Why McGill needs ECOLE
McGill School Or Architecture teams up with volunteers to foster growth of Montreal's bee population.
Published on Feb 18, 2014 | McGill Tribune
Written by Ilana Khin
Speaking to students beyond McGill’s tight-knit environmental community, there is one question I encounter often: “Whatever happened to sustainability at McGill?” Awareness around campus of environmental initiatives comes down to three things: space, community outreach, and education—and particularly, the lack of all three. What can be done to improve this situation? Enter the Educational Community Living Environment (ECOLE)—the perfect blend of collective student living, learning, and community building—something like “the Real World: Montreal (Green Edition).”
Set in a soon-to-be converted MORE house residence that will open its doors in September, ECOLE seeks to revitalize the concept of sustainability at McGill. The house, as a student-run space, will not only provide a hub for the sustainability enthusiasts, but also be a model for sustainable change in the eyes of the greater McGill and Milton-Parc communities. It will house up to 12 residents—or “facilitators”—who will experiment with materially and socially responsible living, and undertake individual applied research projects based around their collective living experience. Facilitators will come from a diversity of academic, cultural, and social backgrounds to promote the awareness of sustainability as a universal concept applicable to all aspects of life—not merely environmentally-based ones.
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