ECO: A Sustainability Education Initiative
MacChangers 2022-2023 Final Deliverable
Executive Summary
Group Members
David Gou Level I Health Sciences
While there are initiatives in place to promote sustainability on campus, there are many areas for improvement. As a first-year student living in residence at McMaster University, David feels compelled to lead action and spark change to increase sustainability and foster long-term habits in students beyond residence.
Outside of MacChangers, David enjoys reading, kayaking, hiking, and spending time with friends.
Edrine Marie Yumang Level II Philosophy and Theatre & Film
Edrine is a passionate environmental advocate with experience volunteering for local environmental conservation areas. Therefore, as a student who lived in Hedden Hall during her first year, Edrine feels strongly about the need to implement a better sustainability system within McMaster residences. She recognizes that McMaster has made diligent efforts to become more ecologically responsible, but there is still more work that needs to be done.
Outside of MacChangers, Edrine enjoys learning new skills, attending concerts, and partaking in outdoor recreational activities.
Laura Weiler Level I IBEHS
McMaster residences need a push for sustainability initiatives, and Laura is dedicated to advocating for them. As a student currently living in residence, Laura frequently encounters areas where residence sustainability could be improved, and understands the impact that even a small step in sustainable change will have on campus and in the surrounding community here at McMaster.
Outside of MacChangers, Laura enjoys being outdoors, spending time with friends, and exploring the community.
How Might We Question
How might we make on-campus residences at McMaster University more sustainable?
Stakeholders & Human-Centered Design
Stakeholders
Human-Centered Design
Human-centered design prioritizes the needs and wants of end-users when creating a solution. It involves asking questions to all groups of stakeholders to understand the underlying challenges they experience. By continuously gathering input and feedback from stakeholders and welcoming their perspectives, designers can tailor the solution to stakeholder needs. As a result, a human-centered design can not only attempt to address the initial concern, but also address underlying causes.
Sustainable Development Goal Alignment
In 2015, all United Nations Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in hopes of creating a future with peace and prosperity for all. The foundation of the agenda are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which categorize the pressing issues that need to be addressed to meet the vision outlined by the agenda. Each SDG is broken down into targets and indicators to measure and track progress on individual components that work towards meeting the overarching SDGs.
Below are three SDGs and relevant targets that we found to be most relevant to our HMWQ.
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable
Paying attention to waste management and residence buildings & capacities on campus relate to our project as McMaster students each produce 640 pounds of waste every year, where much of it can be recycled or composted rather than thrown in the trash. By finding ways to strategically place compost bins, post clearer waste sorting signs, improve waste disposal processes, and/or raise awareness throughout residence buildings as to how students can reduce waste, we can work to meet these targets.
Targets
- Enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries
- Reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Ensuring sustainable consumption patterns, which will influence production patterns, is essential to making on-campus residences more sustainable. Food waste in residence buildings and in dining halls, unnecessary or inefficient energy use, and unnecessary wasting of recyclable and/or reusable goods are major areas for improvement at McMaster. By addressing these areas, we can strive to make campus more sustainable and build positive habits in students’ lives.
Targets
- By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources
- By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses
- By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
- Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities
- By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature
- Rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions, in accordance with national circumstances, including by restructuring taxation and phasing out those harmful subsidies, where they exist, to reflect their environmental impacts, taking fully into account the specific needs and conditions of developing countries and minimizing the possible adverse impacts on their development in a manner that protects the poor and the affected communities
SDG 13: Climate Action
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts directly aligns with the underlying mission of our HMWQ. By making McMaster’s on-campus residence communities more sustainable we will be taking action to mitigate the adverse effects of unsustainable practices on the environment in Hamilton. Taking action to increase awareness about proper garbage disposal, suggesting new methods of waste sorting, and strategically placing waste bins are all methods of taking climate action. Our solution will meet the SDG’s targets by increasing community awareness on the issue of sustainability and increasing the resiliency to combat this issue.
Targets
- Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards
- Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warnings
Preliminary Research and Questions
To broaden our understanding of our How Might We Question and prepare for our Fall Community Event, we conducted research using a variety of resources. We present a summary of our main findings below:
Research Summary
Fall Community Event
Tuesday November 15, 2022
The Fall Community Event provided a unique opportunity for our team to engage in productive discussions and gain deeper insight into our challenge question. We had prepared a list of questions to ask our community members.
We first interviewed Monica Polkowski, the Living Learning Coordinator with Residence Life at McMaster University. We learned about past initiatives, current systems in place, and what to keep in mind when thinking about future initiatives. Specifically, Monica provided background on key successes and failures from the Residence Organic Waste Receptacles Pilot Program which launched in 2018/19. She also provided insight on how key performance indicators were measured, as well as difficulties in accurate project tracking. Although there were clear benefits, the Residence team came across major issues including infrastructure, cost, and logistics. Our initial assumptions were challenged and modified to consider newfound obstacles.
Then we interviewed Heather Govender, the Program Manager of Environmental Education with Green Venture. Our discussion was generally centered around considering first-year students’ attitudes toward sustainability. Heather offered a unique perspective coming from a background working with youth. She stressed the importance of showing students the impact that one person can have on the environment, especially when it’s so easy to fall into a “my actions won’t make an impact” type of mindset. Heather encouraged us to orient our solution towards long-term thinking. She suggested using external motivations to encourage students to take the first step towards an active environmental choice. Then, eventually, this outlook will develop into a passive internal habit.
Finally, our night ended with the creative brainstorming of ideas for approaching our problems. Moving forward, we are all inspired to take on the challenge and propose our solutions.
Scoped Problem Definition
How might we increase awareness of sustainable practices and initiatives for students living in residence?
Preliminary Prototyping
Creating a Policy
By implementing a policy that limits garbage production in residences, we can help to promote composting, recycling, and waste sorting. This can help divert unnecessary trash and ensure that the compostable packing and utensils from nearby food outlets are composted rather than tossed in the garbage.
Improving Sustainability Education
We can tackle students' sustainability awareness through a learning campaign implemented in student residences. This could involve using posters in common areas and the back of dorm room doors, an online learning module, or a group tutorial that run by residence advisors during move-in week meetings. Increasing student awareness about sustainable practices on residence and on campus can help minimize excess waste and maximize student efforts.
Creating a Program
In the past, there have been various sustainability programs at McMaster, including a compositing pilot program, which was successful until its disruption due to COVID-19. Using what we've learned from past initiatives, we could work to develop a program to tackle some of the following:
- finding a way to encourage students to return reusable containers after use
- improving access to compost bins across campus
- improving waste sorting in residences/residence rooms
Analysis of Prototypes
Lenses of Innovation
Lenses of Equitable and Inclusive Problem-Solving
Revised Prototype Ideas
Final Showcase Slide Deck
Final Showcase Main Slide Deck
Final Showcase Additional Slides
