Fwd: Important: Asking for consent on supporting Rio+20 Higher Education Sustainability Initiative

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Daniel Lewis

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Jun 11, 2012, 4:11:27 PM6/11/12
to Kristine Belesova, u-of-t-frien...@googlegroups.com
Yes and yes.

Best,
Daniel,
President, U of T Friends of Wisdom

On Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 11:23 PM, Kristine Belesova <kristine...@mail.utoronto.ca> wrote:
Dear Executive Member of a recognised student group at the UofT,
 
We are representing the Sustainability Initiative for the UofT, a student-led initiative pursuing UofT's international commitment to sustainability. The first step for the UofT towards such commitment is to sign the Rio+20 Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI). However, to make this step happen, we need support from the UofT student body. 

Since the activities of your student group are related to sustainability, we would like to invite you to familiarise yourself with the further information about HESI and our student group. Most of the information is provided below in this e-mail. Attached is the HESI document that must be signed by the universities, as well as a short power point presentation about our group. After reading the information presented further in this e-mail, please answer two questions by responding to this e-mail and also stating the correct title of your group:
 
  1. Do you permit us to include the name of your society in the list of student groups at the UofT that support that UofT should sign HESI? This list will be attached to the letter sent to David Naylor, the UofT president, requesting to sign HESI. Please state the title of your group as you would like it to appear in the letter sent to the president.
 
  1. Would you consider collaborating with our group, Sustainability Initiative for the UofT, in the future? 

 
 
Abut HESI
 
The Higher Education Sustainability Initiative for Rio+20 (HESI) is a document proposed on the occasion of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development: Rio+20, held in Rio de Janeiro from 20-22 June 2012. This document was created with the support from UN Academic Impact, UNEP, UNESCO, UN Global Compact, UN-PRME and UNU, in order to demonstrate the commitment to sustainability by higher education institutions to the world's leaders convening in Rio. HESI consists of 5 deliverables that higher education institutions around the world are invited to sign to.
 
The 5 deliverables are:
 
  1. Teach sustainable development concepts
  2. Encourage research on sustainable development issues
  3. Green our campuses
  4. Support sustainability efforts in the communities in which we reside
  5. Engage with and share results through international frameworks
 
The year for fulfilling commitment to these deliverables is 2015.
 
So far, more than 300 Presidents and Dean's of higher education institutions around the world have signed HESI. However, in Canada HESI is signed only by the Laval University in Quebec.
 
We believe that the UofT, as one of the world's leading research universities, should also become a signatory to this initiative, and thus, demonstrate the commitment of Canadian universities to sustainability. 
 
Signing the Rio+20 Higher Education Sustainability Initiative would commit the UofT to developing and maintaining sustainable practices on campus and in its community. Signing the initiative would also make the University a part of the international networks for sustainability. Moreover, the UofT would commit to teaching sustainable development concepts, which are so crucial for our and the future generations. Singing HESI would also create a strong legitimate basis for organising various sustainability-related events and activities at the UofT by the student body.
 
Our action on HESI at the UofT & the list of student groups:
 
Currently we are preparing a letter that will be submitted to the David Naylor, the UofT president, asking to sign the Rio+20 Higher Education Sustainability Initiative. The support that we are seeking from your student group is the permission to list the name of your group in the list of student groups that support the UofT signing HESI.
 
If you are supporting the UofT signing HESI and agree to us including your student group in the list, please respond to this e-mail shortly stating your consent.
 
Collaboration:
 
We are creating a  database of the UofT student groups and faculty members who would be interested in collaborating with our group, Sustainability Initiative for UofT, in the future.
 
As for now, the activities of our group are focussed on achieving that the UofT signs HESI. After achieving this goal our activities will be closely aligned to the deliverables of HESI. Our student group will strive to facilitate that the UofT's commitment to the sustainability is being fulfilled by the 2015, as according to HESI. The preliminary list of  our activities includes:
 
  • Baseline analysis of existing sustainability activities at the UofT (campus greening, education, community outreach, experience exchange with the international networks)
  • Developing a strategy on how to fulfil the commitment to HESI by 2015
  • Identifying gaps between what is already done at the UofT regarding HESI deliverables and what needs to be done according to the strategy
  • Proposing the way how to fill in these gaps
  • Facilitating the implementation of the developed strategy
 
Since student groups are an important component of various sustainability-related activities at the UofT, having a reliable contact with the groups will be very helpful. For example, when constructing the baseline analysis of sustainability activities at the UofT, it is important to account for the sustainability-related events and other activities that are developed by the student groups. In order to acquire systematic information about such activities, contacting student activities would be the most reliable way of acquiring such information. This will allow for a higher level of awareness and communication between different levels of governance at the university concerning sustainability, and thus, also for a more coordinated and efficient progress towards fulfilling the commitment to HESI.
 
As for now, we would like to know if your student group would be interested in further communicating with us. Therefore, if you are interested, please reply to this e-mail providing contact information of the person in your group, whom it would be the best to contact regarding our future activities with collaborative potential for our groups.
 
