OPIRG McMaster is interested in practical application of great ideas, and supports projects that further OPIRG's goals of creating a better world. Beyond publication...
GREEN ROOF
A research project to impliment/retrofit a green roof on the third floor terrace of the McMaster University Student Centre. As of fall 2010, talks aimed at implimentation continue. Read the draft report, prepared by Andrew Cruickshank here:
ALTERNATIVE WELCOME WEEK
OPIRG had our first "AltWW" in the fall of 2010 - check out the guide for the 2010 events here. Watch for this to become part of the yearly cycle at OPIRG McMaster! Made possible by a YMCA Youth Grant to hire a AltWW coordinator.
RECYCLE CYCLES
- Hamilton's first volunteer-run, community-based bicycle repair workshop started with a proposal to the OPIRG Board of Directors in 1998. The need to have bicycle maintenance and repair skills available to Mac cyclists and community members led to the creation of RECYCLE CYCLES, first as a volunteer working group, now as a self sustaining entity. OPIRG McMaster helped purchase tools and equipment, and initial rent in a church basement (Erskine Presbyterian, 19 Pearl Street North) - RECYCLE CYCLES is still going strong, Saturday mornings 9am to 12 noon, and Tuesday evenings, 6-9pm. More info here.
BATTERY RECYCLING
- Battery Recycling at McMaster began with an engineering student (Jennifer Li) and a need: two years as an opirg working group led the McMaster Battery Recycling Organization to a successful campus-wide policy for battery recycling, with new drop of stations for used batteries. More info here.
TERRACE GARDEN
- OPIRG has been offered an opportunity to grow: plants on the 3rd floor terrace of the Student Centre. A team of volunteers from various working groups, board of directors, Engineers Without Borders, and more are teaming up to green the Terrace. Check out the action on our blog!
PAST PROJECTS
OPIRG NATIVE SPECIES GARDEN - A teaching garden in the Arts Quad courtyard (Now Quarter's patio) featuring low maintenance native species of plants including flowers and shrubs.
OPIRG ORGANIC COMMUNITY GARDEN - Plots were available for urban growers to make their vegetable dreams come true - project displaced by the construction of the MoMac Building.