February 28, 2011 - 3:30am
The polls are open as two teams from Vancouver Island University compete for national video honours in the fourth annual TD Friends of the Environment Go Green Challenge.
Students from across Canada have entered videos up to four minutes long describing how they would take on their schools’ greatest sustainability challenges.
The stakes are high with a $20,000 team prize for the top entry along with paid summer internships for team members who will have the opportunity to work for TD FEF (Friends of the Environment Foundation) or another organization. There is also a $100,000 grant for their institution to support sustainability initiatives.
In addition to the second and third-place prizes which are also selected by a judging panel, there’s a People’s Choice Award of $2,500 for the team that garners the most votes online at: www.tdgogreenchallenge.com
VIU’s teams have come up with creative and imaginative proposals.
Bachelor of Tourism Management students Pascale Jallabert and L-A Shibish focus on the potential to extract heat from water in abandoned coal mine shafts deep beneath the Nanaimo campus through an innovative geo-exchange system.
Members of Solutions: A Sustainability Network, Jawn Lafratta, Chris LoScerbo, Dana Short and Travis Barrington take a musical approach to extol the virtues of an ALTRA (Active Transportation) Station for campus.
“We’re very passionate about the environment,” says Jallabert, adding that she and Shibish were fascinated by the prospect of “recycling” remnants of old coal mines that lie beneath the Nanaimo campus of VIU.
In their video, Shibish and Jallabert demonstrate the potential for a geo-exchange system to tap into the water in abandoned mine shafts. Since the water is heated naturally by energy at the Earth’s core, it can be used to heat and cool campus buildings and reduce the university’s carbon footprint.
Shibish appreciates the irony that coal mining, which has contributed to increases in greenhouse gas emissions, may now play a role in reversing that trend. While the video project is an extra-curricular effort, the pair says the video project ties in closely to their studies.
“Sustainability is a core part of the Tourism Management program,” says Shibish. “It’s a concept that’s embedded in all of the courses.”
The ALTRA video stems from ongoing efforts to promote a range of sustainability initiatives on campus, says Lafratta.
The student club, Solutions: A Sustainability Network, has been working for two years to have a centre built on campus to encourage cycling, walking, car-pooling, riding the bus and other alternatives to commuting to campus by motor vehicles.
In their video, members of the club break into song to make their pitch for the transportation hub that would provide transit and other information. It would also be used for workshops on bike maintenance and provide lock-up space for bicycles.
Once again, there is an additional recycling element. “We want to make it out of recycled transport containers,” says Lafratta.
A 12-metre-long container would sit atop a six-metre container with pillars for support. Since the ALTRA Station would be modular, it could easily be moved if necessary as new buildings are constructed on campus.
Videos from the VIU teams and their competitors from across Canada will be posted until March 11. Competition organizers encourage participants to remind friends and family to vote for their entries.
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On the web
Videos and voting
VIU ALTRA Station: www.tdgogreenchallenge.com/video/id/111/playid/111
Giving Greenhouse Gas Emissions the Shaft: www.tdgogreenchallenge.com/video/id/104/playid/104
Other entries: www.tdgogreenchallenge.com
Solutions: A Sustainability Network (at VIU): solutions.viu.ca
VIU Department of Recreation and Tourism Management: www.viu.ca/rectour
VIU Facilities Services and Campus Development Sustainability office: www.viu.ca/sustainability
Tags: In the Community
