Students take the center stage in campus sustainability
What an inspiring day today! (March 17, 2016) The day started early with fieldwork students Joni Saganash, Dalton Stewart and Arielle Champetier putting together a presentation about Dawson College and their program, Community Recreation & Leadership Training. Dalton helped place Dawson, Montreal and the province geographically for the students of UPEMOR. Joni and Arielle followed by reviewing key components of the leadership program. Arielle had an outstanding conclusion on how recreation and leisure is about learning by doing and brings community together, both important aspects of the sustainability work being done here as part of the 2nd Bi-national forum: Arts, science and tradition for sustainability.
Joni Saganash and Lily Ieroniawá:kon Deer (Dawson College alumni) then gave presentations about their respective nations, Cree and Kanien’keha:ka. Family members were proudly talked about as part of a living indigenous culture and beautiful legends were told, paintings depicting creation stories shown and Northern ways of life described through personal stories and photos.
Three post Graduate UPEMOR students, Lizbeth Díaz, Rubicelia Sánchez and Manuel González then took us through their work of financing alternative energy for Mexico. Mexico can be self sufficient with alternative energy because of is massive amount of solar radiation, potential wind energy and wave energy. External companies are now investing 100’s of billions of dollars in Mexico’s alternative energy potential and students mentioned there was a need for more innovation within the country. Moderator Valeria Dávila, coordinator of CECAM at UPEMOR, closed the morning sessions with comments that included the need for a continued North/South discussion. She also mentioned that perhaps the presence of leadership and teamwork as part of the continued North/South dialogue with Dawson representatives is something they should consider integrating into their curricula. Valeria emphasized the importance of teamwork and building alliances.
SSHRC researchers Gisela Frias, Jorge Domínguez, Juan Salvador Nambo, Luisa Montes and I then described our research topics and were asked why we were passionate about what we do. The interaction with the audience was spontaneous and had many authentic moments of exchange with moderator Margarita Hurtado (Ciudades Verdes) who did a masterful job of engaging the audience as we shared both moments of concern and laughter. The topics discussed were: Gisela – Identifying and evaluating institutional practices that support sustainability; Juan Salvador – Mapping of spaces for peace and sustainability and how they promote sustainable behavior, Chris – how course or course module design can further move students towards an ecological paradigm, Luisa – how writing and theatre can shift views of sustainability, Jorge – how an educational intervention model for female students who expecting mothers or already have children can reduce dropout rates.
The afternoon session was spent at a small rural university, the UPN Galeana. Again, we were welcomed by wonderful people and had the opportunity to hear and see student projects. Nelson Castillo Alemán from the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, IPN presented to the Galeana community on waste management practices in Jojutla, Morelos. Galeana students presented their projects which included projects about waste management issues, sustainability education, music with environmental themes, the creation of recycled cross-fit equipment, vermi-composting, interactive environmental games, murals, and natural shampoo and soap making. One student’s glass bottle cutting project was selected as a very innovative project last year and she was invited to Peru to demonstrate how her glass cutting equipment could be used in making lamps from glass bottles.
The day was most interesting and informative. During the evening debrief something was also most apparent. As we all celebrated highlights of the day, our collective comments defined the forum theme. The interaction and sharing of people, culture and tradition, infused with solid science, captivate and motivates.
We were all exhausted but so satisfied. We lived the forum theme!
By Chris Adam
