Goldlink 50

Issue 50 / 2020

THE GREEN ISSUE

I believe in the critical importance of sustainability, and with the impact of the climate crisis becoming ever more visible it’s right that this is the theme of the 50th issue of Goldlink — and my first as Warden. We started work on this publication before major disruption was ushered in by Covid-19, and have retained most of the original content, as we would like to share the important contributions of our community to environmental sustainability.

However, I want to acknowledge the seismic shifts that have taken place the world over in recent months; my thoughts and good wishes go out to alumni and friends of Goldsmiths who will have felt the impact of Covid-19 in many different ways.

In this edition we’re sharing some of the ways that the College has committed to sustainable practice, and the inspiring work that Goldsmiths alumni, staff and students are doing to raise awareness of — and address — climate change. Our alumni care passionately about the future of the environment, and have been forces for positive change in various ways, whether by tackling food waste and fast fashion, engaging with policy and education initiatives, or holding governments and big business to account.

The desire to fight for a brighter future is nurtured at Goldsmiths, a place where everyone is encouraged to engage with the world around them. This plays out very literally at the Goldsmiths allotment, a space on campus where students and staff are able to connect to nature — and each other — through gardening, and in doing so reap various rewards. Students themselves are shaping debates around the environment, and mobilising groups across the institution and beyond.

Now is a critical time where environmental sustainability is concerned, but I firmly believe that Goldsmiths — and our talented and inspiring community — is well placed to address some of the challenges facing us all.

Professor Frances Corner OBE, Warden Goldsmiths, University of London

Cover illustration: Alva Skog Right: Professor Frances Corner © Ben Queenborough

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Contents

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News 02 Enterprise hub transformations begin 02 One of the UK’s most vegan-friendly universities 04 Carbon neutral by 2025 05 New art and ecology Masters 06 Covid-19 response 07 Editors’ picks

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Environment agency Feature

Alumni achievements Spotlight

Sustainable traditions Showcase

Nature nurture Feature

Shah Hydar A day in the life

25 Grassroots Feature

30 Around the world in 7 days Opportunities

32 Take action. Go electronic Announcement

Contact Development & Alumni Office Goldsmiths, University of London New Cross, London SE14 6NW alumni@gold.ac.uk +44 (0)20 7896 2619 Update your contact preferences explore.gold/2020update Give to Goldsmiths gold.ac.uk/giving-to-goldsmiths

Facebook @GoldsmithsAlumni

Blog goldlink-online.com

Contributions may be submitted for consideration by email. We reserve the right to edit articles in the interest of brevity and clarity. The opinions expressed in the magazine are those of the writers concerned and not necessarily of Goldsmiths.

Editors Minh Lam, Jennifer New

Goldlink is printed on paper accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Twitter @GoldAlumni

Design Spy Studio

News

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ENTERPRISE HUB TRANSFORMATIONS BEGIN Goldsmiths has started to redevelop a row of shops on New Cross Road into a space to help support freelancers, small local businesses and social enterprises.

The new Enterprise Hub will offer flexible and collaborative workspace as well as business advice, workshops and networking events for Goldsmiths alumni, students and the local community. There will be a particular focus on encouraging female entrepreneurs and those from BME backgrounds.

Several buildings on New Cross Road will provide over 619 square metres of space for enterprise activities, alongside a new café and garden. The plans include building a lift for the Hub that will also serve Deptford Town Hall Building — making spaces like the Constance Howard Gallery and the Council Chamber fully accessible for the first time. The project is also being carried out on a green basis, with the aim of achieving BREEAM accreditation: the world’s leading sustainability assessment method.

The intention is that, by linking local businesses and social enterprises with Goldsmiths expertise, the Hub will lead to the creation of more than 80 jobs.

Anthony Crowther, Enterprise Hub Manager, said: “At every stage of the process we have thought carefully about how the Hub can benefit everyone from independent local businesses looking to grow, to alumni and students looking to go freelance or start a social enterprise.

“We will be working with local entrepreneurs and businesses to see how Goldsmiths expertise can help them develop their ideas. Through the combination of this new space and new services we aim to give our community a focal point for innovation.”

Goldsmiths has been working closely with the current users of the space, café Out of the Brew and costume shop Prangsta, offering financial support and help with finding potential alternative premises. Out of the Brew has been invited back to run the Hub’s new café.

The Enterprise Hub is due to open in 2021, with the exact timetable dependent on the impact of Covid-19.

