Local vintage and secondhand shop Hawk & Sparrow offers unique, sustainable and affordable clothing for everyone
Hawk & Sparrow is a vintage, secondhand boutique, located downtown at 126 James St. N. Other than vintage items, they also sell secondhand designer and a mix of everything to accommodate everyone’s styles.
“I don't just do vintage, I also do secondhand designer and then . . . a mix of things. So you can expect a 1950s sweater with a ritzy top and then a Louis Vuitton bag. There's a wide range of brands,” said Sarah Moyal, the founder of Hawk & Sparrow.
Before launching Hawk & Sparrow in 2011, Moyal had a strong fashion background. She worked for Dsquared2 in Milan at their headquarters and did styling in Toronto.
She always wanted to open a clothing store. Originally, she had wanted to open a new clothing store, but she realized that buying inventory would be too expensive for her, so she switched over to second-hand. It worked for her, and it made her more interested in secondhand clothing.
“It's just so much more interesting to have one of everything. And every one of them is so unique,” said Moyal.
Moyal has experimented with making Hawk & Sparrow accessible through online platforms such as Etsy, but she now focuses most of her energy on the store itself, as she has found that it has been getting busier.
Moyal aims to make her store accessible and safe for everyone.
“I would say it's accessible to everyone and any direction of style that someone wants to go. If they want to play it a bit safe, we have that. If you want to go wild, we also have that,” said Moyal.
I would say it's accessible to everyone and any direction of style that someone wants to go and if they want to play it a bit safe, we have that. If you want to go wild, we also have that.
Sarah Moyal, Founder, Hawk & Sparrow
Most of the items are $5 to $25, and there are $5 mystery bags all year round. Moyal is also open to negotiations. She hopes that her customers will continue to find their favourite pieces at Hawk & Sparrow.
“I hope that people will kind of find their unique style here, that they'll discover something about themselves, that they'll not feel a pressure to dress a certain way or follow a certain trend, that they'll just feel free to dress how they want, how they feel,” explained Moyal.
I hope that people will kind of find their unique style here, that they'll discover something about themselves, that they'll not feel a pressure to dress a certain way or follow a certain trend, that they'll just feel free to dress how they want, how they feel.
Sarah Moyal, Founder, Hawk & Sparrow
Over the years, she has experimented with different directions –– such as only vintage (an item from another era, usually from the 1930s-70s), vintage artisan (very old and rare pieces from the 1800s-early 1900s that are typically made by hand) and only designer –– for the shop. The current iteration of her shop has had the best reception from the Hamilton community, and she intends to keep it this way for the time being.
Every Halloween we send thousands of tonnes of waste to the landfills, but a switch to more sustainable choices could curb the costs for our environment
With all the candy, costumes, and eerie celebrations, there’s no doubt that Halloween is one of Canada’s most loved holidays. In fact, we splurge over a billion dollars on all the tricks and treats of the season to make each 31st a night to remember.
But after those few hours of terrifying thrills, we’re met with the most menacing monster of them all – the waste. And although Halloween comes and goes each year, this plastic-filled celebration produces concerning amounts of trash that stay with us long after.
Harmful plastic waste is increasingly found in almost all types of Halloween products – candy, costumes, decorations, and more – and these products are not good for people or the planet.
Most Halloween products are composed of non-recyclable oil-based plastics such as PVC, making these single-use items destined for the landfill. What’s more is that PVC plastics often contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals such as BPAS and lead which are linked to chronic diseases like cancer, asthma and diabetes as well as consequences for reproductive, behavioral, and metabolic health.
A report from the U.K. found that 2,000 tonnes of plastic waste, equivalent to 83 million plastic bottles, were produced by Halloween festivities in 2019. While these numbers aren’t representative of Canada, they’re still a reminder of our ghastly overconsumption and waste as we send over 2.1 million tonnes of plastic waste to landfills all year round. And this waste is responsible for killing wildlife, polluting our air and water, and further accelerating the climate crisis.
Besides plastics, another concerning source of waste during Halloween is pumpkins. Over 80 thousand metric tonnes of pumpkins are produced annually in Canada. Yet, most of these pumpkins end up in the trash after they’re carved out for Jack-O’Lantern season, contributing to significant food waste. The amount of food wasted during Halloween is even more alarming when you think about the hot meals that could’ve instead been served to the one in five Canadians going hungry.
We can’t keep celebrating Halloween irresponsibly. We need to pivot to sustainable plastic-free, low-waste celebrations, but that’s easier said than done.
