Sustainable McGill Project

The Sustainable McGill Project is a student-led initiative striving to create a sustainable campus community. We believe that institutional transformation is a process, and that process can be realized at McGill.

The project was started by a group of students who began to research McGill’s overall sustainability performance in 2004. After completing a section of the Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework, the group began to disseminate their research, ideas and recommendations throughout the different sectors of the university. However, it became increasingly apparent that without an internal mechanism to implement their ideas, very little leadership was going to be taken on by the university itself. With some of the students graduating, institutional memory became a growing concern.

Since the CSAF was completed, the project has focused all of its energy on hosting community consultations and creating a proposal for a Sustainability Center at McGill. In April 2008, 3 members of the SMP were invited by the administration to sit on a steering committee over the summer to assist in the development of the McGill Office of Sustainability.

With the McGill Office of Sustainability opening this February, the SMP is now proposing the creation of a third position at the office – that of a Sustainability Coordinator. Working hand in hand with administrators and Campaign McGill, we are exploring the different ways this can happen. The culture of sustainability starts here.

SMP meets in the the late afternoon or evenings in the McGill Office of Sustainability (second floor Ferrier, room 216). You can contact SMP at sm.project@mcgill.ca.