You can find out more about how to get involved with the Enterprise Hub at gold.ac.uk/business/enterprise-hub

ONE OF THE UK’S MOST VEGAN-FRIENDLY UNIVERSITIES Goldsmiths has been named one of the UK’s most veganfriendly universities by leading animal rights charity, PETA. The organisation compiled a list of the top 20 UK institutions that best support students looking for compassionate, ecofriendly food options. The accolade comes after Goldsmiths recently pledged various environmental commitments in response to the climate emergency [page 4].

PETA said: “Goldsmiths earned a spot on the list thanks to its decision to ban beef from its menus — inspiring other universities across the country to replace meat dishes with vegan options — and offer more vegan-friendly meals. The Refectory, the Students’ Union Café, and other food outlets around the university’s campus now offer more plant-based options to satisfy all tastes.”

According to The Vegan Society, the number of vegans in the UK quadrupled from 2014 to 2018, and the Goldsmiths Catering Team has found that requests for eco-friendly

food options have been rising substantially. “Our students and staff know that their lifestyle decisions have an impact on the world around them, and we want to support these choices,” explained Vanessa Gouws, Head of Commercial Services. “Our ambition is for the university to be carbon neutral by 2025.”

This academic year has also seen Goldsmiths open its first café dedicated to serving plant-based dishes. The Professor Stuart Hall Building Café, Peak Street, now offers a full vegetarian range developed by Executive Chef, Andrew Walker. “Food can play such an important part in helping build communities,” he said. “Sharing a meal is an incredibly important part of the day, and the new offering gives people the chance to sit down and enjoy wholesome food together.”

Other outlets on campus will continue to serve fish and meat-based dishes, with beef the only animal protein removed from menus.

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Architect image of the Enterprise Hub

News

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CARBON NEUTRAL BY 2025

Professor Frances Corner with allotment coordinator Dr Ros Gray

In her first week as Warden, Professor Frances Corner pledged action on the climate emergency by announcing that Goldsmiths will become a carbon neutral organisation by 2025.

This ambitious commitment was underpinned by a series of measures to cut carbon use across the institution, the first of which was achieved in time for the start of the 201920 academic year: removing all beef products from sale in campus food outlets.

Goldsmiths has also introduced an additional 10 pence levy on bottled water to discourage the purchase of singleuse plastic, and switched to a green energy supplier, which means that all electricity used on campus comes from 100% renewable sources (such as windfarms and solar panels).

Additional actions will include: • Installing significantly more solar panels across the campus • Continuing investment in the allotment, and identifying other areas where planting could help absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere • Reviewing curriculum options to ensure that students have the opportunity to learn more about climate change, and the role that individuals and organisations can play in reducing their carbon footprint

These commitments were announced following a campaign

by Goldsmiths University and College Union (UCU) and the Goldsmiths Students’ Union to adopt and implement a Green New Deal for immediate emissions reductions.

Professor Corner said: “The growing global call for organisations to take seriously their responsibilities for halting climate change is impossible to ignore. Goldsmiths colleagues and students care passionately about the future of our environment and they are determined to help deliver the step change we need to cut our carbon footprint drastically, and as quickly as possible.

“Declaring a climate emergency cannot be empty words.

I truly believe we face a defining moment in global history and Goldsmiths now stands shoulder to shoulder with other organisations willing to call the alarm and take urgent action to cut carbon use.”

The latest available figures show that Goldsmiths emits around 3.7m kg of carbon emissions each year (HESA 2017/18) — an amount that has reduced by almost 10% over the past three years.

An action plan is now being developed in consultation with Goldsmiths colleagues and the Students’ Union, to ensure that the goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2025 is met.

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NEW ART AND ECOLOGY MASTERS

Degree show work from Emily Murayama, who graduated from the Department of Art last year

How can art engage with the most pressing ecological issues of our time? That’s a question being posed by a new Masters in Art and Ecology at Goldsmiths, being developed by the world-class Department of Art. From climate change to pollution, and biodiversity loss to food production, the aim of the programme is to provide artists with the space and expertise to make meaningful interventions on a range of topics that matter right now.

“We have an amazing cohort of colleagues and research students who are working in this expanded field of art and ecology, not to mention the whole Critical Ecologies research stream [page 21],” explained Dr Ros Gray, who has been developing the programme with colleagues. “Their artistic explorations are so different from the kinds of approaches that scientists, for example, might bring to ecological debates. This provided the inspiration for the new MA. There are already a small number of specialist postgraduate courses that are about art and the environment, or art and nature. One of the distinctive features of the Masters at Goldsmiths is that it’s a unique opportunity to consider the urban ecology of London.”

It’s hoped that this will provide students with the opportunity to engage with local spaces and communities — from rewilding projects and community gardens to urban

nature reserves — as well as national and international settings and organisations, such as seedbanks, scientific laboratories, or ecologically significant sites.

