Upper Canada College, Toronto, Ontario

Stephanie Foster worked as Executive Director of the Centre for Environment and Sustainability, at Upper CanadaCollege in Toronto, Ontario. In this position she was responsible for leading the College’s initiative to become a “GreenSchool for the 21st Century” and overseeing development of the College’s “Green School Master Plan”.  UCC’s GreenSchool initiative is a program aimed at addressing global environmental challenges both as an organization and through its students and staff with a program that integrates ecological literacy, the application of sustainable practices into everyday life at UCC, an environmental ethic, and broader outreach and education of these principles. For more information visit: http://www.ucc.on.ca/podium/default.aspx?t=7184

The Green School Master Plan included a multidisciplinary assessment of how the campus intersects with environmental systems and resources using the ecological footprint concept. The plan identified goals and objectives, key indicators, baseline and benchmarks in the following key areas: energy, water, materials, landscape, mobility and air. The energy section of the plan included a comprehensive plan for reducing the College’s carbon footprint by reducing direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, using renewable energy and exploring options for becoming carbon neutral.