Published on March 10, 2015 | by Christopher Ciligot Photography by Christopher Ciligot
0Saving the environment one car at a time
Being able to park in preferred parking spots closer to the school, is just one of the incentives that Humber College is offering its students and faculty to entice them to participate in the school’s new carpooling initiative.
According to the Ministry of Environment website, fuel combustion from vehicles produces a toxin of fine particulate matter also known as PM2.5 which, according to Rebecca Milburn, Associate Dean of the Liberal Arts and Sciences department at Humber, is one of the most harmful emissions coming from cars.
“It’s so small it can get further into your nasal system and into your lungs than any other particulate matter,” said Milburn.
More traffic leads to longer commutes which lengthen the amount of time these emissions have to enter the air; harming the ozone layer, contributing to greenhouse gases and deteriorating outdoor air quality explained Milburn.
Although vehicle emissions only account for 24 per cent of the total PM2.5 put into the air as shown in a chart on the Ministry of Environment website, Milburn believes that reducing the amount of cars on the road will help increase outdoor air quality.
She added that the air current flows from east to west and is not a local experience but rather shared. This means whatever pollutants are put into the air in British Columbia for example, will affect air quality in Ontario and Quebec and continue west around the world.
“If everyone makes an effort to reduce car emissions we’ll not only help ourselves but we’ll help the global population,” said Milburn.
That is exactly what Humber Sustainability is hoping to do with this new initiative as not only a way to give students a more sustainable choice when it comes to commuting but to be a leader in environmental awareness and change.
The initiative will not only be beneficial to the environment but students and faculty as well.
“Being able to park in a spot closer and not have to run around looking for a spot is definitely making me think about carpooling,” said Divya Bagga, a Humber College student and commuter.
The Humber Sustainability website states that the College has 80,000 full-time and part-time students which according to a 2013 survey, 74 per cent of them commute alone five days a week.
Milburn said that although this is only one piece of the puzzle it is a step in the right direction.
“All these pieces individually and if everyone takes them on as a challenge I think we’ll do nothing but move the pendulum the other way,” said Milburn.
She adds that she hopes other schools will bring similar initiatives to their sustainability programs.
University of Toronto student Jonathan Michelin said that although the school has a green program he is unaware of any initiatives to reduce the amount of cars commuting to campus.
“I think that’s something U of T should be thinking about. We have a lot of students here and if everyone bussed we’d get rid of a lot of car traffic,” said Michelin.
Milburn concluded by saying that everyone should be doing what they can. If they can’t carpool, take public transit or bike.
“We are all part of the problem, we are all part of the solution.”
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