The Masters will be grounded in studio practice underpinned by regular feedback, with students developing a primary extended project over the course of the 15-month programme. This will be supported by relevant site visits, and the development of a project journal where they’ll be encouraged to document their practice and research.

Students will also explore a substantial curriculum covering areas like ecological theory, the history of environmental movements, and the ethics and politics of operating in particular environments.

Ros hopes that the programme will encourage students to contribute to wider ecological discourses outside of Goldsmiths. “Artists often play a really important role in environmental activism. We want students to be going out into the world really prepared for the kinds of sensitive approaches and negotiations needed to realise projects that have a positive impact on the environments and communities around them.”

The new MA Art and Ecology will be recruiting students for 2021 entry. Find out more at gold.ac.uk/art

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News

COVID-19 RESPONSE

Aerial view of the Goldsmiths campus

While nearly all of our campus has been closed as a result of Covid-19 ­— with students and staff moving away from New Cross for the first time since the Second World War — Goldsmiths is still very much operational.

Our number one priority is to provide the best possible support for our community as we navigate our way through these unprecedented times.

Our early actions included moving to online learning and working, and ensuring that remote provision of services like counselling and wellbeing, information technology and services, careers and the Library were all in place.

The steps we’re taking are under constant review: a Critical Incident Group of senior managers has been meeting regularly since January to monitor the measures we have put in place for students and staff.

With teaching and learning moving online, we are making sure that the experience remains excellent and that students are meeting the learning outcomes of their programmes.

We’re also making a number of changes to our assessments and examinations, including changing our rules around extenuating circumstances so that students can self-certify that their ability to study has been impacted.

Our student support teams are working remotely and are available seven days a week via email, phone, Skype or instant messenger.

Goldsmiths has fast-tracked applications to its student hardship fund (which many alumni support through donation) to provide financial assistance for travel. We are also helping hundreds of students access online learning by offering grants to buy and keep laptops and get up to six months of broadband internet.

For those students in halls of residence we are offering a range of support — including through our very own Covid-19 heroes. These are cleaning and security colleagues who remain on campus to support those in halls of residence and keep our estate safe and secure until guidance says the campus can reopen. All public health measures are being taken to protect the small number of staff still working in New Cross.

To support our alumni community, the Alumni Team is working remotely providing the usual range of services.

You can stay up to date with the College’s response to Covid-19 by visiting gold.ac.uk/staff-students/info/coronavirus

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EDITORS’ PICKS 1

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Goldsmiths’ home borough of Lewisham is celebrating being named London Borough of Culture. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced the title win in February, awarding Lewisham £1.25m to fund an arts programme that will celebrate diversity and bring Londoners together. Lewisham’s year as London Borough of Culture was originally going to be 2021, but this has now been moved to 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Submitted under the name ‘Cultural Activism’, Lewisham’s winning bid focused on inspiring local people to act on the climate crisis, while also recognising the borough’s youth, diversity, and the need to tackle inequality. Goldsmiths was a key partner in the successful bid, and proposed a series of activities to commemorate historically significant events in the borough’s recent past.

Alumni Antony Gormley, Gillian Wearing, Sarah Lucas and Mark Wallinger, along with other notable UK artists, have launched an activity pack full of creative ideas for the Covid-19 lockdown. ‘Art is where the home is’ features a series of art activities to do within the home, with the aim of helping families stay creative during this difficult time. The activities are for everyone and are designed to be fun, educational, and bring people together through art and imagination.

You can download the pack for free at firstsite.uk/art-is-where-the-home-is

Art alumnus and activist Mark Neville’s photobook, ‘Parade’, has been nominated for the Deutsche Börse 2020. The publication explores a community in Brittany, France known for its farming, and sheds light on the difficulties the community faces.

However, it’s not just an issue confined to Brittany. Farmers everywhere are under a huge amount of stress and economic pressure due to globalisation, urban development, and environmental factors such as climate change. His follow-up publication ‘Parade (text)’, which will be distributed to policy makers, calls for changes to land policy to address these issues.

3 Director of Forensic Architecture, Professor Eyal Weizman, was due to attend the opening of an exhibition in Miami in February. However, he was informed by US authorities that his visa had been revoked, and was later told at the US Embassy in London that this decision was because an algorithm had identified an unspecified security threat related to him. Professor Weizman said: “I was asked to supply the Embassy with additional information, including 15 years of travel history, in particular where I had gone and who had paid for it… Working in human rights means being in contact with vulnerable communities, activists and experts, and being entrusted with sensitive information. These networks are the lifeline of any investigative work.

I am alarmed that relations among our colleagues, stakeholders, and staff are being targeted by the US government as security threats.”