Sure, you could opt for more sustainable treats such as homemade goodies, buy chocolate and candy in bulk, and compost or cook your pumpkins. You could even DIY or thrift second-hand costumes and avoid plastic décor and products. However, these solutions aren’t always accessible or affordable for everyone. These alternatives, while necessary, also don’t address the root of this wider issue.
There need to be greater efforts from the big players involved in selling us these destructive tricks and treats because the companies preventing us from celebrating a plastic-free Halloween are the same companies heavily contributing to the pollution degrading the environment.
Though the federal government has pledged to eliminate plastic waste by 2030, Halloween won’t look much different then, given our current rate of progress. To stay true to their commitments, the federal government needs to implement a more comprehensive nationwide single-use plastic ban along with strategies for reusable and refillable items.
Halloween, however, is not the sole culprit for the waste in our landfills. We need to be considerate of the fact that disposable plastics and plastics, in general, are abundant in our everyday lives. And the only way to avoid our scary future is by actively working toward individual and system-level changes that prioritize sustainability now.
Practicing a sustainable lifestyle may seem daunting, but it's a small price to pay for the future of our planet
Over the past decade, the use of the term sustainability has soared among consumers, businesses and governments alike. Though the buzzword may seem like a passing trend or another greenwashing gimmick, it’s much more than that.
Sustainability is simply the act of meeting our needs today in ways that do not hurt the ability of future generations to meet their needs tomorrow. As we grapple with urgent environmental challenges like climate change, resource depletion and pollution, it's clear that we can’t afford to ignore the ugly truth: we’re killing our planet.
Living sustainably is no longer a choice, it’s a shared responsibility.
Past the grim reality and urgency of sustainable lifestyles, they tend to be deceivingly marketed as expensive, aesthetic ways of life that involve vegan diets and pricey eco-friendly products.
While it can seem daunting and overwhelming to adopt a sustainable lifestyle as a busy student, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, living sustainably can be affordable, healthy and enjoyable.
Perhaps the most simple yet impactful changes are the ones you’ve repeatedly heard. At first glance, avoiding single-use items and limiting food waste look like surface-level changes. However, think about the fact that only 9 per cent of the 3 million tonnes of plastic waste Canadians generate is actually recycled or that 60 per cent of food waste generated by Canadians could have been avoided – that's a big deal.
Even as busy students, we can be responsible citizens. By bringing reusable bags, using refillable water bottles and recycling, you can limit the waste that ends up in our landfills and oceans. And by carefully planning your meals, composting your scraps, and donating excess to food banks, you can reduce your carbon footprint – all while saving money and supporting your community. And the same can be said for other sustainable practices like eating healthy greens and thrift shopping.
I know that these may seem like baby steps but they are important ones in the long journey towards a more sustainable future.
By being a sustainable student, you can also be a happier person. Knowing that your moral compass is in check and making conscious decisions for the benefit of yourself and others is proven to give you a good feeling.
We might be living in a world that still prioritizes convenience today, but as the leaders of tomorrow, it’s up to us to create the new normal.
C/O @macworldrecord, Instagram. Right: Chainwit, Wikimedia Commons.
Join other McMaster students to break a world record and fundraise for World Forest Day!
On April 13, McMaster students can join @macworldrecord in an online gathering to break the world record for largest Kahoot game.
According to a video posted on Instagram by McMaster World Record, Kahoot was the format chosen for this world record attempt to acknowledge the fact that the past two years of school have been at least partially online.
“I think it would be nice for McMaster to have some sort of presence in some record book somewhere. Recently, having had to explain the relevance of my university to people who don't live in Canada, it would be cool if we had a gimmick,” said McMaster student Navya Sheth.
Jennifer Zhu, another McMaster student, observed that the Kahoot could be a good way for McMaster students to identify with the institution after having a significant portion of their degree take place virtually.
“It seems to be something kind of goofy that McMaster students can rally around and form community around,” said Zhu.
Adam El-Kadi, co-president of Lorax at McMaster and organizer of the Kahoot event, explained that the community-building element is especially important coming out of online school.
“The idea here is that we just want to finish up online school with a bang and just leave it there. We don’t want to come back to online school,” said El-Kadi.
Along with being an event that McMaster students can identify with, the event is also being held in support of World Forest Day, which occurred on March 21. The event was originally scheduled to take place on this day, but has since been moved to April 13.
