Celebrating 10 years of “positivity and hopefulness”
Sustainability Awareness Week takes over UAlberta for the tenth year in a row. Here’s looking back at the people who shaped it.
As the University of Alberta’s Sustainability Awareness Week (SAW) enters its 10th year, it’s a time for reflection on where it came from and why it’s important. During her years of helping to organize SAW, Lisa Dockman had plenty of time to consider its impact on the university community.
“What is your entry point for this movement? For a lot of people, it’s awareness,” says Dockman, energy transition project manager for the City of Edmonton. She worked in campus sustainability for almost 10 years, first as director of ECOS (now Sustain SU) and then for six years as a program lead with the Office of Sustainability, before departing in 2016.
“I see SAW as a way of not preaching to the choir.”
Dockman emphasizes the importance of creating a supportive community where people can thrive.
“A lot of times, I think passion or interest, it can fizzle if it doesn’t get some support, especially if it’s from people who maybe don’t have a lot of resources, either money-wise or experience-wise,” says Dockman.
“People learning from one another, learning from the Office of Sustainability, from ECOS, and developing that capacity to do that work for the rest of their lives is something I’m really proud of.”
When Len Sereda started working at the University of Alberta in 1986, sustainability as we know it was still just a twinkle in the university’s eye. Sereda, who stayed on at the university until 2014, set out to change that during his nearly 30 years of service. Along with the help of a handful of committed individuals, he advocated for the creation of a campus sustainability initiative and guiding principles, the Office of Sustainability, and SAW.
Soon after he was hired as director of facilities management, Sereda helped lead Energy Awareness Week, a collaborative event between the university and municipal and provincial governments, which ran for about 20 years and focused exclusively on energy reduction.
“It was nice to see people’s reactions as to how much the university had accomplished, how much energy it had reduced,” says Sereda.
In the early 2000s, as a broader definition of sustainability was coming to light, Sereda began researching what UAlberta and other universities were doing. He made recommendations to senior leadership that there should be a campus sustainability initiative, guiding principles, and an Office of Sustainability. The recommendations were reviewed in 2007 and, following focus groups and refining, the university’s board of governors endorsed them in 2008 — the same year that Energy Awareness Week became SAW.
“It was a very easy transition,” says Sereda, regarding to transition to SAW. “I think there will always be a natural evolution to the week in response to where sustainability is going in the future.”
Dockman started collaborating with Sereda when she worked at ECOS, and she worked with him on SAW over the years. She credits him for jump-starting her career.
“He’s for sure the reason my career took off like it did,” says Dockman.
She’s not the only person to say so. Shannon Leblanc, program coordinator of Energy Management and Sustainable Operations at the university, was a member of the Campus Sustainability Coalition (CSC) and helped organize SAW for several years.
“It taught me that students can do stuff. Real stuff. Get conversations going on campus, work with administration — we worked closely with Len Sereda — to turn our ideas into reality,” she says. “It was honestly what set me on my current career trajectory. Not just SAW, but my work with the CSC and Len as a whole.”
A week for connecting, bridging and uplifting
Beyond its practical implications, Dockman looks back fondly on the way SAW made her feel.
“I think it’s easy to get very sad or upset thinking about all the social or environmental issues facing the world,” she says. “So I think there’s a celebratory component of SAW and a positivity and a hopefulness that I think is really valuable for not only those who are engaged in the topic, but also to appeal and engage and entice others into the fold.”
This inclusive, joyful event was the vision that Trina Innes, the university’s chief sustainability officer, had in mind for SAW when she stepped up to lead campus sustainability in 2009.
“I envisioned a week that included social, economic and environmental elements, and something that bridged all areas of the university — academic, operations and campus life,” says Innes.
“Most importantly, I wanted us to uplift all of the different groups and partners that have a hand in advancing sustainability on campus.”
A short timeline of SAW
2006: We celebrate a final Energy Awareness Week.
2007: A mouthful: During this single in-between year, the event was called Sustainability and Energy Awareness Week.
2008: Sustainability Awareness Week is born; the campus sustainability initiative is approved by the university’s board of governors.
2010: the first bicycle-powered kick-off concert
2009: The Office of Sustainability opens and the university welcomes its inaugural chief sustainability officer, Trina Innes; SAW expands its reach, with 26 events on 4 campuses over 5 days.
2010: SAW explodes into 64 events over 6 days; former university president Indira Samarasekera opens the week at the first bicycle-powered kick-off concert in Quad.
2011: The lead architects for CCIS and ECHA give personal tours of these beautiful new green buildings; 50 organizations come together for SAW.
2012: SAW gets snow! So much snow…
2013: SAW hosts its first nature walk with John Acorn, a recurring and popular event.
2014: SAW engages a record 10,542 people; the university gets its first gold rating from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™.
2015: The popular monthly event Green Drinks partners with SAW for its first ever night of campus networking.
2016: SAW expands to include a raft of events hosted by MacEwan University.
2017: We celebrate the 10th SAW and the university’s second gold rating from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™.
Now you know everything there is to know about SAW! But if you want to see what’s happening with the latest events, visit sustainabilityawarenessweek.ca
Written by Angela Johnston for the University of Alberta’s Office of Sustainability.