5 During the Budget 2020, the government announced that the tampon tax is finally set to be abolished. Laura Coryton began campaigning against the tax in 2014 when she was studying for a degree in the Department of Politics and International Relations. She said: “All 320,000 people who signed my petition, as well as the many generations who have campaigned against this tax, have finally been listened to.” The 5% tax rate on sanitary products will stop when the transition period for the UK leaving the EU ends.

Keep in touch by email to stay updated on all of the alumni, student and staff news coming out of Goldsmiths: gold.ac.uk/alumni

T N E M N O R I V EN N E G A ny n take ma a c t n e m on he r the envir s alumni around t o f g in t h Fig e ith d Goldsm e in areas as divers n a , s e is u g nc d g a differe ation, foo c in u k d a e  m d e n r a world a n research nd climate change io t u ll o p s a ashion, a f l out how a d ic n h t fi e d , y n a it , il sustainab . Read their stories involved. t e g n a  c m u yo journalis

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Feature

SALLY EARTHROWL Sally Earthrowl is the Mission Leader for eXXpedition, a UKbased Community Interest Company that runs all-female sailing voyages carrying out scientific research into plastic pollution, and educating about the issue and its solutions. Prior to this, Sally had a 12-year teaching career, which started at Goldsmiths where she studied a PGCE in Secondary Geography.

Twelve years after my PGCE, I joined an eXXpedition voyage.

As we slipped the mooring lines in Hawaii, I was full of fear and anticipation at the thought of being offshore for almost three weeks, and curious about what we might find. The route was taking us through the North Pacific Gyre (an ocean plastic accumulation zone known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch).

In such a remote location, I was shocked to see identifiable pieces floating past the boat (bottles, bags, and even a toilet seat). The most confronting aspects were the thousands of pieces of microplastics we were collecting in our trawl samples. Microplastics are less than 5mm in length and are often from larger items that have degraded and broken down.

These pieces are almost impossible to clean up and have permeated every part of our environment.

My PGCE and teaching experience have helped me to embody my role as Mission Leader — educating people around the world about the beauty and importance of our planet, and advocating for a shift in behaviour around our use and management of plastic. Leading our team on board is an accumulation of life experiences, built on the foundations from my course.

Before joining eXXpedition, I had been teaching geography and had covered environmental degradation as a key part of the syllabus, but I became acutely aware of the issue of waste management when I moved to teach in Bali, Indonesia. I was living in a geographer’s paradise. Out of my classroom window you could see the sea. In the distance, I had an arch and stack off the coast of Nusa Penida and, in the other direction, an active stratovolcano. But next to these geographical marvels were piles of rubbish on street corners, in rivers and scattered across beaches.

I had always taken great pride in the variety of pedagogy I used to develop students’ understanding and inspire them to care about the planet. As part of my PGCE, I focused on experiential and active learning. Creating opportunities outside was key for students to view the world through a ‘geographical lens’, build their understanding of how the world works, and explore our role in environmental challenges. Facilitating beach-cleaning initiatives was the first step in developing students’ awareness of plastic pollution. Sadly, every time we returned to the beach, the litter had returned as well.

Students very quickly recognised that upstream solutions were needed to ‘stem the flow’. We began a mission to become a single-use-plastic-free school. No small undertaking on an island with a challenging waste infrastructure! But we (for the most part) achieved this. Now the school has gone on to have sustainability as a key part of its daily practice.

I was motivated by the passionate and multi-skilled students tackling an issue they cared about. We each have our unique skill set (or superpower, if you like!), and it is where these skills intersect with solutions to an environmental issue that there is the biggest opportunity to make a difference. This is also a key part of eXXpedition. Having multidisciplinary crews on board allows us to develop a broader understanding of environmental issues and solutions from a variety of different perspectives, leading to a rich learning environment and an empowering experience. eXXpedition is currently sailing ‘Round the World’, visiting the remaining four of the five sub-tropical oceanic gyres and the Arctic. The aim is to gather robust and comparative data sets for analysis in collaboration with our science partners at the University of Plymouth, UK and University of Georgia, USA. The global circumnavigation is split into 30 voyage legs.

In total, 300 women from different backgrounds and with different expertise will experience the issue first-hand, learn more about the science behind it, and develop solutions to enable each individual to affect change.

But what can you do about this? It was only recently that we shifted our lifestyles to become more ‘convenient’ with single-use plastic items. Everyone can start by beginning to cut these out one at a time, until we build new — more sustainable — habits. If you’re really passionate, acknowledge your own unique skill set and think about where that intersects with the issue you are passionate about. It is here that you will have the biggest opportunity to make a real difference. exxpedition.com Twitter: @eXXpedition | @planetearthrowl Instagram: @eXXpedition_ | @planetearthrowl

p8–9: Surface sampling.

