We’re pleased to announce that the Plug Load Inventory is now complete! Our small team traveled around the College over the last few months, poking our heads into offices and staff common areas and taking note of all items powered by means of an AC outlet. Now we begin the hard work of creating and implementing impactful programs to help us reduce our environmental and financial footprints and to ensure a safe and comfortable work environment for us all.

But before we begin this next phase, we want to share our findings with the College community and provide some information on what we plan to do next to help RRC reduce our plug load energy consumption. Please bring your lunch and join us at our:

Lunch & Learn: Inventory Unplugged
Tuesday, Nov. 27, 12-1 pm
eTV Studio (GM33), Notre Dame Campus
Livestream: live.etvlabs.com

—  Refreshments  provided  — Read More →

It’s that time of year! Time for RRC’s  4^th  Farmers’ (and Makers) Market! But, this time around the market is going to be done a bit differently.

There are so many amazing local vendors that have connections to the College (by being current students and staff, or College alumni) that we decided to showcase these incredible talents with our first ever “Made by RRC” Market! This special market will exclusively feature the local artistic talents of RRC staff, students and grads.

When: Thursday, November 29th  11:00 am – 1:30 pm
Where: Library Hallway – Notre Dame Campus (2055 Notre Dame Avenue)

Come on by, get some of your holiday shopping done, and support RRC talent! Check out the list of this years vendors:

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RRC is celebrating Waste Reduction Week from Monday October 22^nd to Friday October 26^th to engage and raise awareness on how much waste we as individuals create, and the easy changes we can make to reduce this. This is also an opportunity to celebrate the changes we have made, and the impacts both of these can make on the health of our planet environmentally, socially and economically.

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At Red River College, we’re growing more than innovative minds. Throughout the spring, summer and fall, the College’s Grounds department went above and beyond their regular responsibilities to maintain a vegetable garden at our Notre Dame Campus. On this 30’ X 60’ plot of land, we grew a variety of vegetables to donate to Winnipeg Harvest in support of the corporate Grow-A-Row initiative – a program that’s collected more than 4 million pounds of produce since its inception in 1986.

Last week we assembled an enthusiastic crew of students and staff (including our Prez, Paul Vogt) to join the Grounds department in the harvest. Once all the digging, trimming, scrubbing and boxing was complete, we were thrilled to donate a whopping 3,100 lbs of carrots, beets, onions potatoes to Harvest, with a portion going straight to the RRC Students’ Association food bank. Click here to see the full gallery of the 2018 Grow-A-Row Harvest.

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Fair Trade Campus Week is right around the corner!  Fair trade is about re-connecting you to the products that you buy, every single day.  From September 24-29, come celebrate the fair trade movement and Fairtrade certified products on Campus!

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It’s that time again. The leaves are starting to turn, the air is crisp, and pumpkin everything has begun. Fall is quickly approaching, and so is our third annual RRC Farmers’ Market!

On Friday, September 14th, the Library Hallway will be transformed into a festive fall market full of local goodies open to all RRC staff, faculty, students and the public. Not only do we have a great line up of new and returning vendors, but this will be the first chance to purchase our very own 2018 RRC Creekside and Bijou honey.

When: Friday, September 14th – 11:00 am – 1:30 pm
Where: Library Hallway – Notre Dame Campus (2055 Notre Dame Avenue)

Check out the vendors below, start making your lists, hit the ATM and get your re-usable bags ready!

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The bees are back at RRC! 

Welcome back our busy, buzzy little buddies to both NDC and PGI campus rooftops. For the third year in a row, we have partnered with Beeproject Apiaries to install three hives on the 4^th floor patio at the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute, and for the second year, three hives on the roof of Building A at the Notre Dame Campus.

Bee hives on NDC Building A rooftop

Urban beekeeping is an important movement to promote biodiversity within cities and provide valuable educational and engagement opportunities for people to connect to nature and our local food system. Not only that, bees are an essential element to enable and sustain healthy food production.

Did you know, bee’s are the only insect in the world that make food that humans can eat? One out of every three bites of food we eat is a result of pollinators like honey bees, and crops like blueberries and cherries are 90% dependent on pollination.

Three hives are once again installed at PGI

On your next lunch break, take a walk around the NDC campus and check out our healthy, diverse and beautifully landscaped campus, maintained using only 100% biopesticides!). RRC is busy at work developing a pollinator garden on the NDC grounds to keep these bees and other native pollinators going and our environment flourishing. Stay tuned for updates as the site progresses. Read More →

Well, that’s a wrap! We rolled through June full speed, blasting through our many successful Bike Week events, finishing in FIRST PLACE in this years Commuter Challenge, for the fourth year in a row.

The RRC Sustainability Office and Mayor Brian Bowman on his Pit Stop visit.

That’s right, Red River College received the Commuter Challenge first place award for highest participation in our workplace category (500-999 employees), coming in at a total of 24% of our workplace. Because of your collective efforts to commute 16,914.67 kms sustainably, RRC staff and faculty….

Burned 151,742.26 calories!

Saved 1,192.59 Litres of fuel!

Avoided 2,255.56 kgs of Co2!

We learned that the highest number of RRC employees use transit, followed by cycling. Thank you to all who participated, we hope you continue to reap the environmental, physical, mental and financial benefits that active and sustainable transportation has to offer. Check out the Commuter Challenge results to see how Manitoba did as a whole, and how RRC compares within our City. Read More →

As you may know, this week is Bike Week, and what better time to dust off that bike and take it for a ride. So, with a ton of great events going on all week, lets get moving!

Not only is biking a great way to reduce your personal carbon emissions, but it has many other benefits on your physical health and mental wellbeing.

Our office sat down with Breanna Sawatzky, the College’s Mental Health Coordinator to discuss sustainable transportation.  Her role consists of many important facets such as drop-in counselling as well as training and education. Below Breanna answers some questions about her experience biking to work, and how it can positively affect your mental health.

Q: Tell me about yourself and your transportation strategies in the past?

A: I live in St. James and have a family of four, with one car. In the past, we would convoy together when we all worked downtown. When I started at the college, my husband and I would take turns either busing or taking the car, without really finding a method that worked better than the other. Our home is about 7km away from the campus so in reality it isn’t that far. Read More →

Start your week with off cinnamon buns and end it with ice cream! 

Gear up for Bike Week Winnipeg, held throughout the City June 18 -24 to celebrate just that – people riding bikes! Start Bike Week off right with Bike to Work Day, Monday, June 18, hosting over 70 pit stop locations.

Can’t make it to all 70? We understand. But make sure to stop by RRC’s very own pit stop location being held again for the second year in a row. Check out lasts year’s event and mark your map, as this is a stop you do not want to miss (think cinnamon buns)!

We will keep the wheel turning and roll into the afternoon with a Cyclist Meet Up to mix and mingle with fellow staff and faculty, cyclists or not, and let us know what YOU would like to see RRC do to enable and promote cycling and sustainable commuting here on campus. Read More →