BCIT’S LONG-TERM ASPIRATIONAL GOAL TO BE TOTALLY CARBON NEUTRAL WITHOUT RELYING ON OFFSETS.

being constructed for the Factor Four initiative. This burner will use discarded wood from the carpentry and joinery courses taught on campus. The carbon footprint of buildings will be reduced by displacing natural gas usage. BCIT achieved carbon neutrality in 2010 through purchases of carbon offsets. The goal with SEMP is to incrementally reduce energy usage across all five campuses in order to keep pace with Provincial Government guidelines of achieving a 33% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and 80% by 2050. This is in keeping with BCIT’s long-term aspirational goal to be totally carbon neutral without relying on offsets. To promote changes at a personal level BCIT has the Green Team, a volunteer-led group that carries out awareness campaigns

throughout the year. Working alongside the institute’s marketing department, the Green Team has led campaigns such as Commute Smart and Lights Out. The group, currently comprising 60 volunteers, not only undertakes PR tasks but acts as a focus group to find out what behavior patterns are difficult for people to change and why. INSTITUTIONALIZED REDUCTION Alongside SEMP there is also policy 1010 - Economic, Social, and Environmental Sustainability. “It calls for the achievement of seven aspirational goals that all roll into reducing our ecological footprint,” explains Dr. Moore. “We have goals to become greenhouse gas neutral, to become a net energy producer, to achieve zero waste, to become ecologically restored, water balanced, socially responsible, and universally

accessible. That is our vision. Our approach is an incremental one, so we keep pushing the envelope to see how far we can get to our goals.” BCIT is proud to be integral to the economic, social, and environmental prosperity of British Columbia. As a pioneer in the field of sustainability, it is using its campuses to facilitate applied research and demonstrations for and with industry partners for the benefit of society. Of course this would not be possible without integrating sustainability into the courses taught by BCIT. On the one hand this means tying into existing courses, such as students being able to see the fuel statistics of a boiler for their engineering course, and on the other it means creating new courses tailored specifically to advancing sustainability values. SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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