Trinity first college to sign on to Presidents’ Climate Initiative

Pact seeks to reduce greenhouse emissions on campuses in two years
BY GEORGE KAGAME

Trinity College is set to make history in the University of Toronto and the whole of Ontario on Thursday by being the first college in Eastern Canada to sign on to the President’s Climate Initiative. The college is federated to U of T.

The initiative, is a climate pact between universities and colleges of Canada and the US committing them to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on campus and to become climate neutral. The Presidents’ Climate Initiative signing at Trinity College comes at the end of a week of festivities at college dubbed Environfest. The festival is an annual U of T week long activities that highlight the importance of climate conservation, before Environfest, students, faculty and staff have been actively campaigning for UofT President David Naylor to sign on to the Initiative.

Jasmeet Sidhu a student of Peace and Conflict Studies and member of the environment team at Trinity College said that signing to the initiative will be of great importance to her college; “ We think that the signing of this pact is a proud thing for Trinity College and in relation the University of Toronto to showcase, as it shows that we are a campus taking the lead in terms of environmental initiatives and making campuses sustainable.”

“Although we are a federated college at the University of Toronto, we have always strived to be ahead of the pact in terms of concrete environmental initiatives as an educational institution, such as with our Green Roof and our Solar Panel project,” says student and campaigner Joanna Dafoe.
“Trinity College signing the Climate Initiative signals to the University of Toronto and to other colleges and universities that its time for campuses to wary of the carbon footprint they are creating, and to seek solutions to create a healthy, sustainable campus for generations to come.”

The college Provost Andy Orchard is expected to sign to the pact on Thursday evening in Rigby Room at St Hilda’s. The ceremony beginning at 7.30 pm will also include high profile participants like Ann Love, author of 30 environmentally-aware children’s books. Love is also a founding member of Pollution Probe an award-winning organization that is currently running a multitude of campaigns as a means to increase awareness about pressing environmental concerns.

So far there has seen 616 American and 13 Canadian colleges and universities signing on the initiative, other colleges at U of T have also embarked on the process, recently. New College abolished the use trays in its dining halls and in a communique to the student community the administration said it was liming the carbon emissions at the college as one measure of conserving the environment and reducing carbon footprints.

The University of Toronto at large has yet to sign the agreement, though hopes are high that with initiative taken by Trinity College and other colleges across the sprawling downtown campus will be inclined to commit.
Efforts to get a comment about the college’s drive for environmental conservation from Geoffrey Saebourn the Bursar, and Naomi Jehlicka the event coordinator were futile as both officials could not pick up their phones.