According to the video, there are ten different student groups at McMaster associated with organizing this event, including the McMaster Sustainability Development Goals Student Hub.
The SDG Student Hub reposted the video on March 8, explaining the fundraising side of this initiative in their Instagram caption. According to the caption, each Kahoot participant will earn the initiative a dollar from their sponsors and each dollar raised will translate to one tree planted by Team Trees.
“The need for climate change action and sustainability is long overdue. It's something we should have done yesterday, rather than now. . .[This initiative] takes the focus out of armchair advocacy, which is the idea that we're just sort of passively sharing [environmental activism] on social media or telling friends about it. [Instead, we’re] stepping up, bringing everyone together, and bringing the whole community together for a single cause,” said El-Kadi.
The event is scheduled to take place at 5 p.m. on April 13 and students can sign up here to participate in the Kahoot.
C/O Rosanna Ciulla
How the Glass Jar Refillery is giving used containers and bottles a new life to foster sustainability
By: Emma Shemko, contributor
In elementary school, most of us were taught the three Rs of solid waste management: reduce, reuse and recycle. However, this list is missing a crucial fourth R: refill.
What does it mean to 'refill'? In terms of waste management, refilling is the act of replenishing old bottles of common household and hygiene products rather than purchasing new ones. Refilling your old containers and bottles helps to keep single-use plastics out of landfills and to prevent our oceans from being further polluted.
Rosanna Ciulla is the owner of The Glass Jar Refillery, located at 544 Concession Street. Inspired by the Bulk Barn model, she wanted to expand the concept to include everyday household and personal care products as well. Now, Ciulla's products include laundry detergent, dental floss and hair and beard oil among many others.
Ciulla partnered with several ethical businesses to ensure everyone can find the perfect product in her store. Most of the companies she has partnered with are also local or at least based in Ontario, such as The Bare Home, Earthology and Pink Posh Fox. These companies and The Glass Jar Refillery share common values and a common mission in helping to create cleaner environments at the local community level.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic brough many challenges for Ciulla and her business. She was forced to change the location of her store, delay her grand opening and limit in-store hours and ultimately had to start as an online store. Ciulla was disappointed to miss out on in person interactions with her customers as she loves interacting with and learning from them, believing these interactions are an important part of creating a physical space where people can become more environmentally mindful.
There is so much pressure to be the perfect waste-free consumer, but a finite number of resources are available to help us do so.
The Glass Jar Refillery strives to make this shift easy and accessible, offering consumers more choices and options. With 24/7 online shopping, local delivery, access to in-store refillery services and a 10% discount for students, The Glass Jar is readily available to support the Hamilton community.
Switching to sustainable and plastic-free alternatives can be daunting at first glance, but it's not as challenging as it seems. There are three main steps which fall under what Ciulla calls environmental mindfulness that can help simply this transition.
"We have to be cautious and we have to be aware of how precarious our situation is. We take [living on this Earth] for granted. And our actions speak louder than words. We need to be very careful. When they say, "practice mindfulness," I think mindfulness can also be applied to Mother Earth," explained Ciulla.
For Ciulla, how we decide to interact with Mother Earth is a form of environmental activism and this type of activism begins with our habits as consumers.
The first step is to create a collection of items that can be used to refill your essential products. Pickle jars, shampoo or conditioner bottles and empty candles are perfect refilling options.
The second step is to observe how you live: what products are you continuously buying? What areas of your home use the most plastic? Is it your kitchen? Maybe it's your bathroom?
The third and final step is to remind yourself that you don't have to make these switches all at once. Start by refilling your dish soap one month and see how it goes. Then try switching to refillable laundry detergent the next month and so on.
The beauty of Ciulla's store is that you can purchase as much or as little product as needed.
"If you want to try a new product that you're unsure of, just try three quarters or a quarter of your bottle and then come back and say, "Hey, I want to fill up the rest of it"," explained Ciulla.
Ciulla is looking forward to what the future holds for her store and is hopeful that she will soon have more days throughout the week where customers can shop in-store. She has many plans ahead, including creating a starter kit for students because she knows how busy our schedules can get and wants to help us become conscious and environmentally mindful consumers.
“I'm just excited about what the glass jar is and will become. I think it's just starting to flourish. I'm excited to see where it goes next and I've got some exciting plans for it," said Ciulla.