A manta trawl is used to collect microplastics from the surface of the ocean; a fine mesh net catches the sample © eXXpedition | Eleanor Church, Lark Rise Pictures Far left: Sally on board © eXXpedition | Sophie Bolesworth Left: Sieving the microplastics © eXXpedition

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DAISY TAM Daisy Tam completed her PhD in Cultural Studies in 2009, and is now Assistant Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University where she teaches and researches urban food systems and practices.

After witnessing first-hand the amount of food waste in cities, she founded Breadline — a crowd-sourcing app that enables volunteers to collect surplus food and redistribute it to charities and those in need. In doing so she has helped improve food sustainability at city scale, and has been branded an eco hero for her efforts.

My work has always been related to food. To me, eating well is fundamental to the wellbeing of individuals and society: failing on this front has started revolutions and caused regime changes — all because people were hungry! When I started my research on urban food security, not many saw the need or merit in pursuing the topic — after all, Hong Kong is a wealthy and abundant city, and hunger seems to be a distant issue. A lot has changed in the past decade, with growing international research shedding light on the underbelly of rich, cosmopolitan cities, where excess and need exist alongside each other.

Hong Kong exemplifies the challenges of urbanisation: the city imports 95% of its food, and throws away 3,600 tonnes a day, while 20% of its population falls below the poverty line.

This is simply not a sustainable way of managing cities, where more than half of the world’s population reside. Channelling surpluses to where they could be utilised seemed to be the obvious first step.

I started my fieldwork with food rescue non-profits — from collecting leftover buns to weighing baskets of vegetables; from cooking with surplus food to delivering soup packages for the elderly; from interviewing charities to organising their databases (which in one case was a box of scrap paper). In doing this, I learnt the what, where, how of surplus food collection.

I then realised that food rescue is a logistical nightmare.

Different food types have different safety requirements, and even low risk items such as bread require a collection approach that can adapt very quickly to the fluctuating volumes of supplies spread across the city. This became the challenge that led to Breadline. I worked with data scientists and programmers, geographers and architects, designers and developers to come up with the ideas and design, and I finally had the opportunity to build the MVP (minimum viable product) when I won the Fulbright Senior Scholar Award and spent six months at the

Urban Risk Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

I also subsequently won a Nesta Collective Intelligence Grant, so I had the resources to develop the platform.

Breadline is a web application that connects volunteers directly with donors and NGOs. It shares real-time data and enables volunteers to react in an agile manner to the situation on the ground. This decentralised system has proven to be four times more volunteer-efficient, and has allowed NGOs to increase their donor base by 150%. Despite the disruptions in the city over the past year, Breadline has saved 4,000 loaves of bread with the help of 85 volunteers.

My time at Goldsmiths was formative in so many ways.

I was surrounded by teachers and friends who were not only intellectually curious and committed, but also driven by a sense of social justice. The drive to build a more inclusive, just and diverse society also became mine as I engaged in these projects.

I remember my supervisor also strongly encouraged me to take on fieldwork, and whether it was selling apples in Borough Market, or collecting leftover buns in Hong Kong, these were the moments where I learnt about the ecologies of every environment. This is especially useful while working with technology — every tech is social, so understanding the dynamics of people who use technology is key.

If I had some advice to give, it would be: don’t be limited by your own discipline. No single discipline will have the answers to all the questions. Collaborate, partner and work with others — no one knows everything, but everyone knows something. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, then that’s where you should build — whether that’s a new field of study, a new methodology, or a new platform. hkfoodworks.com/topics/breadline

“MY TIME AT GOLDSMITHS WAS FORMATIVE IN SO MANY WAYS: I WAS SURROUNDED BY TEACHERS AND FRIENDS WHO WERE DRIVEN

BY A SENSE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE”

Above: The Breadline app enables volunteers to collect surplus food and redistribute it to charities and those in need

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Feature

SARAH FEWELL Sarah Fewell graduated from the BA Politics degree in 2018.

Midway through her degree she founded Identity Party — a shop that sells a curated collection of second-hand vintage clothes on mobile marketplace Depop. Since its creation in 2017, Identity Party has gained an audience of 80,000 followers, and Sarah is one of Depop’s top sellers. Through founding an ethical fashion store, she is contributing to a move away from fast fashion, and in doing so is forging change among mainstream retailers, who are starting to adopt more environmental practices in their businesses.

Identity Party was my job throughout university, and after graduating it became my full-time career. The artistic roots and atmosphere of Goldsmiths, as well as the student body’s strong activist identity, were two aspects that first inspired me.

