Go Green Week 2021 created new opportunities with lasting impact and reached a global audience.
A student-led partnership headed by first-year Human Nutrition students and the Students’ Union Sustainability Network, academics, a member of the House of Lords and expert practitioners from America and India, Go Green Week 2021 reached a wider audience and promoted global participation. Events included thought-provoking talks, a climate-inspired dance, an online wildflower seed bomb workshop, and a shopping channel for sustainable local produce with discounts for students.
Here’s a short video summary of the week and below are more details.
Carbon literacy
Having set Net Zero Carbon target by 2030 the university announced its collaboration with the Carbon Literacy Project to deliver carbon literacy training to staff and students and within the wider community, the week featured a series of carbon literacy sessions.
An introduction to climate science and the opportunity to calculate their personal carbon footprints led to honest and insightful conversations between staff, students and members of the wider community about how we can reduce our carbon footprints both individually and as a collective.
Food
Is it better to wrap a cucumber in plastic? According to food science and packaging expert Eric Duncan from Coveris the answer is yes if we don’t want our cucumbers to spoil before we have time to eat them. His informative talk can be accessed here. Learn how we can reduce food packaging without increasing food waste and its associated carbon emissions. Love your Leftovers cook along session delivered by Chartwells Head Chef Julien Altrous where brave students shared their leftovers and Julien talked them through what yummy dishes they could make. Watch and be inspired.
Highlights included a how-to on making compost bins from recyclable materials, a live student cook along session with Chartwells chef Andrew Walker (read more here), and an inspiring talk from Dr. Győző Molnár on how to follow a healthy and balanced plant-based diet.
We launched the Too Good To Go, the mobile app fighting food waste all around the world. Read more about how the university is participating in the global food waste movement through its partnership with Too Good To Go here.
Health and wellbeing
With this year’s Go Green Week taking place during the Covid-19 pandemic, it was important to recognise the serious well-being challenges that many have faced this year due to the lockdown.
To support students living in halls during Covid-19, students ran an online wellness workshop which included ideas on how to combat loneliness and manage stress. From taking regular walks, to practising grounding techniques, this workshop covered several methods for improving mental well-being and was well-received by the many students who attended.
The university also welcomed Rosie Rayner-Law to discuss the EU-funded ‘SU-Eatable Life’ project. In this discussion, Rosie shared insights from the project which aims to reduce the environmental impact related to our food choices by engaging citizens to adopt a healthier and more sustainable diet.
Through communicating the carbon impacts of different meals, Rosie gave participants valuable insights into planning nutritious and environmentally sustainable meals whilst also launching the greenApes website, a platform for rewarding sustainable actions and ideas.
Exercise improves well-being so does being creative. A creative expression of climate issues, as expressed by university dance students in a moving video commissioned especially is available to watch here.
Biodiversity
In recognition of the key role biodiversity plays in social and environmental health, we celebrated the benefits of plants through a student plant giveaway (read more here), as well an online student-led workshop for making wildflower seed bombs.
Organisers also welcomed guest speaker Teresa Fennell from It Doesn’t Have to Cost the Earth Ltd who shared her inspiring journey to starting a purposeful, sustainably-minded consultancy business.
Watch this video to find out more about Go Green Week’s student plant giveaway
Leadership in Sustainability and Climate Justice is key. This inspirational debate on what leadership for sustainability means in Higher Education. Chaired by Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Professor David Green CBE, the debate included panel members Lord Victor Adebowale and Meg Baker from NUS, the university’s very own Meg Price, President of the Student Union and Director of Sustainability at the University of Worcester.
Energy
Energy advice was given out to help reduce costs and carbon. The messages included the best energy is the energy you don’t use so
Switch off standby items
Draught-proof windows and doors
Turn off lights
Be careful with your washing, always wait and do a full load
Avoid the tumble dryer, dry clothes on a line outside
Spend less time in the shower
Swap your bath for a shower
Who doesn’t love a Hedgehog? Not many on campus. We were delighted to share the work being done by the university to keep the campus hedgehog friendly. To find out more about how the university has made its campus hedgehog friendly, and what you can do to help hedgehogs thrive in your local area, take a look at this article.
Reuse and zero waste
Through collaborating with local businesses, we showcased local zero waste businesses including Worcester’s own zero-waste store Pack It In (read more here), and Your Fluffy Fix, a local Etsy store selling reusable fabric products from sandwich wraps to menstrual pads.