All good things come to an end...

earth tube @ erc

I can't believe that 3 months have already passed since I started this blog. 2 more weeks and my internship at the Greater Toronto Chapter is ovah! I'm sad really, to say goodbye to our Vitamin D deficient workspace, our neighbors and friends at Engineering Link and MCW, and most of all, to Lyle & Claudia, who have truly made the internship experience a wonderful learning adventure. July is turning out to be a busy month- we had our Chapter meeting/BBQ at the beautiful Earth Ranger Centre (which I'm sure you're all very familiar with by now- I can't get enough of that place!), and last week held a Green Building Tour of the Enwave plant and the Telus Tower. Lyle also graciously invited us over to his beautiful home in the Beaches, where he and his wife, Sima, cooked up the most delicious pork & apple burgers. Working at the Council has been such a great learning experience, both on a professional and personal level. And, it's given me a better sense of what working life is like in Toronto! I am so deeply grateful for all the support and encouragement from the board, staff, and members, and look forward to staying in touch with everyone. Shout out to Marcus who has been my fellow intern at the Council. Onward & upward, friends!

working in a forest

green roof meets forest meets mcmansions in the background

so there is a lot of claim about how green buildings help improve employee productivity and efficiency, but not a lot of empirical data to back this up- so for my final research paper for the worldGBC internship, i've decided to investigate employee work experience in a LEED-rated green building. after a fantastic initial visit to the Kortright Centre earlier in the summer, i selected the Earth Rangers Centre as the focus of my paper- the site is a truly unique example of a LEED-Gold building in Toronto and situated in the middle of a forest! thanks to John & Andy (woot! a former Schuligan), i had the privilege and pleasure of spending the entire day at ERC and was lucky enough to get access to the all the nitty gritty details of the building, as well as meeting and interviewing a number of staff members.

 

solar arrays in the parking lot

my grill room: where interviews took place