ca, mbrinkhu[at]uoguelph.ca,
dledderh[at]uoguelph.ca,

NEXT BND meeting…NEXT FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17th, 2006 @1:30 in the GSEC office (228 UC 2)

——————————————

Here’s some Buy Nothing Day stuff that YOU can help out with::::

(if anything is of interest, just email the person listed!)

1) Misc. Planning Stuff

2) Food preparation

3) Tabling/ workshops

************************************************
1) MISC. PLANNING STUFF:

- help make BND buttons (talk to caitlin about templates – cwoynars@uoguelph.ca )
- Radio advertisement for CFRU (contact krisit and mike if your interested – kmahy and
mreid03 bot at uoguelph.ca)
- help Make BND posters .Can use last year’s template…maybe incorporate a small list of
the planned activities, or simply list the gsec website, where schedule can be posted.
Contact jchoquet@uoguelph and prose[at]uoguelph.ca.
- Write up Press release about BND and planned activites to send out to local media, UoG
homepage, etc. contact jchoquet[at]uoguelph.
- Contact CFRU about the potential for a LIVE broadcast from the UC on BND! – need to
write up quick proposal outlining times of broadcast as well as potential content
(contact musicprogramming@cfru.ca and spokenword@cfru.ca and tech[at]cfru.ca)
- Help get materials for BND/consumerism/buying power awareness table in the UC from the
22nd – BND (Contact wendy and seumas – wsergean@uoguelph.ca and seumas@uoguelph.ca )
- CLEAN OUT YOU CLOSETS…start collecting unwanted STUFF for the stuff swap and spread
the word! (contact jchoquet@uoguelph.ca for more info)
- Help with a crazy theatrical/ skit performances (Wendy – wsergean@uoguelph.ca and chris
- ckeefer[at]uoguelph.ca)
- Garbage/photo/sculpture art anyone??…feel free!!! (contact jchoquet@uoguelph.ca if
looking for help/location)
-WAL-MART protest on BND! Students Against Sweatshops is planning a to get a bus to bring
a group of students to raise awareness at the new Wal-mart in Guelph! (contact Brendan -
bparsons[at]uoguelph.ca)
- Alternative Christmas Carols (anti-consumerist, etc) (contact Brendan -
bparsons[at]uoguelph.ca)
- PAINT THE CANNON the night before! (contact jon- jchoquet[at]uoguelph.ca)
- Make an anti/alternative-consumerist display with 950m of caution tape plus sidewalk
chalk! (contact wendy wsergean[at]uoguelph.ca )
-Help set up stuff swap tables and all the STUFF on BND(contact jon jchoquet@uoguelph.ca)

**********************************************************************
3) FOOD Preparation Let’s feed as many as possible!!
- Pumpkin bake goods/meals can be made with our extra pumpkins
(Contact sraheb@uoguelph.ca or mbrinkhu@uoguelph.ca forideas/recipes and jon-
jchoquet@uoguelph.ca to pick up pumpkins in the UC)
- GSETA vegan food giveaway in the works (contact shari to help – sraheb@uoguelph.ca)
- GUTS to make some free food? (kristi will email them and find out- kmahy@uoguelph.ca)
- Dumpster divers wanted!!! Apparently Zehrs and Ultra are good (Contact seumas -
seumas@uoguelph.ca, or just giver!)
- Help cook lots of winter squash (contact wendy – wsergean@uoguelph.ca)
- Contact local business by phone/in person about the event to gauge interest in food
donations in return for the displaying of their local business info at the event (contact
jon – jchoquet@uoguelph.ca)
- Farmers market group to go out the weekend before BND to solicit local business for
food donations (worked quite well last year, we agreed to promote their names as
supporters) Contact jon- jchoquet@uougelph.ca
- Find out if the Grad lounge is available for potential food prep the night before/day
of (wendy will investigate – wsergean@uoguelph.ca)

