Graduate Students practising what they preach

A group of dedicated Queen's graduate students in Environmental Studies, Biology and Education have unveiled their trash art as a way to raise awareness of the physical waste produced in the Biosciences Complex and around campus.

This Biosciences Sustainability Committee (BSC) is committed to encouraging ecologically and socially minded practices and are using visible means to get the message across.

After seeing the volume of garbage in the bins of the Atrium, these graduate students decided to raise awareness regarding this waste and find alternatives to paper packaging and paper cups, said Heather Schmitt (2nd year MES). It was from this image that the students of Environmental Studies got together.

The students were not alone in this project. It took many volunteer hours to put the trash art together. They have had strong support from the Department of Environmental Studies, Tim Horton's, Queen's & Kingston media. They plan to do more and have already been invited to show their art at the end of the month at the AMS's Waste Reduction Week and Queen's Environmental forum.

Feedback since the unveiling has been terrific. "The media has genuinely been interested and we are definitely looking to see what we can do for the Kingston community", said Estelle D'Souza (2nd year MES). The BSC will also follow up with Tim Horton's to see if there has been an impact on how many people brought their own mug, or didn't require a paper bag for their donut this past week.

Was this project a natural extension to their studies or just a passion of theirs? As Allison Roberts (1st year MES) said, "it's both, we got into environmental studies because we have a passion to research & find solutions to the environmental problems facing us today. To put any sort of activism to one side while doing our research, just wouldn't make sense."