SUSTAINABILITY CATS Cambridge (E)
AMNA BLAKE
Sustainability by the Students, for the Students Engaging the college community in making climate-friendly choices and why students are integral to driving forward these changes. The environmental burden of education has increased in the past two years because the pandemic forced us to take actions, such as using personal protective equipment (PPE) and increasing the amount of single-use plastic, for example in lateral flow test device kits (Singh, Tang and Ogunseitan 2020). These measures taken to limit virus transmission were successful in their goal of protecting our staff and students which, naturally, must be a top priority. As an International Boarding School, we have found ourselves going beyond the measures required by the UK Government; it has been the only way we have given some of our markets the confidence to return. This has made us even more conscious of our environmental footprint, therefore it is equally important that we now begin to review what positive steps we can take to offset those environmental costs.
Why the Students Care As part of our International Women’s Day celebration in 2021, it was surprising to see how many students chose Greta Thunberg as their inspirational female. When asked, these students explained that she is of a similar age range to them, and she inspires them to care for the planet to safeguard their own futures, and
the futures of generations to come. Research studies into peer influence demonstrate that students are influenced by each other's ambitious decisions (Rosenqvist 2018). Recognising the importance of positive role models and peer influence, the members of the Student Council set up a Sustainability Committee. Monica, a 16-year-old University Foundation Programme student from Myanmar, created a wave of interest when she delivered a speech to the staff and students. Monica had this to say: “As a young person, I feel strongly about safeguarding our future, which includes doing our part to protect the environment. The UK is one of the world’s leading nations and its environmental and sustainability policies should reflect that. By employing green changes and creating a more sustainable culture at CATS Cambridge, we can further improve this image. Both students and staff have the responsibility to play a part in preserving our planet as it continues to be endangered by climate change, deforestation, pollution, and other human actions. These threats could have devastating, possibly irreversible, effects on Earth; thus, we need to educate ourselves and do what we can for not only us but for our future generations as well.”
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