Striving for environmental sustainability and community involvement.

Upcoming ECOS Events

Are the expectations too high for this December’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen? While some experts are calling for an ambitious and binding agreement that unites developed and developing states for the remediation of climate change, others feel that global politics and economic rhetoric will inhibit any adequate agreement from being made. Furthermore, will the United States, China and India ratify any agreement that is made? Will Stephen Harper’s Conservatives change their stance towards the Conference? What roles do NGOs and corporations play in the negotiations? Join ECOS at its November Green Session as it discusses the potential outcomes of this December’s Climate Change Conference.

ECOS' monthly meeting and interactive discussion on different topics of sustainability are a great way to meet like-minded people, learn more about environmental issues from your peers and discuss your opinions on such matters. This event is open to all campus community members: student, staff and faculty. Please come out and join us for great discussion and FREE snacks! Please RSVP to ecos@su.ualberta.ca by Monday, November 16th, 2009.

You are almost finished this semester. We would like to thank all of you who have volunteered with the Students' Union over this semester and made our services possible. Come and celebrate, eat, drink and get to know some of the other volunteers from other services.

The Sierra Youth Coalition (SYC) is the youth arm of the Sierra Club working towards local sustainability. This is hugely beneficial because geographical areas face similar issues locally and work together as a network of individuals (environmentalists) and collectives (organizations). The goal of this conference is to educate all interested students from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia and provide them with tangible skills and opportunities to get involved in the green movement. Ultimately this conference provides the means to develop the knowledge and ability to work towards a more sustainable future. Please join us for a fun-filled weekend including very interesting workshops and seminars. This is a great opportunity to meet and network with students interested in similar issues as yourself! For more information please contact syc.matei@gmail.com.

Please come out and join us for our events throughout this week! Details to come.

The Environmental Coordination Office of Students (ECOS) strives to increase student environmental awareness and leadership, to educate and involve the community and to strengthen the environmental networks of University students, faculty and administration.

As a result of the 2006 ECOS Development Task Force, we have adopted the following Mission Statement:

ECOS, the Environmental Coordination Office of Students, is the Students’ Union’s sustainability office. We maintain a vision that it is possible to create a world characterized by ecological integrity and environmental and social accountability. ECOS works to involve students in a multi-lateral approach to campus sustainability.

We educate and involve the campus community regarding the ecological, social and economic aspects of sustainability.

We research and recommend environmental and social policies to the Students' Union Executive, which strive to make the Students' Union a model of sustainability.

We provide resources to the campus community which will network and assist community members to be leaders in sustainability.

Join our mailing list

ECOS would like to keep you posted on events and news related to the University of Alberta and our activities.

Our mailing list consists of two types of e-mails:

ECOS information e-mails and sustainability updates: includes updates of what ECOS is currently working on, and contains information about events, issues, activities and opportunities within the larger community—everything from speaking events to job opportunities to scholarships. We will, however, forewarn you that these tend to be excessively long emails; there's really that much going on in the community!

ECOS news updates: contains an assortment of recent news items related to sustainability. The news pieces are taken from major Canadian newspapers, as well as alternative journals and sources.

If you would like to receive occasional email notifications from ECOS, please visit http://asimov.su.ualberta.ca/mailman/listinfo/ecos.newsletter and submit your email address.

Please also send us your comments regarding campus sustainability issues, what you think of the website, our projects or the emails you're receiving from us. Your input is really important to making ECOS something University students want to be involved in.

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