Go Beyond

Youth go beyond carbon neutrality

Jamie Biggar became fixated on one perturbing question during his undergraduate years.

"The energy that shapes our societies and our politics is killing our planet. Now what can we do about that?" recalls Biggar, 25.

Initially, he saw environmental issues from an academic perspective. But after he graduated with a political science major from Queen’s University, he went tree-planting, an experience that connected his mind to his heart, giving him an emotional drive for the issues.

His next stop was the environmental studies masters program at the University of Victoria, where he investigated the potential role of the university in the relationship between society and ecology.

Out of that passion, he co-founded Common Energy, an environmental network with hubs in Victoria and Vancouver. Most recently, he was one of the key players in Go Beyond, a large-scale campus climate action campaign, supported by BC Hydro and the B.C. Government’s Climate Action Secretariat.

Climate action on the campus

Though still in its infancy, Go Beyond has a strong network of student proponents who believe that campuses should not only become carbon neutral by 2010 – as mandated by the province – but also go beyond that goal. The goal is to create a culture of sustainability that does more to solve the problems of climate change than it does to create them.

Go Beyond has projects in the works that will engage students in emissions-lowering activities while connecting them with the broader community.  Project ideas include:

• Film festivals;
• A residence energy challenge;
• An anti-idling ticketing campaign;
• Alternative-energy powered events.

Student researchers must first prove their value. The idea is that once the framework for viable projects is established, it will be easy to carry them out elsewhere.
 
“We’re trying to educate people who don’t care, inspire people who aren’t acting, engage people who are acting but aren’t connected to the movement, and support people who are connected and could use some more resources,” Biggar says.

Here’s a look at two students involved in the Go Beyond network.

An 'agent of change' in Kamloops

“As youth, we have an amazing ability to be agents of change,” says Tria Donaldson, a 22-year-old journalism student at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. “In my adult lifetime, we’re going to have to have a no net emission society. Climate change is the biggest issue we face. If we don’t have a world to live in, nothing much else matters.”

As the BC Sustainable Campuses College co-ordinator for the Sierra Youth Coalition, Donaldson is involved in one of the three organizations — alongside Common Energy and the University of British Columbia Sustainability Office — that facilitate the Campus Climate Network, the collaborative force behind the Go Beyond campaign.

The college network formed just last summer, and has since gained momentum, with student representatives at the majority of B.C.’s campuses.

UBC student's no longer on the fringe

Recent UBC grad Liz Ferris has noticed the mainstreaming of climate change activities.
 
“When I first identified myself as being part of the environmental movement, it was on the fringe. There was a belief that you couldn’t have a mainstream lifestyle and still care about sustainability,” recalls Ferris, the student engagement and climate action co-ordinator at the UBC Sustainability Office. “Now people are starting to see how their own lifestyle fits into the problem and the solution.”

Ferris envisions the network eventually reaching every student in Canada, even high school students. Biggar is vocal about the significance of this education.

“Schools nurture, educate, and train the next generation of B.C.'s citizens and leaders; behaviours learned there will be carried on into every home and workplace of the near future,” he says. “We need to teach and empower youth to take responsibility for their daily lives and communities to ensure our society can meet its needs without compromising the ability of future generations to also meet their needs."

Go Beyond began at UBC, UVic, and TRU in the summer of 2007. A team of six student researchers were also hired to look into the latest trends in behavioural change and social marketing.

Since then, many more students have jumped aboard. The campaign is turning into a social movement, and for many students, life and environmentalism are becoming synonymous.
 
When Donaldson was asked how she maintains a life outside of her climate action activities, she responded with a laugh, “Well, this is my life!”