C/O Simranjeet Singh
Meet Simranjeet Singh, one of the candidates running to become MSU president
Simranjeet Singh is a fourth-year biomedical discovery and commercialization student at McMaster. Currently, Singh serves as the McMaster Students Union’s associate vice president: services. He is currently running to become the next MSU president.
Singh has provided a platform of five core foundations: student wellness, building a stronger community, environmental sustainability, creating more equitable education and career development support.
Student Wellness
Singh emphasizes his commitment to student wellness.
He wants to increase collaboration between the Student Wellness Centre and various student groups around campus, including the MSU. To facilitate this, Singh proposes the creation of a Student Wellness Centre Advisory Committee to serve as a direct liaison between the SWC and leaders of various student bodies. With this, he wishes to increase the number of support groups and staff at SWC enabling a more students to access the service. Singh also hopes to expand Thrive Week, a service offered by the SWC to teach students about stress management and anxiety He believes Thrive Week is underutilized and looks to better inform student societies of the event to garner greater engagement.
Building a Stronger Community
Singh proposes a number of solutions to strengthen the McMaster and Hamilton communities.
He wishes to work with Metrolinx to expand bus service during Welcome Week and reintroduce cancelled express buses. Singh states that this will ease the commute to McMaster for off-campus students and allow the city to plan effective transit routes when taking into consideration peak student times.
To address housing concerns, Singh wants to conduct a study to determine average rental prices, availability and demand in Ward 1 of Hamilton by collaborating with partners such as Spark: A Centre for Social Science Research Innovation and the MacPherson Institute. The findings of this research study will serve as evidence to advocate for a more affordable housing market for renting students.
Singh wants to utilize his own experiences of working with provincial and municipal governments to help inform students of their rights and obligations as tenants. Singh believes this initiative will increase student awareness of bylaws and their rights which will better equip them to navigate finding off-campus housing.
Singh will advocate to implement the Hamilton light-rail transit as soon as possible.
Environmental Sustainability
Singh also focuses on increasing environmental sustainability across campus.
Singh will create a waste management initiative to better understand what waste is produced at McMaster facilities and offer solutions to help this waste be reduced and safely sorted. Believing this to be an overlooked issue on campus, Singh hopes to work directly with facility services, McMaster University Student Center management and the office of sustainability to perform audits to document waste production on campus and brainstorm how this waste can be sustainably managed.
Singh looks to work with various faculties to develop more sustainable lab practices. He hopes to launch a pilot project that catalogues waste in labs, especially as it relates to the use of plastics. The findings from this project will create a list of best practices to implement within labs to reduce waste.
Singh wants to work with hospitality services to better understand production of food waste and craft methods to reduce waste production. He has a two-fold plan. First, reduce overall production of excess food waste by campus services. Second, distributing waste generated to disadvantaged students and Hamiltonians experiencing food insecurity.
Creating More Equitable Education
Singh aims to create a more equitable educational future for students.
Singh wants to increase the adoption of open educational resources to reduce and even eliminate textbook costs. He will advocate to substantially increase funding for OER and push to include this as part of the professor tenure process. To kickstart this, Singh will collaborate with the Associate Vice Provost, the OER committee and McMaster Libraries to implement OERs permanently within McMaster’s practices.
Furthermore, he plans to introduce job opportunities in which students may work as research assistants to help develop OER alongside professors. This will better student-faculty relations and alleviate professors of the responsibility of developing OER, hoping to implement them faster.
Singh looks to increase experiential learning opportunities to give students more hands-on skills. In collaboration with the office of community engagement, the Student Success Center and MacChangers, he hopes to reintroduce cancelled experiential learning opportunities.
Singh intends to work towards a tuition freeze and a reduction in any more increased tuition costs. Singh plans to advocate for a moratorium on increase in tuition for the next three years and work with the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance to develop province-wide strategies to increase university funding outside of students.
Career Development Support
Singh hopes to increase career development support.
He aims to increase online chat hours of the Student Success Center to allow students more opportunities to communicate within the department.
Singh plans use the MSU to help support students with resumes, cover letters and other applications.
Singh hopes to foster a greater number of educational opportunities so students learn of opportunities that exist after graduation and gain necessary insights into potential careers. He hopes to centralize information about existing career supports and create more networking opportunities in tandem with faculties, student societies and the SSC.
To learn more about Singh’s platform, visit his Instagram page @vote4simranjeet.