Studying politics while interning for fashion brands realised my ambition to marry such interests, and to do something creative with an ethical focus.

My interest in fashion focuses on not just the way trends and styles reflect the individual’s tastes and personality, but also the wider cultural and social context. Fashion is wearable art, and sourcing unique items is the perfect way to exhibit this. My business cards are inscribed with ‘be part of the change, buy clothes with a history and an identity’, which is where the name Identity Party stems from.

While fashion is an exciting industry that produces pieces of art often reflective of social and cultural trends, it is undeniably harmful for the planet, to the extent that it is currently the second largest polluting industry in the world.

I’ve always wanted to do something big that will have an impact, and I’m so proud to have created a business in the growing second-hand fashion sector, which is fundamentally overhauling the way we shop. Industry reports have indicated that by 2028 the second-hand industry could have overtaken fast fashion [thredUP Resale Report 2019]. Every time a new customer buys an item from me, it further drives the change by promoting the positive effects of buying second hand. As the popularity of second-hand clothing grows through the support of a grassroots consumer base, mainstream fashion retailers are showing signs of adopting more ethical practices, such as using eco-friendly fabrics and packaging materials, or favouring retro styles as opposed to constantly reproducing microtrends to appeal to the mass market.

Being a part of a growing movement of ethically conscious fashion consumption is incredibly exciting. When the average item of clothing is worn only seven times, and 30% of the clothes in our wardrobes are unworn, the resale market is instrumental in cutting down on textile waste. Beyond the positive practical elements, nothing is more satisfying than matching an unloved item on eBay or at a jumble sale with someone who will love it again. My business is all about enacting such change within the industry — adopting the ease and accessibility of online fast fashion, while ditching the poor quality, the large amounts of waste, and the unethical labour practices. The social stigma that used to be attached to buying second hand is slowly fading, and I hope that having a business that offers unique items styled in a current and dynamic way, readily available online, will only add to this.

In three years I’ve sold over 6,000 items to customers all across the world — a lot of whom come back month after month to find new pieces they love. I’ve used social media to build a community around this, and love seeing photos of my customers wearing the items and styling them in their own way, giving old and forgotten garments a new life. My business cards feature statistics about the impact of fast fashion on the environment, and by including these with orders I hope to remind my growing customer base of the positive impact buying second hand can have on the planet.

Identity Party captured the attention of the Guardian, who featured me and my shop on the front cover of their February 19 2019 issue. The corresponding article, entitled ‘Don’t feed the monster!’, got over a quarter of a million views online within the first 24 hours, and explored the manner in which ‘professionalising my love of vintage through relentless buying and selling’ enabled me to push the message of sustainability.

As a result, shopping second hand is widely losing its niche status and my shop has become a platform through which the benefits of shopping sustainably can be promoted, influencing consumers while providing them with a more ethical way to shop. depop.com/identityparty Instagram: @identitypartyshop

Above: Sarah Fewell Left: Identity Party business cards feature statistics about the impact of fast fashion on the environment

Left: An illustration accompanying the Unearthed undercover investigation into the Institute of Economic Affairs, which was offering ministerial access and the ability to influence Brexit negotiations to American agricultural interests that wanted to lower environmental standards; illustration courtesy of Georgie Johnson, Unearthed

ZACH BOREN Zach Boren completed his BA English and American Literature degree in 2012. For the past few years he has been an environmental journalist, most recently as part of a team of investigative reporters at Greenpeace’s pioneering NGO journalism project, Unearthed — an editorially independent platform that’s dedicated to open and accurate reporting on energy and climate change.

Though the urgency of the global climate crisis is widely accepted, so too is the understanding that not nearly enough is being done. Why is that? Here’s one idea: the industries that would have to clean up or shut down — oil, gas, coal, to name a few — are engaged in a vast influence campaign to ensure they can continue plundering the earth’s resources and pumping their waste into the atmosphere. So Greenpeace, one of the loudest and most important voices on environmental issues, has created a new independent journalism outfit called Unearthed, tasked with exposing fossil fuel manoeuvres and holding the government to account.

I joined the project at its outset, when its future — let alone its success — was far from assured. The model of NGO funding, editorial independence and mainstream media partnerships was a controversial concept of how investigative journalism could survive in the cash-strapped internet era.

But we’ve made it work. We went undercover in the corridors of Westminster to reveal shadow Brexit negotiations involving big business, and we discovered where Europe’s recycling was really ending up: a trash island in south-east Asia. I myself have brought to light four (arguably five) secret government reports.

