Education key to 'green' future

This article first ran as part of the 2014 Young Innovators series, an initiative of the U of S Research Profile office in partnership with the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

By Federica Giannelli

University of Saskatchewan student Jennifer McRuer is using a prestigious scholarship to identify best practices for how environmental sustainability is taught and practiced in Canada’s schools and universities.

McRuer, who earned her master’s in the U.K., has been awarded a $150,000 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)—a scholarship aimed at attracting world-class students to Canadian universities. 

With recent international panels warning of the dangers of global warming, “there is increasing recognition that we must take action on environmental issues and education plays an important role in this,” said McRuer, a PhD student in educational foundations.

The national Sustainability and Education Policy Network (SEPN), based at the U of S, has found that only half of Canada’s 13 ministries of education in provinces and territories have policies to promote environmental education and sustainability measures—from reduction of energy consumption, to solar panels on school roofs, to low-impact food in school cafeterias.   Read Entire Article