C/O Simranjeet Singh
Simranjeet’s Singh’s platform offers an ambitious number of ideas to various issues
With a whooping 26 platform points, Singh brings forth a myriad of solutions to pressing issues, but not without question of feasibility. Singh’s platform hinges on extensive collaboration with numerous organizations within McMaster University and the city of Hamilton.
Student Wellness
Singh proposes to increase the Student Wellness Center’s collaboration with a variety of McMaster Students Union groups and clubs by creating a Student Wellness Centre Advisory Committee. It would serve as a hub for student leaders to communicate their findings and concerns to the SWC.
However, current services of the MSU already connect with students through peer support services. The creation of such a committee poses a question of redundancy given that volunteers of these services can already direct students to specific resources, such as the SWC.
Furthermore, Singh looks to increase the number of group counselling sessions and operating hours of the SWC and to allow students access these services outside of working hours.
Rosanne Kent, the director of the SWC, confirmed Singh had consulted with her regarding this and that his goal is indeed achievable. In fact, the SWC has already been slowly increasing capacity through this academic year with the intent to bring back pre-COVID-19 service in the future.
Building a Stronger Community
While Singh’s desire to collaborate with Metrolinx to expand bussing and reintroduce cancelled express bus routes may be ideal to reduce student commute times, Singh does not detail any consultation with Metrolink to address the feasibility of these changes. These bus routes were likely cancelled due to reduced student ridership because of online classes and the trajectory of McMaster’s reopening remains uncertain in this current climate of the pandemic.
Singh has communicated with John McGowan, general manager of the MSU, about ensuring that bus services are reflective of student needs once students return to campus. McGowan stated that he believes his goal is achievable.
He also hopes to encourage Metrolinx to fast track the development of the Hamilton light-rail transit line. Given that the development of the LRT line is dependent on a host of other stakeholders whose schedules differ from that of students’, Singh has not provided detail as to how actionable this goal can be.
The feasibility of Singh’s goal to introduce student discounts to a significant number of local Hamilton businesses also raises questions given that the actual implementation of this is dependent on the businesses’ desire to do so.
Singh wishes to lead a large-scale study to determine average rental prices, student experiences with off campus housing and use those findings to better inform students of their rights as tenants and advocate for a better housing market. He consulted with McMaster’s associate vice provost, Kim Dej, who expressed support for this study.
However, despite the support from Dej, Singh fails to mention how this goal would accomplish something different from the resources already offered to McMaster students.
Environmental Sustainability
Many of Singh’s suggestions under environmental sustainability are already undertaken by the university on a regular basis with community partners. For example, Singh’s proposal to work with Hospitality Services to reduce food waste and address student food insecurity is addressed by the student-run MSU Food Collective Centre with non-profit projects. Hospitality Services are also aiming to increase its purchasing of local produce.
Singh’s suggestion to collaborate with the Office of Sustainability to develop a waste management strategy to audit the total amount of waste produced on campus within a year is an ambitious idea. However, such an audit might not be an accurate reflection of McMaster’s waste production given possible reduced student and staff presence on campus amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, this would require a close partnership with the city of Hamilton. Singh has not stated if he has consulted anyone with the city.
Creating More Equitable Education
Singh's suggestion of a provincial tuition freeze with the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance does not consider that the MSU and the OUSA already officially hold the position of freezing tuition.
He hopes to advocate for a province-wide initiative that will support university funding through avenues outside of the pockets of students themselves. Singh plans to work with the MSU vice president of education given the VP’s delegatory position at OUSA meetings. He has consulted the current VP Education, Siobhan Teel, who expressed support for Singh’s idea. However, Singh’s platform does not provide further elaboration on how this funding will be acquired.
Singh’s desire to advocate for reduced textbook costs by replacing them with Online Educational Resources is valuable as a means of encouraging more equitable education. He has conversed with associate vice provost Kim Dej, who stated that introducing more OER options is feasible.
However, Singh points out that McMaster lacks OER funding. He plans to introduce student research assistant positions to support the development of OERs but does not clarify whether there is adequate funding to do so.
Career Development Support
Singh’s suggestion to create more opportunities to aid students in their career development with the creation of services that aid in resume writing and applications are already offered by the university’s Human Resources Services. McMaster provides networking opportunity events in the form of Volunteer Fairs as well as many career events hosted throughout the year by the Student Success Centre and student-run clubs such as the McMaster Undergraduate Research in Science Association.
Singh has extensive ideas; however, his platform would benefit from further clarification as to how his approaches will differentiate themselves from many of the services already at works within McMaster.
