by Genevieve Fontana | Oct 13, 2023 | Faculty
Dr. Sue Margulis has been a changemaker at Canisius for over a decade. Not only is she a professor of animal behavior, ecology and conservation, serving as the department chair for over six years, but she is a professor of biology, as well. Margulis helped develop the minor in conservation and sustainability, a major in anthrozoology and the new masters’s program in informal education. She serves on various boards, helped bring Laudato Si’ to campus and was one of the pioneers of the east/west community gardens. She is a primatologist who has been working in the zoo field for many years and her research focuses primarily on applied, zoo-based research questions. She shares her love for primatology with her students as director of the Team Ape research group.
Dr. Margulis is a dedicated professor, and she expressed that teaching and spending time with her students are some of her favorite things to do. She tries to make her classes as engaging as possible and strives to live up to the three pillars of academia — teaching, research and service. All of her classes incorporate a conservation component to them, focusing on positively impacting the environment her students are studying.
For colleagues interested in developing a sustainable pedagogy, she suggested adding an active part to lessons through which students can make a difference in the world. She thinks that aspects of conservation and sustainability can be infused into any course in order to create a more authentic learning experience. In her conservation biology class last fall, students did a social media takeover, picking topics that they thought were relevant to the Canisius community and incorporating take-home messages for folks to personally address the issues. The students researched everything from PVC plastic swipe cards to window collision prevention for local birds. She even encouraged her students to keep a single-use plastic journal and go through their medicine cabinets, refrigerators and other areas of their home to see how much single-use plastic they use in their homes.
She spoke about her connection to the text of Laudato Si’ as it points out our need to make a change. During the pandemic, she explained, she would be on Zoom calls with faculty, administrators and clergy from nearly every continent. She noted how interesting it was to hear everyone’s perspective from all different areas of the world. It was more complex than she anticipated to get our college to sign onto the seven-year commitment, but the students’ voices helped to bring this plan to fruition.
Margulis is also very passionate about creating travel opportunities for her students. Most recently, her wildlife ecology and conservation course took a trip to South Africa after the conclusion of the spring semester. She mentioned that when students cannot travel, they have a biased view of the world: her trips, on the other hand, are an excellent opportunity to explore the conservation issues of people living in remote areas.
On her class’s most recent trip, they explored the fact that there is no recycling or trash pickup in South Africa. There is no way to get it from where the citizens are to where it would have to be, so folks litter all the time, “creating jobs” to address the substantial unemployment problem that that area also faces. Instead of recycling, their push is to use less. Another way that Margulis has seen sustainability implemented differently is through energy consumption. South Africa is without power for four hours daily; this concept is called “load shedding.” They are ahead of the curve with solar, and all the sights the group stayed at were run entirely off of solar or backup generators that are available because of load shedding. Each year, her students on the trip raise money for a cause that spoke to them on the trip. For this year the students will be “Recycling for Rhinos” by organizing a bottle/can drive to raise money to support rhino conservation; more specifically, the group hopes to support a pilot they met who does flyovers to assess rhino numbers and look for poachers. The collection will be starting the week of Oct. 16. Make sure to look for the bins!
Dr. Margulis lives by the quote, “We don’t need 10 people doing sustainability perfectly; we need a million people doing it imperfectly.” She makes the changes that she can — nobody can do it all, but everyone has to do a little something if we want to help our planet. She wants to continue reducing the amount of single-use plastics she buys and, overall, the amount of trash her family produces by composting her food scraps.
She hopes to see Canisius create a position of director of sustainability who can take charge, make things happen and spread the word about all of the work we are already doing in the sustainability space. She also expressed goals to ditch single-use bottles and that all vehicles on campus should be electric and move more toward 100% renewable energy. To those interested in starting their journey to become more sustainable, she suggests starting small and figuring out where you can integrate changes into your life.
Submitted by: Genevieve Fontana, USA Sustainability President
by Genevieve Fontana | Oct 13, 2023 | Faculty
The heart of Buffalo beats with diversity and culture. Today, Friday, October 13, the Phi Sigma Sigma Sorority is launching a celebration of the arts, all in support of Buffalo Public School 89.
