In an effort to work towards a more sustainable world and Niagara region, Brock University is encouraging anyone interested to participate in the Virtual Clean-up event, co-hosted by Niagara College.

The partnership launched with the inaugural event, which runs until Sunday, Oct. 4, and encourages participants to work in pairs while physically distancing to pick up litter locally. A how-to guide and FAQ will be emailed to those who register.

Participants are asked to record their findings on the data sheet provided upon registration and take photos of what they collect. Once the collection is complete, participants are asked to take a photo of their data card and upload it to the link provided in the event registration package, which reports the amount of waste collected to World Wildlife Fund-Canada (WWF-Canada).

In the same spirit of the Clean-up event, on Friday, Sept. 25, Brock University’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) formalized a second partnership with World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWF-Canada) to provide students with opportunities to create conservation impacts on campus, locally and globally.

The partnership with WWF-Canada will activate the Living Planet @ Campus program at Brock, which will include activities, initiatives and leadership opportunities for students to make a positive impact on nature and conservation.

Participating students can become WWF-Canada Living Planet leaders by completing a self-guided certification throughout their time at Brock, completing sustainability-related actions in the categories of volunteerism, personal application of sustainability, application of sustainability in academics, and leadership and teamwork.

For more than half a century, WWF-Canada has worked to protect the future of nature and is the country’s largest international conservation organization. WWF-Canada’s 2017 Living Planet Report Canada identified that half of monitored wildlife populations are declining, making it evident that Canadian ecosystems are bearing the brunt of unsustainable lifestyles.

The MOU solidifies a growing partnership between the two organizations, one which includes the Partnership for Freshwater Resilience, which was launched in June 2020. Both Brock and WWF-Canada aim to address conservation efforts at the local and global levels to ensure a more sustainable future for all.