A week of events related to green issues, called Reinvest in Our Future Week, was held by the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) last week to generate conversation about environmental issues on SFU campuses.

The events were held in conjunction with SFU 350, Sustainable SFU, SFPIRG, and the Wilderness Committee.

For SFSS VP Finance Adam Potvin, the week was an opportunity to bridge the gap between proponents and opponents of fossil fuel infrastructural expansion. He hoped that with a deeper understanding of the issues, the community could engage in more productive dialogue.

“I’ve always been frustrated at the lack of understanding between the two sides,” explained Potvin. “I felt like there was no real middle ground, and I thought that both sides [the right and the left] were kind of talking past each other.”

He continued, “What I want to see is a more nuanced approach that seeks to combine realising that oil is a necessity [. . .] but at the same time there needs to be an effort to steer our community towards renewable energy.”

The week kicked off with an event titled Visioning our Future on March 23. Students and community members discussed what they wanted to see in our community’s future, both economically and environmentally.

Tessica Truong, environment rep for the SFSS, was particularly impressed by the dialogue at this event. “At first the tone of the conversation was a bit pessimistic [. . .] but soon it moved to [defining] what SFU’s role could be, not just as a research institution but a hub of innovation,” she explained.

Later in the week, community members and SFU students gathered in the Maggie Benston Centre to discuss issues related to the proposed Kinder Morgan Pipeline expansion through Burnaby Mountain. For Potvin, this event was what he had been looking forward to most.

“The Kinder Morgan dialogue is probably the marquee event in my mind,” he said. “I think just because it’s so applicable to SFU and the SFSS.”

Some of the topics on the table included how to engage SFU students in the SFSS submission to the National Energy Board (NEB), environmental concerns, and the NEB consultation process. Terry Waterhouse, SFU’s chief safety officer, was also present to discuss concerns around the tanker farm at the bottom of Burnaby Mountain, among other things.

The week of events culminated in a panel discussion on Thursday afternoon where students and staff discussed The Role of the University in Society: Divestment as a Case Study, and a talk on Friday called “How does climate change impact my health?”

Students in the Divest SFU movement have been pushing the university over the past several years to shift its investments from fossil fuel companies to other, more sustainable sectors.

To keep an open dialogue on these issues, Potvin explained that organizers wanted to brand the event as a “Reinvest” rather than “Divest” conversation: “We’ve kind of wanted to focus more on the proactive side of things. Rather than the whole, ‘Rah rah down with oil,’ it’s more ‘Rah rah let’s look at renewable energy.’”

Truong commented on the overall intent of the events: “I think what will emerge from the conversations is what students want. What are they concerned about. And I think those will definitely be included within our submission [to the NEB this September].”

Last week was ME Week at SFU, bringing free food, puppy time, and wellness workshops to students on the university’s different campuses.

The initiative was held from March 23 to 26 and aimed to promote mental health awareness. SFU’s Hi F.I.V.E. club collaborated with the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) and Health and Counselling Services to bring a variety of mental health-oriented activities to the SFU community.

Hi F.I.V.E. is a movement that originated at SFU and has since spread to campuses across North America, which “aims to eliminate stigma towards those who are experiencing mental health distress or illness.”

Erika Horwitz, Associate Director of Counselling, summarized the goal of Hi F.I.V.E.: “We want people to stop thinking of ‘them’ and ‘us;’ the ‘mentally ill’ and ‘us.’ To really understand that just like you have physical health and you may get sick with the flu or a virus, it’s the same with mental health.

“You can be doing great at one point and not so great at another.”

Jennifer Hoffmeister, a Hi F.I.V.E. organizer, spoke to The Peak about how she hopes the week’s events can help to reduce stigma around mental health issues. “A lot of it is awareness,” she said. “We kind of don’t perceive mental health as something we need to talk about.”

Hoffmeister hoped that events during the week might help spread the word about mental health issues on campus, as well as the resources available to students.

However, she pointed out that stigma is a barrier to receiving care. “People shouldn’t be afraid to talk about it,” she said. “You can’t get help if you’re not going to talk about it.”

On Monday, Hi F.I.V.E. set up tables in the Southeast AQ to promote the event and distribute information about the various services offered by Health and Counselling, the Canadian Mental Health Association, and the BC Psychological Association. Tuesday saw a pancake breakfast that had a turnout of over 1000 students.

Hoffmeister said with a chuckle, “I think we spent almost [one and a half] to two hours flipping pancakes and serving pancakes.”

On Wednesday, professionals gave massages to stressed-out students and a drop-in yoga session was offered. In Saywell Hall on Thursday, students played with puppies brought in by Health and Counselling Services staff.

A highlight of the week was Thursday’s Careers Night in Mental Health event. The event gathered six professionals working in mental health fields to speak about their own careers as well as respond to students’ questions and concerns about mental health on campus.

The organizers for ME Week were enthusiastic about how the event was received by the student community. “It kind of opens up the opportunity to talk to students about [Hi F.I.V.E. and Mental Health],” said Hoffmeister. “We actually have the opportunity to speak with them about something that, if we just walked up, they might not be normally as receptive to.”

They also noted that turnout for careers night was triple what they had last year for the same event.

Friday was proclaimed a “Day of Kindness” at SFU, culminating in a Kindness Party in Convocation Mall. Horwitz noted, “There is very good research that has found that kindness and compassion is very good for mental health, for the person giving and the person receiving.” Hi F.I.V.E. handed out coffee and cookies, inviting students to “pay it forward.”

Horwitz summed up the day’s intent: “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”