His impact has been noticeable, as attendance at sustainability events continues to grow and the garden has become a part of the Huron experience on sunny days. Bell plans to bring Refill to Win to the Huron campus this year.
American Studies professor Tom Cull founded the Thames River Rally, a year-old organization dedicated to cleanup of the Thames River. Cull operates a Facebook page, through which he coordinates the monthly rallies, and networks with the City of London and other local organizations, who are likewise engaged in river conservation.
Thames River Rally has removed an impressive amount of garbage, as well as hundreds of used needles, from the river and its banks. Based on Cull’s appeals, the city and London-Middlesex Health Unit are considering a program to install safe needle disposal sites under bridges on the river. Cull continues to raise public awareness about the importance and health of the Thames, and promote community involvement and responsibility.
Biology professor Irena Creed created and co-leads the Great Lakes Futures Project, a grassroots project dedicated to understanding of the future of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin. Creed, along with Western postdoctoral fellow Katrina Laurent, works with cross-border colleagues to foster a sustainable vision for the basin through the process of scenario analysis. Since its launch, the project has gained support from 21 Canadian and U.S. research organizations and involves academics, government, non-government organizations, industry and private citizens, in both Canada and the United States.
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Western Green Awards Honourable Mentions were awarded to Kelly Lovell, a second-year student, founder of My Clean City, a youth-targeted campaign to reduce Canada’s carbon footprint, and the Western Engineering Toboggan Team, who built off last year’s success at the Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race to create an entirely new sled design and construction process to make it more sustainable.