Laura Eggertson
Jonathan Rausseo blames it all on Captain Planet and the Planeteers.
The University’s new sustainable development coordinator traces his desire to save the planet — one campus at a time — back to the hours he spent in front of television watching the colourful cartoon character and his international team of eco-warriors.
The show, which ran for six years on the cable station TBS in the 1990s, was not the only culprit, of course. Rausseo, a 2004 graduate with a BSc in Environmental Sciences, also grew up on hefty doses of environmentalist David Suzuki, and spent a lot of time with his grandparents.
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| New sustainable development coordinator Jonathan Rausseo envisions a greener campus — a vision partly inspired by the adventures of a cartoon character, the musings of David Suzuki and the lessons of his grandparents. |
Now Rausseo hopes that his desire to help the University become one of Canada’s most environmentally sustainable institutions will influence staff, students, and faculty in the same lasting manner.
It’s a goal that Victor Simon, the University’s vice-president (resources), endorses. Simon was enthusiastic when Rausseo initially proposed creating a full-time sustainable development co-ordinator position.
Although other campuses have part-time sustainability positions, often filled by students, Rausseo and other members of the Green Campus environmental club felt it was important that uOttawa have a full-time, paid co-ordinator who had already graduated. “It gives you a lot more leverage in the way you work on things,” he says.
So he developed a detailed proposal and collected letters of recommendation from key contacts in the University, as well as from Charles Caccia, a former federal environment minister and Toronto MP.
Simon promptly struck a search committee to consider candidates for the year-long contract position. After a series of interviews with internal and external candidates, Rausseo won the job.
“He was, by far, the most promising individual, with the talent and knowledge that we were looking for,” says Simon. “He’s very energetic, very passionate, and he understands how we can influence behaviours, the behaviours of students, professors and staff.”
Although the University has already achieved recognition for its sustainable buildings and energy conservation, the administration and Rausseo want to go even further.
“We have a very strong track record in energy conservation and sustainable development,” says Simon. “We thought it was very important for the University to re-examine all of our current practices against best practices out there in the university sector.”
One of Rausseo’s first tasks is to complete an inventory of sustainable development indicators. He will measure the University of Ottawa against the Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework, created by Lindsey Cole for the Sierra Youth Coalition.
The framework contains 200 indicators divided into two sections: ecosystems, which measure such things as greenhouse gas emissions, water, energy, and materials used; and people, which covers governance, ethnic diversity, accessibility, and other measures of community health and social well-being.
Rausseo will subsequently design programs to bolster the areas in which the University excels, and to improve areas where it lags.
Drawing upon the experiences of other universities, like McGill and Concordia, Rausseo hopes to introduce a program that would have students tackle sustainability issues for credit. For example, students may want to investigate ethical investing or green procurement options.
Rausseo would like to share the University’s expertise in reducing greenhouse gases and saving energy with other institutions. He also wants to expand the University’s recycling program by looking at green procurement and only selling items on campus that can be recycled within its system.
