Page 4 - Impact Summer 2017

Royal Roads University Advancement | Summer 2017
Sustainability Action
For the Environment
Royal Roads alumni, students, faculty and staff in the community
Since 2007, the Sustainability Action for the Environment (SAFE) Fund at Royal Roads has raised over $18,000 and supported 14 environmental projects led by students, alumni, staff and faculty around the world.
Professor Charles Krusekopf ignited a conversation among MA/MSc Environment and Management (MEM) students which, over the past ten years, has made a hands- on difference to the environment of local communities.
Krusekopf posed a question regarding the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that students created by their travel to attend residency on campus. This led to group discussion on what it would take to offset the environmental impact and how they could use that information.
Students determined that the carbon footprint of 150 people (the number of students and faculty in an average MEM residency cohort) traveling to campus was 100-150 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Carbon calculators revealed that a contribution of just $25 per person to an environmental recovery project could offset that impact.
The group then decided to work with the Royal Roads’ advancement team to establish a grant-making fund that would encourage, highlight and support local environmental initiatives. The rst residency cohort donated $2,500, a gure
matched by Royal Roads University. Today, donations, which include payroll giving and monthly gifts made by students, staff and alumni, continue to power the fund to make a difference.
Projects funded so far include work on understanding habitat conservation (sea turtles in Hawaii and the Western Screech- Owl in the Kootenays), along with a wide range of projects that are creating change
Healing City Soils
Something to get you growing
Urban soils can sometimes contain heavy metals and other contaminants as a result of our industrial past and present. Soil testing can be expensive and the results confusing or disheartening, which ends up being a barrier to getting more folks growing.
Led by Marika Smith, executive director with the Compost Education Centre and a Royal Roads student, the Healing City Soils project offers free soil-quality information and workshops to people who want to grow food in their backyards, front yards, boulevards and community gardens.
The Healing City Soils project at the Compost Education Centre in Victoria has received a second grant from the SAFE Fund for its excellent work in
promoting sustainable, healthy changes to local neighbourhoods. The project, in its second year working with Bachelor of Science students from Royal Roads’ Environmental Science program, is a collaboration that provides students with valuable applied research experience and residents with valuable information.
“One of the main goals of the project is to provide social inclusiveness and funding to enable the program to be accessible to all,” says Smith. “It is integral to the shared goal of growing local food, reducing food waste and diverting organic material from the land ll.”
“Without support from generous donors through Royal Roads University, the Healing
City Soils project would not be possible.”
Marika Smith, Executive Director
Compost Education Centre
through recycling, bike transportation and local food security. The fund’s most recent grant is to the Healing City Soils program.
You can help the SAFE Fund to encourage, highlight and support local environmental projects. To donate online, visit:
advancement.royalroads.ca/make-gift-online