Students campaign to end the sale of bottled water at GBC

100 people have signed a petition to ban the sale of bottled water on all George Brown College campuses 

The amount of plastic in world’s oceans is a global problem. But Courtney Hayes is trying to help by changing her own backyard.

Hayes, a post-graduate student in project management at George Brown College (GBC), has started a petition to ban the sale of plastic bottled water on all campuses.

“This initiative may seem small because it’s just about bottled water, but it really does make a huge impact on the environment,” she said. “Plus, we shouldn’t have to pay $2.25 to have access to clean water.”

So far, 124 people have signed the petition.

“We want to show the people that are in charge of and making the decisions, that the students do really care about this,” said Hayes

Hayes, a graduate of Ryerson’s environmental and sustainability program, founded the GBC Sustainability Squad after seeing a need for a student club on campus.

A report called The New Plastics Economy by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation was presented at the World Economic Forum last year. The report looks at the amount of plastic that ends in the sea as well as the actions people can take.

The study revealed that 8 million tonnes of plastic, mostly from packaging, leaks into the world’s oceans each year to be ingested by seabirds and fish.  That is the equivalent to dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute. By 2050 the report estimates that the ocean will contain more plastic than fish.

“George Brown College has made a commitment to sustainability,” said Stephanie Foster, GBC’s sustainability co-ordinator. “We developed the green plan that included goals and actions to address the global environmental challenges, and now we are looking forward to developing a new sustainability plan that will be more comprehensible and related to engage and involve the students.”

Foster said that access to water is a human right and that she supports the campaign to end the sale of bottled water at GBC.

“A lot of people don’t think about where is the water coming from and that’s just as important as where does the plastic bottle is coming from, so I think we all need to learn more, and care more,” she said.

The University of Winnipeg was the first post-secondary institution to ban the sale of plastic bottled water in 2009. According to Maclean’s, universities of Ottawa, Queen’s, Bishop’s, Ryerson, UFTO, Concordia, Trent, Brandon, Memorial, and Fleming College have followed that path.

According to the college’s sustainability webpage, there are currently 58 water stations throughout GBC’s campuses.

Bottled water is already not sold at GBC’s Waterfront campus, but Hayes said students are students asking for a cup of water, instead of bringing their own water containers.

“Everything is about awareness because those cups are not recyclable and they actually last over 100 years in the landfill, but people don’t know about it,” she said.

Foster says that the college’s “green team” will be discussing the possibility of banning the sale of bottled water in February and may recommend to the college’s management that bottled water no longer be sold at GBC.

*This article originally appeared in The Dialog News

http://dialognews.ca/2017/12/15/students-campaign-to-end-the-sale-bottled-water-at-gbc/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqNrYhx6zeo&index=13&list=UU55wih3ZV02_owCtkN2d4FA

128% more students using accessibility services

Students needing accommodation for mental health up 266 per cent in past seven years

Yuseph Jackman is like many students, juggling a full class schedule and a part-time job. In this case, he is the accessibility representative at the Student Association (SA), which funds The Dialog.  

Jackman is also one of about 10 to 12 per cent of students at George Brown College (GBC) registered with accessibility services. 

Over the last seven years, there has been a 128 per cent increase in the number of students using accessible learning services at GBC, according to documents presented at the college council meeting on Jan. 18.

Mental health has been the most significant driver of the increase, with 1,055 students in 2016-17, up from 288 students in 2009-10, an increase of 266 per cent. 

“As we move forward to the future, you’re going to see that (accessible learning services) are becoming more and more of a prominent thing,” said Jackman. “It’s growing so much, because people realize that, even though it might be small, they still need their accessibility services.” 

More students are also requesting help with complex issues, meaning that they need accommodation for more than one disability.

“We are not just accommodating medical and physical (needs) but it’s also mental health, or mental well-being, that we are looking at as well,” said Anne Moore, manager of accessibility services at GBC.

The Ontario Human Rights legislation states that service providers—in this case, a public college—have to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities.  

According to Moore, the most common accommodations requested by students are extra time for tests, note-taking and to write the exams in a test centre.

Moore said that accessibility services are essential because people with disabilities need to be able to work and have a good life.

“The employment rate of people with disabilities in Canada is low,” said Moore. “There’s no reason for that in Canada. We have the infrastructure, we have accessible sidewalks, we should be able to do a better job.”

Jackman agrees, “in order to succeed, students need to be accommodated, and everything needs to be accessible.”

Under Ontario law, many organizations like businesses and post-secondary schools must be accessible by 2025. By 2020, George Brown College’s libraries must provide, purchase or borrow accessible or conversion-ready formats, where available for its digital or multimedia resources and materials. 

Moore said the biggest challenge for students with disabilities is not the impairment itself but the stigma.

“A student said to me once: ‘These are the people I want to impress. I don’t want to tell them what my basic needs are. I want a good career, I want to move ahead on my life, I don’t want to be perceived as someone with a disability,'” Moore said. 

Some accessibility initiatives that are being recommended at GBC are the use of digital note-taking and blackboard to share notes, the creation of accessible classroom materials choosing e-texts and e-resources, the reduction on the penalties for use time materials, and a new transition program called Great Beginnings for Deaf students.

* This article originally appeared in The Dialog Newspaper.

http://dialognews.ca/2018/03/05/128-more-students-using-accessibility-services/