Stickers with a Cause
The sorority will be selling vibrant stickers outside the library today. But these are no ordinary stickers – they’re a canvas of creativity, depicting the artwork from the talented students of Buffalo Public School 89. The best part? All the proceeds from this sticker sale will be channeled into fulfilling the pressing needs of the school. For just $2.50, you can own a piece of Buffalo’s artistic spirit while contributing to a great cause.
The Grand Finale: Cultural Bazaar
The excitement doesn’t end there. On Sunday, October 15, the festivities culminate in a spectacular Cultural Bazaar, hosted in collaboration with an array of clubs and organizations across the Canisius University campus. Joining hands with the Department of Modern Languages, Borders & Migrations Initiative, ArtsCanisius, the New Buffalo Institute, Campus Ministry, the ALANA center, Honors Department, History Department, and the Library, this promises to be an event like no other.
Click here to add this event to your digital calendar.
The Cultural Bazaar is set to be a vibrant melting pot of cultures, celebrating the essence of Canisius identity. Expect to be wowed by vendors from the Buffalo area, and the cultural clubs on campus, showcasing the beauty of diversity and art. Among the distinguished organizations in attendance are Stitch Buffalo, Ten Thousand Villages, Let There Be Light International, along with an inspiring gallery that will display student artwork from School 89.
You’re Invited!
The best part is, everyone is invited! This is an opportunity for the entire community to come together and show support for the Phi Sigma Sigma Sorority’s noble cause and the arts that breathe life into our beloved Buffalo. Whether you’re an art enthusiast, a culture connoisseur, or simply someone who loves to be part of something incredible, this is an event not to be missed. Mark your calendars, and come be a part of Buffalo’s thriving cultural scene. Your presence matters, and together, we can make a difference.
Don’t miss this chance to experience the magic of Buffalo’s cultural arts while supporting a fantastic initiative. Join us in celebrating the diversity and creativity that define our Buffalo community – see you there!
Submitted by: Genevieve Fontana, Phi Sigma Sigma Community Impact Chair
by Genevieve Fontana | Oct 2, 2023 | Faculty
Food for thought: today, we highlight eco-heroine Dr. Malini Suchak and her work as a Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP) member and sustainability leader on campus. The GFPP promotes an equitable food system prioritizing health and well-being for people, animals and the environment. The organization aims to create more transparency regarding the supply chain and food moving from the farm to your plate. The campaign encourages large institutions to use their buying power to support the following values: local economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare and nutrition. While sustainability initiatives can sometimes come with a higher price tag, programs must be in place that align with our values and encourage individuals to make earth-friendly choices, ensuring a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future. Public schools, prisons and hospitals are examples of large public institutions that are highly encouraged to join the program.
Suchak became involved with this campaign after working for animal welfare at the federal level. Her role as a member of the organization is to spread awareness and provide outreach opportunities. She also shares her expertise on animal welfare, one of the campaign’s core values. In our conversation, we talked about the importance of eating locally: not only is local food more fresh and tastes better, but your dollars stay local as the money returns to your community. It is also better from an environmental standpoint, because less travel for the food helps to reduce carbon emissions.
Suchak has taken her passion for sustainability into our campus community by creating the Canisius Native Plant Project; you can see the fruits of her labor in this beautiful garden outside the library filled with native pollinator-friendly plants. Suchak emphasizes the importance of having these opportunities as a part of campus life, saying it is a “win, win, win! It is a win for the environment resource for pollinators, seeds birds can eat in the winter and a win aesthetically bringing people a lot of joy when walking by the garden.”
Soon, Suchak hopes to expand the project to another location on campus, and she mentioned potentially partnering with our landscapers, Elbers, to help sustain these gardens for the long term. Suchak reminds us as members of the Canisius community that it is hard to make a difference at the individual level: when many folks work together, we make the greatest impact.
Submitted by: Genevieve Fontana, USA Sustainability President
by Genevieve Fontana | Sep 15, 2023 | Faculty
Yvonne Widener is an active member of the Canisius campus community, holding multiple key positions such as director of the Art History and Music Program, director of ArtsCanisius and curator of Makerspace. She serves on various committees, including Laudato Si, which aims to promote climate and ecological justice. Widener strongly advocates for Canisius’ study abroad programs and supports adopting Earth-friendly ideas from other cultures.
At Canisius Makerspace, students can explore their creative side and escape the demands of their academic schedules. She promotes several Earth-friendly projects, such as teaching simple mending stitches to students to help them repair their clothes and reduce textile waste.