*****************************************************************
3) Tabling/workshops – Want to set up a workshop/ awareness table??
- Masai Project (Shari – sraheb@uoguelph.ca)
- Reusable pads (Kristi – kmahi@uoguelph.ca)
- Students Against Sweatshops Walmart and sweatshop use awareness table (Brendan-
bparsons@uoguelph.ca)
- OXFAM unwrapped table (where people buy goats, chicken eggs, and
other items for unfortunate people in other countries…might be only for sign up on BND)
contact Suhani – suhani@uoguelph.ca)
- BND across the world, what is BND? (jon – jchoquet@uoguelph.ca)
- Reusable shopping bag awareness (jon- jchoquet@uoguelph.ca )
- Knitting/crocheting/sowing table
Some Ideas: (Contact jchoquet@uoguelph.ca if you’d like to start a table/ need a poster
board)

- Alternative holiday? (how can money be used in a positive way)
- Free hankercheifs/ how to make hankerciefs and how hankys same forests
- Alternative gift giving ideas (donations to organizations, etc)
- Alternative gift wrapping
- De-branding/mending
- Consumption buyers guide; you should know about the products you buy
- Alternatives to shopping as a passtime

Logistics (don’t worry too much about this stuff, just there so everyone knows):

-UC booked, stage taken care of. Performance for the noon hour is the
Contemporary music ensemble (contact john bonnar- jbonnar@uogeulph.ca for more info on UC
space)
-Book UC banner space for “Music is Free” banner to be dropped behind the stage (Seumas
will book)
- CSA banner space booked for the week leading up to BND (use last year’s big BND banner
- put up the week before!)
- STUFF SWAP banner to be up on EAST banner space the day of
- What are the regulations around food serving in UC (Shari will find out -
sraheb@uoguelph.ca)
- Stuff swap bin to be put out at CSA the week prior (will contact Gillian about this)
- LISTSERVES used to send out BND callout:
-gsec (jon)
-gseta (sherri)
-opirg (kristi)
-CFRU (kristi)
-Womens resource center (kristi)
-Aboriginal resource center (kristi)
Sustainability Volunteer List (gillian)
Peer Helper listserv (gillian)
-Engineers Without Borders (Melanie mullen- jon))
-Environmental Science Student Executive (esse@uoguelph.ca- kristi)
-Intervarsity Christian Fellowshop (ivcf@uoguelph.ca- kristi)
-RA listserv (kristi)
-Eco house kids (kristi)
-Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement list (kristi)
- philosophy club (peter)
-wildlife club (jon)

9———————————————————————–

GSEC Intermurial Team

Hey GSEC…

Would anyone like to play on a GSEC intermural team? I am willing to be the “captain”
(aka take care of the admin stuff). I was thinking INNERTUBE WATER POLO or indoor
ULTIMATE FRISBEE. Here are the details:

Innertube water polo:
Thursdays at 7pm – starts Nov 30

Indoor ultimate frisbee:
Thursdays at 5:30pm – starts Nov 30

There, it doesn’t even conflict with GSEC meetings!

If you would like to play, give me an email before November 20th so I can sign us up (but
you know you wanna email me today

*Kristi kmahy{at}uoguelph.ca

10———————————————————————-
Join an Otesha Cycling and Presenting Tour and Change your World!

Looking for an opportunity to live sustainably in a mobile community,
volunteer, explore Canada, gain leadership skills, public speaking
skills, and make a real difference in the world ? All from the seat of
your bicycle? Are you between 18 and 30? Read on!

Applications are now being accepted for the Otesha Project’s 2007
cycling and presenting tours. This coming spring, summer and fall,
over 80 young cyclists (15-20 per tour) will transform Canada,
delivering inspiring and information-packed theatrical presentations
to schools, camps and communities, challenging audiences and
themselves to improve their environmental and social impacts.

The Otesha Project (www.otesha.ca) uses theatre to mobilize young
people to create local and global change through their daily consumer
choices. Since 2003, Otesha has run five cycling and presenting tours,
and this year we’re running 5 more two-month tours!