C/O Peter Ivey-Hansen
Four climate change and sustainability-related events happening around the Hamilton area in the month of November
McMaster students have perpetually been expressing their concerns about implementation of sustainable practices and telling the Mac learning institution to do better. In the month of October, McMaster launched a new Sustainable Development Goals hub on campus, where students can interact more profoundly with the United Nations’ sustainable development goals for 2030 and help promote sustainability at the local and global levels. Now, the McMaster Centre for Climate Change will also be planting a new carbon sink forest in Hamilton to help mitigate climate change.
The beginning of November designates an important time in worldwide action against climate change, with Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 marking COP26: the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference. Held in Glasgow, the COP26 summit is a call to action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement on an international scale. Here are a few opportunities in the month of November to get your feet wet in climate change and sustainability.
Jumblies Artist-in-Residence: Exploring In-Between Places
Jumblies is a theatre organization located in Toronto aiming to increase inclusion in the arts through collaboration between diverse people and communities. Megan Spencer, an artist-in-residence with Jumblies, will be holding community activities and workshops surrounding the theme of ecotones, liminal spaces where biodiversity thrives in the room in-between.
One of Spencer’s events will be stop motion creation sessions, where participants will learn animation skills through two dimensional stop motion. Activities will be held from Nov. 8-20 both outdoors and indoors at The Ground Floor, with an option to Zoom-in for those unable to attend in person.
Lunch & Learn at the Royal Botanical Gardens
Every Wednesday until Dec. 1, Hamilton’s Royal Botanical Gardens will be hosting half-hour Lunch & Learn events with horticulture experts virtually. As a registered charitable organization, the Botanical Gardens are a community centre for plant science, conservation and education. Each Lunch & Learn event features a different member of the Royal Botanical Gardens staff, exploring topics from water conservation to mediterranean plants based on questions submitted by participants upon registration.
GREEN BUSINESS: What does sustainability mean to you?
For those with an interest in the intersection between sustainability and business, the Hamilton Business Centre is hosting discussions on implementing sustainable practices for small businesses and entrepreneurs. To be held on Nov. 18, the discussion is intended as an opportunity for people with entrepreneurial spirit to connect and share their thoughts on ways businesses can become climate advocates at the local level.
What kind of tree is that? Tree identification
On Nov. 20, embrace the reds and oranges of the fall by learning how to identify trees in Cambridge’s Victoria Park. Reep Green Solutions is an environmental charity active in the Waterloo region. In their mission to provide community members with tools and resources to implement sustainable living, they will be holding a tree identification workshop where participants will learn to identify tree species in the fall and winter.
The workshop will be led by Nick Assad, a landscape architect and ISA-certified arborist, and will examine various aspects of tree identification including bud configuration and bark patterns.
Student Sustainability Ambassador Program connects sustainability student leaders to provide support and resources during COVID-19
C/O Bram Naus
The 2020-21 academic year was like none other, given the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and online classes at McMaster University. Despite the challenges, one program that helped students stay connected and build community during lockdown was the Student Sustainability Ambassador Program.
The program launched in October 2020 after discussions between McMaster Hospitality Services and the academic sustainability programs office recognized a need for greater collaboration between sustainability-minded student leaders.
“We noticed that student groups seemed to be running similar events, pursuing similar goals and tackling similar problems as other groups. We scanned campus and found more than 30 clubs focused on sustainability efforts . . . We saw an opportunity to support these groups in having an even bigger impact through collaboration,” explained Abbie Little, the community relations coordinator and experiential learning for the academic sustainability programs office.
The program was implemented and run by hospitality services along with facility services and the McMaster Students Union. It was started with funding support from the McMaster Okanagan Special Charter program.
This funding was awarded in 2020 to SSAP as it focused on improving the health and well-being of the community, specifically by creating new engagement opportunities for students and empowering their leadership.
The SSAP’s mission is to support student leadership experiential learning while promoting personal and professional development in sustainability initiatives. SSAP outlined three objectives to achieve this mission: increase student awareness on academic sustainability, empower students to be leaders in sustainability through active learning and provide support in their projects and plans of action.
Since its launch, SSAP has gained over 115 members in its private Facebook group, which allowed students to learn, collaborate and support each other’s sustainability initiatives.
“Everyone that runs the program, as well on the faculty side, is very passionate and very supportive of everyone . . . It's been great meeting with them even throughout being online all the time,” explained Callum Hales. Hales is a member of this Facebook group and a sustainability minor student currently in SUSTAIN 3S03 working on a solitary bees project.
