For the past seven years Lower Canada College (LCC) has made environmental sustainability a core pillar of its school operations and today its efforts were recognized when the editors of the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project named the school as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers for 2013.
The school has gone to considerable lengths to incorporate environmental awareness into its organizational culture.
Highlights include:
- Adoption of a 5-year Strategic Environmental Plan led by an executive member of the school administration
- Development of sustainability performance indicators to allow the school to set objectives
- Student and Faculty green initiatives integrated into curricular and co-curricular programming for students (e.g., Green Team, Solisterra, living green wall, vermi-composting, vegetable garden, no waste lunches, recycling programs, installation of rain barrels, green audits)
- Adoption of an environmental policy focused on sustainable practices related to: water, land use, waste management, energy consumption, food systems, buildings, transportation, procurement, and community outreach.
With a goal of reducing its environmental footprint, the school has
- invested in upgrading inefficient energy infrastructure (e.g., furnaces, lighting, ventilation, plumbing), significantly reducing water and energy consumption
- adopted a carbon emissions off-set programs
- planted over 75 trees on its campus
- built one of Montreal’s greenest arenas
- received a BOMA BEST Level 3 recognition for its campus
- sought LEED certification for the Leonard and Olga Assaly Learning Commons, which is currently under construction.
“We are proud that our many green initiatives have set the highest standard for the education sector and for any busy modern institution in Canada,” said Headmaster Chris Shannon. “We believe that committing to green practices at every level of school operations—facilities, program, and day-to-day activities—reinforces the message to students that collectively we can make a difference. As a school, we believe that we are in the business of educating leaders of tomorrow. Having the right programs and passionate people positions our students to be better prepared for the sustainable challenges that they will face going forward.”
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