New report highlight’s USask’s sustainable work

Working to build a sustainable campus, the office fosters a culture of sustainability throughout all areas of campus life. The 2024-2025 Annual Sustainability Report reflects the scale of work that the university is doing, highlighting what has already been achieved, and offering a road map of where the university is headed.  

“This report gives us a chance to see so much of what is being done around campus,” said Matt Wolsfeld, reporting and engagement officer with the Office of Sustainability.  

“Some of the places that you may never have associated with sustainability are doing integral sustainability work.”  

Facilities is one of them.  

“We have to kind of fight our cold-weather location and the existing aging infrastructure when it comes to maintaining our campuses’ sustainably,” said Wolsfeld. “It can present some challenges, but our facilities team has been a constant ally for us. 

“Everybody over there knows what we should be doing, what we have been doing, and they integrate sustainability into their work every day.” 

The Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning acts as another key partner, developing sustainability related competencies for students through their Sustainability Faculty Fellows program.  

“We see deans and their colleges engaging with faculty members, looking at existing curricula where either sustainability concepts could be added or enhanced.”  

Sustainability is a subject that is far reaching, but defining it isn’t always straightforward.  

“Sustainability is about more than just protecting the environment,” said Wolsfeld. “It’s about everything that makes our world stable and livable, from now until far into the future.” 

The United Nations has identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that showcase the breadth of the discipline. These SDGs allow researchers and organizations to focus on specific areas of sustainability ranging from clean affordable energy to no poverty and zero hunger. 

“Using these SGDs has really been able to give a lot of people better insight into what we mean when we say that sustainability is everything,” said Wolsfeld.  

In an effort to tap into the reporting potential offered by SDGs, the Office of Sustainability has created a new online SDG Hub in an effort to increase awareness amongst students, staff and faculty.   

“We really encourage people to get familiar with the goals and consider how their work fits in with sustainability,” said Wolsfeld. 

Research is a great example of sustainable work being done at USask and across the world. However, measuring its impact can be challenging. 

“We know that a majority of our researchers are doing great work towards sustainability, but it has been kind of hard to quantify over the years,” said Wolsfeld.   

As a team of three, the Office of Sustainability often has to rely on members of the campus community to reach out to them with news of their own achievements in sustainability. They are looking for help from the campus community.  

“We ask that everyone at USask helps us continue to highlight the incredible work that is being done, especially research that advances any of the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Wolsfeld.

It’s work that shouldn’t go unnoticed, and the 2024-2025 Annual Sustainability Report makes sure it doesn’t.  

“This report is a celebration of everything the USask community has achieved, and we are so very grateful to all of our campus community members that make sustainability a priority,” said Wolsfeld. 

Read the report here. 

The Office of Sustainability is always looking for help to continue to highlight USask research that advances any of the Sustainable Development Goals. If you know of any research that should be recognized for these efforts, please reach out to sustainability@usask.ca.