Crystal Zhang, another member of the SSAP Facebook group and sustainability minor student echoed Hales’ sentiments.
“I'm part of the Facebook group and I really enjoyed [it] because there are so many different initiatives and so much information . . . they always have a way [for students] to get involved and I really like that about the sustainability department and community,” explained Zhang.
“Everyone that runs the program, as well on the faculty side, is very passionate and very supportive of everyone . . . It's been great meeting with them even throughout being online all the time,” explained Callum Hales.
This year, Zhang was a part of a tree planting project in collaboration with local Hamilton organizations and with support from the sustainability department.
“They really helped us out a lot. [They] showed us the whole tree planting process, even without us actually being there,” explained Zhang, who was able to plant over 100 trees on campus with her team.
Hales described SSAP and the sustainability courses in general to be insightful in broadening your perspective.
“It’s a very good way of bringing together a bunch of different disciplines [to see sustainability] from a multi-faceted view instead of like through a single lens,” explained Hales.
The SSAP is also open to all students across all disciplines and Hales believed that the SSAP program could be applied anywhere across campus.
Hales also encouraged all students to take part in sustainability groups. The student plans on incorporating sustainability in his future career because of the positive impact the student projects have had on him.
Zhang explained that sustainability projects have allowed her to develop critical thinking and writing skills.
“We are going through the climate crisis and I feel like what I’ve learned is really critically thinking about the decisions being made by people in power and where our world is going in terms of sustainability right now,” explained Zhang.
SSAP also hosted monthly Coffee and Collaboration Chats where students shared their ongoing ideas and connected each other to useful resources.
“Students in clubs share their plans and resources and have a discussion board [where they] can post about local and global sustainability topics and event opportunities which helps to form a sense of community. We also offer special project funding to individuals or groups looking for financial support to launch their sustainable projects in their own community,” said Little.
The Sustainability Student Ambassadors Program (SSAP) is offering up to $300 for in Special Project Funding for McMaster...
Posted by McMaster Academic Sustainability Programs Office on Thursday, February 18, 2021
“We have several goals we aim to achieve with the program and one of them is to provide educational workshops on topics that students want to learn more about . . . We heard from students that during the pandemic, they wanted to learn about ways they could be active members of their community from the safety of their homes,” explained Little.
Alongside these chats, SSAP provided educational workshops to help build students’ leadership skills.
One such event was the advocacy letter writing workshop held in February 2021, which was developed in collaboration with McMaster graduate Jamie Stuckless, who is an expert policy consultant, writer and transportation professional.
McMaster's Student Sustainability Ambassador Program (SSAP), McMaster's Interdisciplinary Minor in Sustainability...
Posted by McMaster Academic Sustainability Programs Office on Tuesday, January 19, 2021
The workshop included an overview of how students should structure their letters, what specific factors about the audience they should consider, what they should ask for in a letter and the differences between writing on behalf of an individual or a group.
“We looked through a few examples of advocacy letters and then put attendees in a few breakout rooms to practice writing their own advocacy letter on a given topic . . . The workshop was well attended and participants reported in a survey that they found it to be informative, fun and engaging,” emphasized Little.
Throughout the year, SSAP has been a place of community and collaboration for students, despite the pandemic.
“We hope that the impact of providing students with resources and tools will empower them to create positive change in their communities that will reach far and wide. The program itself is an example of what can be accomplished through collaboration, even when collaborating remotely,” said Little.
An introduction to the divestment movement at McMaster, even if you’ve never heard the word “divest” before. No tutorials required.
By: Natalie Palumbo, Nicole Graziano, Mymoon Bhuiyan and Adeola Egbeyemi, Contributors
This article is written by members of McMaster Divest.
Instructor: OPIRG Group McMaster Divest
Email: macdivest@opirgmcmaster.ca
Lecture: One-time reading
History of MacDivest
Welcome to the Winter 2021 one-reading course: DIVEST 1A03! In the context of higher education, fossil fuel divestment involves universities removing their investments in stocks, bonds and other forms of invested funds from the fossil fuel industry. Like many universities, McMaster University currently invests in fossil fuel companies.
At McMaster, the divestment movement traces back to 2013 when OPIRG project Fossil-Free McMaster began to advocate for divestment from fossil fuel companies. Although the efforts of students and faculty of Fossil-Free McMaster led to McMaster creating a committee to evaluate the possibility of divestment of endowment funds, ultimately no further action was taken.
