This time next week, Trent's seemingly empty and idyllic Peterborough campus will be overrun by a swath of robed graduates and their guests. Tim and I will be among them, taking the famed walk across Trent's photogenic Faryon Bridge to accept our degrees.
It is convocation season around Canada. Graduates can range from only a several hundred at the smaller schools, to at least ten thousand at some of the larger schools. Families, friends and other guests flock to celebrate with the new grads. These are far from small functions.
For its part, Trent is trying to make the convocation ceremonies as 'green' as possible. Extending over a period of three days, the five-ceremony process has used approximately 5,000 single use water bottles in previous years. For the second consecutive year, Trent will employ a Bottled-Water Free Convocation, a move Trent pioneered among Canadian campuses. Each graduate will be provided with a reusable stainless steel water bottle -- already filled with clean tap water -- for the ceremony and potable tap water will be provided for guests in recyclable or biodegradable cups. Of course, for those who feel an unexplainably strong inkling for bottled water, it can probably be bought in a vending machine for three times the price of gasoline.
As an aside, did anyone happen to watch CTV News a few nights ago where it reported on the findings of a new study that found bacteria levels to be "revoltingly" high in many bottled water products? Relatively unpublicized studies are cited all the time by opponents of bottled water to little avail, but when the national news starts reporting on it, a major blow will be dealt to the bottled water industry.
Returning to Trent, the school will also be providing graduates and their guests with free passes on public transit to encourage the use of public transportation over cars. Mind you, Peterborough's public transportation system is not particularly impressive, so this might not be as popular as one might hope, but it's worth a shot. After all, transporting a couple of thousand people by car over bus is pretty inefficient. Can you imagine U of T or York providing free transit for its convocations via TTC? It would a very 'green' move, but I certainly wouldn't want the bill landing on my desk.
Trent's third major 'green' initiative is its Green Pledge, a pledge graduating students can opt to take where "they pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences of any job they consider and will try to improve those aspects of the organization for which they work". For the informal commitment, graduates get to where a nice little green pin.
In addition to the initiatives at Trent, I certainly hope people get a chance to explore Peterborough. In the summer, it can be one of the most beautiful cities in Canada.
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