NEWS & EVENTS | August 2, 2017
USB Recognized For Its Eco Efforts
François Gauvin, USB professor, accompanied by the rest of the environmental commitee, Robert Simard, Erika Morin-Nett, Stephan Hardy and Daniel DeGagné
Université de Saint-Boniface took home a Silver prize in the latest Commuter Challenge, a week-long event that took place in June that encourages Canadians to go green and leave their cars at home. A fine reward for the USB employees who participated in the friendly competition, and who are a prime example of a community devoted to a greener future.
The Commuter Challenge take places annually during the Canadian Environment Week. The competition between cities and workplaces encourages participants to make use of active and sustainable transportation.
François Gauvin, USB’s environmental committee secretary and this year’s initiative coordinator, confirms that a few of the university’s records were broken on this fifth anniversary of its participation in the event: 55 participants, a Silver award in the Organizations (200-399 employees) Category, having travelled a total of 2,230 kilometres (mostly by bicycle), burned 57,000 calories, saved 198 litres of fuel, and avoided 398 kilogrammes of CO2.
While 20,000 Canadians participated in the Commuter Challenge, Manitoba beat out every other province with a total of 7,250 participants. Winnipeg was also the better performing city on a national level, having travelled a total of 550,000 kilometres and avoided 90,000 kilogrammes of CO2.
“We’re very pleased with the results, explains François Gauvin. It’s very motivating for next year and for the future. We hope to encourage future USB students to take action and to be committed to protecting the environment.”