OPIRG led Community Education and Action- DIY Workshops

In the year of 2009-2010, OPIRG introduced a Do-it-Yourself Upcycling Workshop Series, which involved a series of workshops aimed at recycling old material into something memorably fun and useful, saving the environment, bringing out that hidden creative spirit, and having fun...all at the same time!  It's being environmentally conscious and reducing the amount of waste we produce while making it a fun process.

Our DIY Series included:

• Used damaged books to make journals, clutches, photo albums Used silkscreens to design t-shirts and bags
• Transformed old and oversized t-shirts
• Used old newspapers and magazines to make magnets, beads, and funky treasures.

Research Projects 2008

“OPIRG Ethical Food Sourcing Project – The University Context” by Levi Snook and Yvan Romaniuk

This project has continued developing a database of case studies documenting where fair trade and other ethical food sourcing policies have been successfully adopted at universities across Canada. The previous report (from 2007) analyzed 10 universities across Canada providing a brief outline of their individual campus food systems and other types of ethically oriented food options. The report included background information concerning the fundamentals of ethical food sourcing as well as any related terms and definitions. The year’s focus, in continuing the database of ethical food sourcing services, has been to broaden the range of schools covered and gain a better understanding of ethical food sourcing trends in universities across the country. This year students have looked at ethical sourcing initiatives at Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia), McGill University (Montreal, Quebec), Brock University (St. Catharines, Ontario) and University of Windsor (Windsor, Ontario).

“OPIRG Supermarket Tour Project” by Ashley Minion, Patrick Gilhooly and Kierian Keele

This project continued developing the OPIRG Supermarket Tours initiative in Peterborough. This initiative concerns the Canadian food system and its long term sustainability. There has been a gradual shift in our society over the past 50 years in regards to the production, transportation, distribution, and consumption of food in Canada and abroad. The current food system has transformed food into a commodity, at the expense of the environment, health and values of society. The average consumer does not know where the food they purchase comes from, where it was grown, how it was produced and how far it traveled to reach the supermarket. 

The Supermarket Tour was developed by OPIRG as a tool to educate interested parties such as community members, local students and teachers, as well as the general public about supermarkets and their relation to the food industry.  In 2007, OPIRG took on the task of revising the Supermarket Tour Guidebook in order to provide up to date informative and critical information regarding supermarkets and the food system. The Supermarket Tours help to educate the public about fair trade practices, healthy food choices and ecologically sustainable food production initiatives. Working on this project involved offering Supermarket Tours to the general public, high school students as well as the OPIRG board and staff.  The information participants gathered will be used to update the OPIRG Supermarket Tour publication.