KPU hosts events in March to recognize UN sustainability goals
From employee workshops to student-led initiatives, the university will bring the community together to showcase its sustainability projects
Pictured: The KPU Sustainability Club (top and bottom right) and Alexandra Taylor (bottom left). (Submitted/James Timmins)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University is hosting a series of events throughout March at all five campuses for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) month.
The events will start with a walk at Garden City and Paulik Parks on March 1, hosted by the City of Richmond, followed by presentations about drug awareness advocacy, relearning gender, climate action, in addition to conferences, events, and employee workshops. While usually hosted for a week annually, this year’s events will take place throughout the entire month.
One of the student-only events taking place this year is a free clothing shop put together by the KPU Sustainability Club on March 12 at the Surrey campus Spruce Atrium from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm.
After participating in the UNSDG week last year, Honey Mathew, a student in the green business management program and president of the Sustainability Club, decided to create a student-led platform to volunteer and host events. The club decided to participate in this year’s UNSDG month to practise and raise awareness about sustainability from a student’s perspective.
Last year, the club came up with the idea for a clothes swapping event, where it asked students to bring out their old clothes and put up a table to talk about sustainable fashion. The Office of Sustainability at KPU had been planning to host something similar and reached out to collaborate with the club.
Since then, by working with the Kwantlen Student Association, the club started hosting pick-up points on different campuses for students to drop their old clothes, which the club members go through and sort based on their condition.
The club will bring together the sorted items for students to browse and take during the March 12 event.
“The idea is to let everyone know that sustainable fashion — or a reverse trend to fast fashion — is something we need to look forward to as a sustainable generation,” Mathew says.
Sustainable fashion is not an easy choice, she says, and is often based on where people live. Being from India, Mathew says it was common for her siblings to use her clothes and for her to use theirs — an action that was not made as a sustainable choice but as a financial and economic one.
Mathew wants people to attach the idea of sustainability to the act of donating their clothes and realize that their fashion choices can make a significant contribution. She says the clothes can also help people who can’t afford them or are new to Canada.
“This is not just a generous act, but more than that, it’s [about] thinking more logically,” she says. “We want to promote the idea of sustainability beyond what we know …. Individual actions can also matter, and [this event is] a chance for students to come together and feel like a community.”
This is KPU’s third year organizing events for the UNSDGs. Alexandra Taylor from KPU’s Office of Sustainability started working and organizing SDG weeks as a student assistant in 2022 after the university signed the SDG Accord.
The accord, brought forth by Colleges and Institutes Canada, brings Canadian post-secondaries together to commit to sustainability. As part of the accord, KPU has to integrate the SDGs in its teachings and curriculum.
“There’s nothing that KPU is doing that doesn’t connect to the 17 SDGs,” Taylor says, adding the response from the university’s departments was overwhelming when the office asked what they were planning for March.
“We had an amazing response from people who were saying, ‘We’ve got careers day in March,’ and the HR department wants to host mini massages on different campuses that relate to the SDGs and good health and wellness.”
Taylor hopes students and faculty take away a sense of interconnectedness from the events. She wants them to realize that fighting the climate crisis as a community is vital.
“There’s so much happening on our five campuses that this is a great opportunity to highlight, elevate, and promote events that are already taking place.”
This year, there will also be displays on each KPU campus highlighting information about the 17 SDGs. Taylor hopes they help create a sense of community, something which can often be challenging to foster among students at a commuter campus.
For more information about SDG month, visit the Office of Sustainability on Instagram @sustainableKPU, email sustainability@kpu.ca, or head to www.kpu.ca/sdgs/sdg-month.