The reports, which I published with the Telegraph, The Times, and the BBC, have undermined the government’s case for fracking, revealed the details of a proposed post-Brexit trade agreement with India, and detailed the presence of toxic chemicals and microplastics in the food chain. Getting these reports is by no means the only — or even the main — thing I do at work, but it’s a fun niche. It can require creative thinking, engaging with insiders, using legal loopholes, and even suing the government itself (which I did in 2019, and won).

Other projects I’m pretty proud of include an investigation that showed that a government-backed taskforce had tried to weaken building and fire safety regulations just before the Grenfell Tower fire: it was cited in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. And unravelling chemical giant Monsanto’s ‘grassroots farmers’ campaign across Europe to lobby for its controversial glyphosate pesticide. But I don’t mean

this to become a laundry list of stories I enjoyed working on or that were successful. This is to show that there’s space in environmental reporting for creativity — from our investigations to, for example, the analysis and graphics of fact-checking organisation Carbon Brief. In fact it’s essential in communicating the scale of the crisis at hand, and ensuring that governments and businesses make the requisite effort.

Not only am I convinced of my journalism’s righteousness, but Greenpeace has been a great place to work. It feels like the perfect halfway house between my Goldsmiths experience, where I studied English Lit and was involved in the Occupy movement, and my journalism Masters at City University, where they train you to report for the UK’s (almost exclusively right-wing) newspapers. If it were not for my years at Goldsmiths, I may not have been so bold as to make my first real journalism job an experiment of this nature. In this way I would advise fellow grads to follow their intuition: if something feels right, why not give it go?

“ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING CAN REQUIRE CREATIVE THINKING, ENGAGING WITH INSIDERS, USING LEGAL LOOPHOLES, AND EVEN SUING THE GOVERNMENT ITSELF” And, seeing as this is Goldlink’s green issue, I’m going to give a couple of tips on how to fight for the environment. One: subscribe to Unearthed’s email newsletter — the weekly version at least — to stay on top of important developments at a time when greenwash and the corporate smokescreen is as effective as ever. And two: pick an issue — and the environment is vast, from palm oil deforestation to pesticides killing all the bees — and become an expert. Once you know what you’re talking about, your advocacy is better, your solutions are sharper, and your utility to the movement at large is greater ○ unearthed.greenpeace.org Twitter: @UE

SPOT LIGHT Alumni achievements

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15 Goldsmiths alumni make a positive impact on society, inspiring passion and creativity. They include leaders in the creative industries, pioneers in teaching and social work, and renowned artists, musicians and filmmakers.

They are recognised for their work in every imaginable field, and throughout the year win awards, receive nominations, and are selected for prestigious positions. Here are some of their recent achievements: Anthropology Catriona Worthington Honour: MBE for services to children and young people in South East London Art Adam Christensen Award: Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists Sir Steve McQueen CBE Honour: Knighthood for services to art and film Mark Neville Nomination: Deutsche Börse Rehana Zaman Shortlist: Film London Jarman Award Educational Studies

English and Comparative Literature Anthony Joseph Award: Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellow 2019/20 Aileen Maguire Award: Pat Kavanagh Prize Emily Eavis Award: NME’s Godlike Genius Award for services to music Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Lindsey Dryden Award: News and Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Documentary Music James Blake Nomination: Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album Errollyn Wallen CBE Honour: CBE for services to music Visual Cultures Lawrence Abu Hamdan Award: Turner Prize Beatrice Gibson Shortlist: Film London Jarman Award

Raymond Antrobus Award: Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award Anna Dempsey Award: Costa Short Story Award

Right: © Jennie Scott

Bernardine Evaristo MBE PhD Creative Writing, 2013 Award: Booker Prize Bernardine Evaristo, Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London, won the Booker Prize 2019 for her eighth book, ‘Girl, Woman, Other’, a ‘fusion fiction’. It was the second best-selling literary novel in 2019, a Barack Obama ‘Top 19 Book of 2019’, topped ‘Book of the Year’ lists in the UK and USA, and is currently nominated for several other prizes including The Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020.

She is the author of many other awardwinning books of fiction, verse fiction and other genres. Bernardine is also a longstanding arts activist who sets up inclusion projects. She is Vice Chair of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded an MBE in 2009.

Showcase

SUSTAINABLE TRADITIONS “I wanted to understand the lengths that people will go to, to carry on with ‘life’.” That’s what prompted first-year BA Design student Nicholas Bennett’s ‘Sustainable Traditions’ project, which recently won # CreateCOP25 — a contest for young creatives to submit artistic responses to the climate emergency.