“I know this experience will have a lasting and deep effect on my life
when I go back home. I will take further action in my life to live
more sustainably and I will be empowered to continue making a positive
impact on the world. This is only the tip of the iceberg, only the
first few steps in a lifelong journey. This is only the beginning..”
Alicia, 2005 Tour Member

“I am currently in my 5th year of post-secondary education, but I
believe that I learned more in my two months with this team than I
have through all my years of formal schooling” – Brook, 2003 Tour
Member

Tour members receive training and valuable experience in public
speaking, facilitation, theatre, bike touring, bike maintenance, group
living, media relations, consensus decision-making, sustainable
living, and becoming vehicles of positive change. This is your
opportunity to spend two months with a close-knit group of inspiring
change-makers!
Where and When:
Sunshine Coast Tour – May-June
Rocky Mountain Tour – May-June
East Coast Tour – July-August
Lake Superior Tour – Mid August- Mid October
Georgian Bay Tour – Mid August- Mid October

ARE YOU INTRIGUED??
Awesome! An information kit (with details on the Otesha Project, the
individual tours, fundraising goals, scholarships and application
forms) can be found at http://www.otesha.ca/bike+tours/, by email at
applications@otesha.ca, or by phone at 613-237-6065. Applications will
be accepted on an ongoing basis until all positions are filled, at
which time we will have a waiting list, so apply now.

NOTE: The Otesha Project is an equal opportunity organization and we
value the different expertise and diversity of our volunteers and
employees. We strive to make our programs accessible and will work
with committed individuals to ensure participation.

We also have paid positions, internships, and enhanced training
opportunities related to these tours, including tour coordinator and
leader positions. Please see
http://www.otesha.ca/the+project/opportunities.en.html for further
information.

11———————————————————————–
Sustainable Consumption Guide

This is a sustainable consumption guide for youth 14-18 put together by the Canadian
Centre for Pollution Prevention – thought it might be a good resource for outreach to
either first years, or for the groups interested in going to local high schools.

http://www.c2p2online.com/main.php3?section=41&heading=241

Cheers,
Gillian

12————————————————————————-
Petitions about Canadian Deep Sea Trawling!

Leisha Clarke Doherty would like you to send a message about ?Blame Canada!? at:

http://write-a-letter.greenpeace.org/107/b970bdfda854f740b291ac07d6670b04

13——————————————————————————

Spirit Bear petition
Protection for an endangered bear in BC threatened by logging; for
more information visit www.spiritbearyouth.org and go to the “voice your support” option
to sign petition.

14——————————————————————————

Petition the Canadian Government about Climate change
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/CYCC/petition.html
Read the declaration its really good.

15——————————————————————————
Brainstorming ideas
(names or e-mails beside items are people who have agreed to take e-mails from others
interested about the idea. For example if your interested in muggy Monday contact
myriamjl{at}gmail{dot}com , she will take your e-mail and next meeting we will begin
organizing for the idea to become action in working groups) Beside the e-mails I also
added how many people are actually helping out with the ideas.
-Retrofit Contact (gsec[at]uoguelph[dot]ca) (10 people from GSEC so far)
-No pipeline for guelph initiative Contact (gsec[at]uoguelph[dot]ca)(6 people so far)
(one person has e-mailed back showing interest)
- buy nothing day
- ethical paper policy – Peter (prose{at}uoguelph{dot}ca) (Just me)
- skill share – Kerry (kschutte{at}uoguelph{dot}ca)
- outdoor recycling
- swap centre – Jon (jchoquet{at}uoguelph{dot}ca)
- energy retrofit and other projects
- documnetary series
- vermi-composting Gabe (gsmith01{at}uoguelph{dot}ca)
- composting giveaway
- reuseables in centre 6, daily grind, L/A pit -Kimberley Ootjers kootjers{at}uoguelph.ca
- muggy mondays, lug-a-mug – Myriam (myriamjl{at}gmail{dot}com) (5 people from GSEC so
far)
- anti-idling tool
- sustainability pledge
environment radio -Kristi Mahy (kmahy{at}duoguelph{dot}ca) (Kristi and Sylvie so far)

16——————————————————————————
I just wanted to let you know that if any GSECers are interested in the following
Brainstorm items, they can email me at gmaurice[at]uoguelph.ca, or call my campus
extension 8129 to learn more about available resources, and the past or current efforts
going on
around these ideas.
Thanks! Awesome email formatting btw, it’s really easy to find the parts you’re
interested in!
Cheerio,
Gillian Maurice
Sustainability Coordinator
www.pr.uoguelph.ca/sustain
gmaurice[at]uoguelph.ca OR sustain[at]pr.uoguelph.ca
*********************************************************
Brainstorming ideas
- outdoor recycling
- composting giveaway
- reuseables in centre 6, daily grind, L/A pit
- anti-idling tool
- sustainability pledge
***********************************************************