The last Sustainability Hub of the semester was held on March 15 at the Rose Innovation Hub in Mitchell Hall.
The Hub is a new project the AMS Environmental Sustainability Commission, Queen’s Sustainability Office, and the City of Kingston Neighbourhood Climate Action Champions program implemented this year.
It was in collaboration with Queen’s Environmental Coalition, which is a group of environmental clubs, faculty, and individuals who address sustainability issues on campus.
“[It is] an interactive learning experience that promotes repair, reuse, and to recycle items instead of buying new,” Emily Rolph, AMS commissioner of environmental sustainability, said in an interview with The Journal.
The Hub consisted of multiple repair sections ranging from electric to furniture repair. General members of the Kingston community volunteered their time and skills to run booths such as the electrical repair booth.
Members of the Queen’s Environmental Coalition—specifically the textile section supported by Queen’s for Sustainable Fashion (QFSF)—focused on clothing mending. All services were free of charge.
The entire list of participants included the Society for Conservation Biology, the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS) Sustainability, the Engineering Society (EngSoc) Sustainability Committee, Cycle Kingston, Queen’s Backing Action on the Climate Crisis (QBACC), QFSF, Bikes and Boards, and Greenovations.
“Greenovations was here to do a lightbulb exchange and [the] Society for Conservation Biology, this week, [is] doing an up-cycle to make tote bags,” she said.
Other services present were bike repairs done by Cycle Kingston and Bikes and Boards. EngSoc Sustainability and ASUS Sustainability had stations to responsibly dispose electronic waste and BRITA filters.
QBACC hosted a representative from Credit Union at the Sustainability Hub and promoted their new tool rental service.
“We wanted to kind of create this initiative to kind of implement more of a circular economy and mindset in the student community to start fixing what they have instead of replacing it with buying new things and feeding into the consumerist mindset,” Megan Bennett, QBACC policy change manager, said in an interview with The Journal.
When asked about the success of the Sustainability Hub, Rolph said she’s hopeful this can be something the commission continues. She said it’s quite beneficial to students, especially the bike repairs, and textile repairs.
“I would like to see it implemented in a continual state [with] regular hours.”
Tags
Hub, Mitchell Hall, Sustainability
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.