Thank you for consideration.
 
Looking forward to receiving your answers to both questions.
 
Kindest regards,
Kristine Belesova
The Head Leader of the Sustainability Initiative for the UofT

Dear Executive Member of a recognised student group at the UofT,

 

We are representing the Sustainability Initiative for the UofT, a student-led initiative pursuing UofT's international commitment to sustainability. The first step for the UofT towards such commitment is to sign the Rio+20 Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI). However, to make this step happen, we need support from the UofT student body. 


Since the activities of your student group are related to sustainability, we would like to invite you to familiarise yourself with the further information about HESI and our student group. Most of the information is provided below in this e-mail. Attached is the HESI document that must be signed by the universities, as well as a short power point presentation about our group. After reading the information presented further in this e-mail, please answer two questions by responding to this e-mail and also stating the correct title of your group:

 

  1. Do you permit us to include the name of your society in the list of student groups at the UofT that support that UofT should sign HESI? This list will be attached to the letter sent to David Naylor, the UofT president, requesting to sign HESI. Please state the title of your group as you would like it to appear in the letter sent to the president.

 

  1. Would you consider collaborating with our group, Sustainability Initiative for the UofT, in the future? 

 

 

Abut HESI

 

The Higher Education Sustainability Initiative for Rio+20 (HESI) is a document proposed on the occasion of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development: Rio+20, held in Rio de Janeiro from 20-22 June 2012. This document was created with the support from UN Academic Impact, UNEP, UNESCO, UN Global Compact, UN-PRME and UNU, in order to demonstrate the commitment to sustainability by higher education institutions to the world's leaders convening in Rio. HESI consists of 5 deliverables that higher education institutions around the world are invited to sign to.

 

The 5 deliverables are:

 

  1. Teach sustainable development concepts
  2. Encourage research on sustainable development issues
  3. Green our campuses
  4. Support sustainability efforts in the communities in which we reside
  5. Engage with and share results through international frameworks

 

The year for fulfilling commitment to these deliverables is 2015.

 

So far, more than 300 Presidents and Dean's of higher education institutions around the world have signed HESI. However, in Canada HESI is signed only by the Laval University in Quebec.

 

We believe that the UofT, as one of the world's leading research universities, should also become a signatory to this initiative, and thus, demonstrate the commitment of Canadian universities to sustainability. 

 

Signing the Rio+20 Higher Education Sustainability Initiative would commit the UofT to developing and maintaining sustainable practices on campus and in its community. Signing the initiative would also make the University a part of the international networks for sustainability. Moreover, the UofT would commit to teaching sustainable development concepts, which are so crucial for our and the future generations. Singing HESI would also create a strong legitimate basis for organising various sustainability-related events and activities at the UofT by the student body.

 

Our action on HESI at the UofT & the list of student groups:

 

Currently we are preparing a letter that will be submitted to the David Naylor, the UofT president, asking to sign the Rio+20 Higher Education Sustainability Initiative. The support that we are seeking from your student group is the permission to list the name of your group in the list of student groups that support the UofT signing HESI.

 

If you are supporting the UofT signing HESI and agree to us including your student group in the list, please respond to this e-mail shortly stating your consent.

 

Collaboration:

 

We are creating a  database of the UofT student groups and faculty members who would be interested in collaborating with our group, Sustainability Initiative for UofT, in the future.

 

As for now, the activities of our group are focussed on achieving that the UofT signs HESI. After achieving this goal our activities will be closely aligned to the deliverables of HESI. Our student group will strive to facilitate that the UofT's commitment to the sustainability is being fulfilled by the 2015, as according to HESI. The preliminary list of  our activities includes:

 

  • Baseline analysis of existing sustainability activities at the UofT (campus greening, education, community outreach, experience exchange with the international networks)
  • Developing a strategy on how to fulfil the commitment to HESI by 2015
  • Identifying gaps between what is already done at the UofT regarding HESI deliverables and what needs to be done according to the strategy
  • Proposing the way how to fill in these gaps
  • Facilitating the implementation of the developed strategy

 

Since student groups are an important component of various sustainability-related activities at the UofT, having a reliable contact with the groups will be very helpful. For example, when constructing the baseline analysis of sustainability activities at the UofT, it is important to account for the sustainability-related events and other activities that are developed by the student groups. In order to acquire systematic information about such activities, contacting student activities would be the most reliable way of acquiring such information. This will allow for a higher level of awareness and communication between different levels of governance at the university concerning sustainability, and thus, also for a more coordinated and efficient progress towards fulfilling the commitment to HESI.

 

As for now, we would like to know if your student group would be interested in further communicating with us. Therefore, if you are interested, please reply to this e-mail providing contact information of the person in your group, whom it would be the best to contact regarding our future activities with collaborative potential for our groups.

 

Thank you for consideration.

 

Looking forward to receiving your answers to both questions.

 

Kindest regards,

Kristine Belesova

The Head Leader of the Sustainability Initiative for the UofT

 


HESI.pdf
About_Sustainability_Initiative_for_UofT.pdf
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