It's easy being green in Whitby - Digilog at UOIT and DC - Durham ...

30 The Chronicle November 29, 2011 Campus
Clean, filtered Brita water
Lori Marks
The Chronicle
Construction on the new Energy
Research Centre Building
(ERC) was completed on Aug.
5 and Brita hydration stations
were set up in the same spot on
floors one through four of the
building.
“We retrofitted one water
fountain, so it has a regular
fountain and within that we
put a hydration station so you
could fill your water bottles,”
said Suzanne Chasse manager,
facilities services.
The Brita hydration stations
were a decision made by the
architect of the building. The
ERC building is the only building
on campus to have hydration
stations, other than the
Whitby campus.
According to an article on
the Brita hydration website, in
2008, over 39 billion singleuse
bottles of water were consumed.
Of those 39 billion bottles,
reports show that only 32
per cent were actually recycled,
which left 26 billion bottles
possibly ending up in landfills.
“We wanted to encourage
students to bring bottles from
home to fill up rather than using
plastic bottles,” said Sharman
Perera, radiation and
nuclear laboratory specialist at
UOIT.
The Brita hydration station
is a touch-free and environmentally
friendly substitute
for bottled water. Just place a
bottle in front of the sensor and
the water will pour from the
nozzle. Chasse said that with
the ongoing construction to the
college, Brita stations might be
an option if it can structurally
be done and if it is cost effective.
For now students should
Lori Marks
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY: Bashar Alhayek, Automotive Engineering student at UOIT, fills up his water
bottle at the Brita hydration station in the Energy Research Building.
think environmentally friendly,
head to the ERC building, and
fill up their personal water bottles.
It’s fun to go to the
Durham YMCA
Philip Petrovski
The Chronicle
The YMCA is an organization
that has been helping people
for over 150 years, but the
organization’s goals of community
and charity have never
changed.
The YMCA has established
over 50 locations in Canada
and caters to almost two million
Canadians.
Strengthening communities
by setting examples of inclusiveness
and leadership, each
of these locations share a common
goal.
The YMCA has many aspects
as an organization and
promotes health in body and
mind. With the many components
that unite the YMCA,
there are programs and centres
spread out around the country.
The YMCA’s fitness and recreation
centre is much like a
standard gym, with much more
going on.
Sherry Perez of the Durham
YMCA fitness and recreation
says, “We’re a full fitness facility.
So we offer a pool, a full
sized gymnasium, a conditioning
room and fitness studios, as
well as several sports and recreation
programs and fitness
classes.”
Whatever activity you’re
looking for, or even if you’re not
sure, the Durham YMCA fitness
and recreation centre has
the program. “We have anything
you would expect from a
traditional fitness centre, and
more,” says Perez.
The YMCA focuses on inclusiveness
and community, and
is limited to no one. The YMCA
also runs childcare program
in Oshawa. Denise Borkwood
of the Oshawa YMCA Child
Care Centre says, “It’s a childcare
centre, it’s for anybody,
and available to the public.”
There are several of these
child care centres all organized
under the YMCA. “We
have several YMCA child
care centres and they’re basically
serving the community.
So a lot of the centres are
in schools,” Borkwood said.
“We are part of the YMCA, and
we share all of the same core values
of all the other YMCA programs
of greater Toronto,” says
Borkwood. “And we do offer
financial assistance to families
as other YMCA programs do.
We share the same philosophy
that nobody is turned away.”
Samantha Teney of the YMCA
Durham Employment and
Community Services says, “For
the community we have a youth
gambling program, which is
geared to ages eight to 19 and
it helps youth become aware of
the potential dangers of gambling.”
This specific part of the
YMCA helps with employment
of people who may face barriers
or are new to the workforce.
“We have an employment resource
centre where people
can come in and do their own
job search with minimal assistance,
and we also have services
for individuals who need
more assistance services.”
To assist young people in
finding summer jobs, the centre
has a specific program for that
age group, “We have a summer
job program, so we assist
youth ages 16 to 24 with their
summer jobs and we work with
employers in the community
who are looking to hire a student.
And we connect the two.”