Divestment Evaluation - Details
Moral Reasons
The use and production of fossil fuels are directly tied to climate change. It is a fact that as fossil fuels are mined, carbon emissions enter the atmosphere and raise the global average temperature, causing a host of problems and exacerbating others.
It’s no secret that fossil fuel companies have been repeatedly linked to human rights abuses and have shown that profits trump human rights, notably on Canadian soil. This is particularly concerning when we consider the effects of fossil fuels on Indigenous populations within Canada, such as oil spills and discharges.
Consider this: How can McMaster honour the promises made in their land acknowledgements if their investments support companies that build pipelines across Indigenous lands, threatening the livelihood and sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples?
How can McMaster honour the promises made in their land acknowledgements if their investments support companies that build pipelines across Indigenous lands, threatening the livelihood and sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples?
We know we sound like huge tree huggers, but hear us out — as students, it is also discouraging to know that our tuition supports an institution that’s invested in the slow roast of the planet by way of fossil fuel companies.
Leadership Reasons
“As a global university, we must recognize the important role we play through all of our sustainability efforts, which include responsible investments,” said McMaster president, David Farrar in 2020.
All universities will likely end up divesting, it is simply a matter of when. How embarrassing is it that in the middle of a climate crisis, McMaster wants to watch and see how divestment impacts other universities first?
This contradicts the idea that McMaster plays a global leadership role, as they are riding on the coattails of global institutions, as well as smaller Canadian universities that have shown real leadership. McMaster prides itself on its achievements, its sustainability efforts included. It would be a hollow victory if McMaster announced its divestment plan after watching other universities divest and assessing their processes.
Divestment Misconceptions
Misconception 1:
“But when we divest from these companies, we lose our seat at the table as shareholders, we can no longer engage and advocate for them to be more sustainable!”
Sustainability is avoiding the depletion of natural resources to maintain Earth’s ecology. There is no amount of advocacy that can make a company, whose goal is the antithesis of this (i.e. mining natural resources), environmentally friendly. Even if we could, the activism coming from McMaster’s tiny investment could not change a company’s mind anyway.
Misconception 2:
“If our investment is so tiny, then what is the point? You won’t make a difference with divestment, so why bother?”
McMaster’s investment is small in terms of financial capital, yes, but is massive in terms of social capital. Divestment looks to devalue social capital by sending a message that investing in fossil fuels is not okay. In addition, divestment is becoming an increasingly sound investment decision to make, no matter how small. Fossil fuels seem to be an industry in decline, seeing increasing amounts of trouble regularly.
Misconception 3:
“Oh, that’s real nice. You want McMaster to divest from fossil fuel companies, while the whole campus uses fossil fuels to run! Very hypocritical for the consumers to divest from the suppliers.”
First of all, if McMaster wanted to research, plan and conduct a smooth, equitable transition to a fossil-free campus, we would be all for it! But McMaster obviously isn’t a top world research university, so that’s silly talk. Divestment isn’t mutually exclusive from going fossil-free, we’re just a part of the worldwide movement for this particular systematic change.
Misconception 4:
“I know investment funds and tuition money are two separate pools of funding. But it’s still university money that should be diversified for a balanced portfolio.”
We agree! Loss of diversification is not good. That’s why there are companies in the energy sector that can be invested in that do not emit carbon dioxide! In fact, MacGreenInvest is a group of McMaster faculty that has been working since 2015 for reinvestment of these divested funds into sustainable initiatives.
The benefits of divestment are that McMaster can begin to actively, mindfully and genuinely invest in green companies and start-ups, forming a reciprocal relationship with the technology and energy sources we want to see thrive in the future.
We know we haven’t answered all the misconceptions about divestment at McMaster. There are still well-placed concerns about the complexities of removing pooled funding and monitoring progress year-by-year. But once you start thinking about the complexities of how to divest, you’ve already agreed then that divestment is necessary.
Next Steps
Hopefully you, the reader, are now on board with the fossil fuel divestment movement. You’ve aced the exam and secured that 12! Now what?
You can keep up with MacDivest work to move McMaster away from unsustainable investments on Instagram and Facebook. You can sign this petition calling on McMaster to take divestment action. You can even simply spread awareness with your friends and community by, for instance, sharing this article.
As individuals, it would be difficult to convince McMaster to divest. However, as a collective group, in the McMaster community and worldwide, working towards an actual brighter world is possible.