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STUDENTS STILL WAITING FOR HEALTH FOOD TIPS

By Amy Sharaf

Street meat will just have to do.

A promised list of healthy places to eat may not be available to students anytime soon as RSU execs and board reps juggle busy schedules, classes and an upcoming election. The list was supposed to be compiled by health and safety committee members as part of the RSU’s environmental sustainability pledge announced last August.

But it has been delayed because of the departure of a grad student who proposed the list, and hectic schedules, said vice-president education and health and safety committee member Nora Loreto. “Stuff hasn’t been happening as quick as we have wanted it to. From where I am right now… the group hasn’t been very active,” Loreto said, adding the list could still be compiled.

“To say it won’t happen is not accurate because there’s no reason it should die. It’s just a question of finding the resources and fitting this into our schedule.” But fourth-year Industrial Engineering student Abdullah Abuomar is not impressed.

“It’s a broken promise, I’m a bit disappointed,” the 24-year-old said.

“It’s us who put them in office so they should do what they said they would do in the beginning.”

Other parts of the pledge have been more successful, Loreto said, including the university’s “adoption” of a garbage bin at Gould and Bond streets and new garbage and recycling units. Ryerson President Sheldon Levy said that the state of the university and the environment are important factors to be debated in the community. “I think you couldn’t do a master plan in Toronto in 2006 without taking into account the environment,” he said.

“Will there be discussion? Absolutely. There is a large influence for the community in the master plan.”

Loreto said a lot of the health and safety committee’s work has been taken over by the university, including replacing Styrofoam and plastic cafeteria containers with biodegradable ones — corn and sugar-based products that “will put Ryerson on the map,” Loreto said.

Despite the scheduling problems, she urges students to get involved in making Ryerson a few shades greener. “We’re hoping to expand the group to external members of the board so any student that’s interested in sustainability can get involved,” Loreto said.

“(The committee) has been in a state of transition all year although anyone … should get the idea that we absolutely have more than enough space for students who are interested in environmental issues to come out and help.”

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