Makerspace has facilitated the NGO Community Service event painting rocks for the campus garden spaces, combining art and gardening.
Widener aims to do more with the pollinator garden and have a maker space where students can start the seeds in their room and practice keeping something alive. This way, at the end of the semester, they can plant them outside. She loves planting things on campus and seeing them grow.
Additionally, one of the most notable maker spaces was inspired by turning “trash” into art. The Canisius community created art using the caps of used plastic bottles sorted by color. These projects can be an eye-opening experience for the community to see how many bottles they use.
Widener would be interested in having more active discussions, such as book clubs and expanding the Laudato Si meeting to a more accessible space. This way, anyone can learn more about how to positively impact the planet and approach this topic more gently in their homes.
Widener speaks about the travel courses she holds for students and notes how sustainability is implemented in other cultures different than in the U.S. With her interest in the art space, she reflects on her trip to Berlin, where she touches on the small-scale art that was made from sustainable materials that degrade over time, becoming part of the earth which then opens up other opportunities for another layer of art on top of the deteriorating pieces. She also encourages students to buy local and in-season produce and takes time to garden with her family.
Widener believes sustainability should be an active conversation with faculty in the humanities, not just the sciences. She says, “… it is crucial because without sustaining our environment, we will not have a history to study or cultures to investigate”. The wildlife around us is essential to her, and she hopes to bring to light a window art project that will prevent birds from flying into clear windows. She would like to have bat and insect houses on campus. Being a devoted cat mom, she hopes encouraging the presence of community cats will cut down on any mice issues, especially in the dorms.
Widener is passionate about making earth-friendly choices in her home. She hopes that in time, her family members will join her in transitioning to shampoo bars, toothpaste tabs, using scarves for holiday and birthday wrapping, and rechargeable batteries for electronics. Growing up with an eco-conscious father, she has become more aware of sorting her recycling and will often pick up materials she finds at the curb. She even brings up a friend who will do the same, but will count how many steps it takes to get to the garbage can to see how many steps that person had to take to help keep our planet clean.
If you are interested in learning more about Widener, you can listen to the Canisius University podcast with her on the Canisius Eco Heroines Youtube page @canisius_ecoheroines and for any more information about makerspace and other programs mentioned in this article email widenory@canisius.edu.
Submitted by: Genevieve Fontana, USA Sustainability President
by Genevieve Fontana | Apr 24, 2023 | Faculty
Last week, the USA Sustainability Committee celebrated Earth Week by organizing daily events for the campus community. Here is a recap of what we were able to accomplish.
Day 1: We held a “Pollinator Seed Planting” in the Student Center Lobby on Monday. Dr. Malini Suchak, director of the Canisius Native Plant Project, helped us to organize the event. We planted milkweed seeds to add to our community gardens and provided information about their importance to Monarch butterflies.
Day 2: The “Local Market” invited small businesses in the Buffalo area to share their products with students on Tuesday. The goal was to encourage students to shop locally and expose them to more plant-based food options.
Day 3: Wednesday, Dr. Jenn Lodi-Smith and Professor Janet McNally helped to organize a Sustainable Period Conversation in the Executive Conference Room. We had a significant conversation and provided giveaways for students to try more Earth-friendly period products. We closed the day by collaborating with the Canisius Zoological Society and Canisius Art Club, having our first-ever Earth Week Extravaganza with t-shirts, sticker giveaways, and an upcycled project. USA Sustainability organized the upcycled project, teaching attendees how to make dog toys from old t-shirts. Toys will be donated to the SPCA of Erie County.
Day 4: Thursday, Phi Sigma Sigma and USA Sustainability held their second annual “Clothing Swap,” giving a new life to clothing that community members no longer interested in and discouraging supporting fast fashion brands. All the clothes that are not taken will be used to populate campus thrift shortly, “Griffs Thrifts.”
Day 5: We closed the week by holding a campus cleanup and collaborating with our Hamlin Park neighbors this weekend.
We would like to hear from you as part of our Earth Week celebration. How can USA Sustainability Committee and Laudató Si support you in achieving your Earth-friendly goals in the future? Please fill out the form here.
Submitted by: Genevieve Fontana, USA Sustainability President