Nicholas’s winning entry comprises a formal suit that has been modified for use during flooded commutes. “We are all conflicted within ourselves about the climate as we try to find a balance between our roots and current way of living,” he explains. “My concept was to test the space between those old and new worlds, and to see how the suit — a garment that brings with it a strong sense of tradition and history — fares against the threat of increasingly unpredictable weather.”

But Nicholas believes that design can go further than exploring how daily rituals will be affected by climate change.

It also has a part to play in changing our perspectives, and spurring action. “Issues around climate change can seem so entrenched and fixed, especially when they span such massive time frames and geographical areas,” he says. “I like the idea of design reminding people that things aren’t fixed. If design can loosen the concept of an everyday item like a suit, it can potentially start to open out and shift mindsets on other things.”

The # CreateCOP25 contest was launched by artist management agency Art Partner, to coincide with the 25th UN Climate Change Conference and to form a rallying cry for action from the young creative community. As the competition winner, Nicholas received $10,000 towards a future creative project and had his work publicised in front of world leaders at the conference.

“Our personal interests and ethics need to change, and change fast,” he says. “We have this huge opportunity to be a great generation and do what we love while making the right choice for our planet and its finite resources — this gives me some hope.”

Right: Nicholas’s winning entry for # CreateCOP25

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Feature

NATURE NURTURE

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Back in 2015, the Goldsmiths allotment was created to provide students and staff with the opportunity to grow their own food, and to reap the social and therapeutic benefits of gardening. Here we speak to allotment coordinator Dr Ros Gray to find out how it works, what happens there, and the positive effects of having this space on campus.

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Feature What is the allotment?

The allotment is an area in one of the gardens behind the Victorian buildings on Lewisham Way that now house the Department of Anthropology. It has 22 small individual plots, as well as areas around the edges that are looked after collectively. It’s run by a self-organised group of staff and students, and we usually have gardening sessions once a week.

How is the space used?

In the individual plots, people can plant whatever they want: some love to plant flowers, but most like planting vegetables.

We’ve also got members who have a particular interest in certain kinds of plants — for example, we have an artist who makes her own paint pigments out of them. The allotment is also sometimes used in teaching. I’ve brought down seminar groups and we’ve spoken about caring for the land, and it has also been used for creative writing workshops.

You run a lot of events throughout the year ­— can you tell us about those?

We have occasional workshops where people share specialist knowledge that they might have. For example, we’ve learned about potato breeding and planted heritage potatoes — a really fantastic, hands-on workshop. We had another one on non-human architecture where we made bug hotels. There are also seasonal celebrations. We’ve done a botanical cocktails midsummer party with people bringing along drinks they’d made themselves — everything from elderflower cordial to rhubarb wine. The celebrations are always really fun and create a connection with the group.

What are the key aims of the allotment?

The main thing is to provide a space for people to come together and garden in ways that are environmentally friendly, and to notice what happens when you allow nature back in.

It’s about connection — connecting to others, and engaging with the changes of the seasons.

“IF SOMETHING IS FEELING DIFFICULT, PUTTING MY HANDS IN THE SOIL ALWAYS PUTS THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE”

What kind of community has it fostered?

There’s a lot of sharing of knowledge and resources, but individuals also come because they can gently socialise with people who they might not otherwise meet. That’s sometimes led to really nice friendships or collaborations. It’s a very friendly, welcoming place.

Why is the allotment important where sustainability is concerned?

It’s certainly a space where there’s a lot of thinking about ways of living more sustainably. Something incredibly important is that we garden in a way that doesn’t harm the environment.

We don’t use herbicides or pesticides, we’ve got three different types of composting systems, we collect rain water, and there’s a log pile to help support insect life. We’re also exploring whether we can establish a wildlife pond, because that’s one of the best things you can do for biodiversity. It’s really about trying to think about the whole ecological system.

We receive a monthly donation from a Goldsmiths alumnus and that helps with our funds, and we were able to buy a shed thanks to an award from the Alumni and Friends Fund, but we don’t receive any other regular money from the College. So everything’s done on a shoestring. It’s more about improvising, making things very cheaply, and reusing things where we can.

“I AM NOW BEGINNING TO VOLUNTEER, TEACHING CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS ABOUT GROWING FOOD – THE ALLOTMENT WAS THE DOORWAY TO FINDING THIS NEW INTEREST” Masters student

Lecturer, Department of Sociology p18–19: Flowers, crops and wildlife at the Goldsmiths allotment Right: Allotment coordinator Dr Ros Gray

21 What kind of feedback have you had from students and staff about the impact of the allotment?

The allotment has been really positive for social connection and wellbeing. It doesn’t matter whether you’re at the beginning of your BA or finishing a PhD — it’s somewhere you can be with other people and get involved in gardening together. We have a research student who’s had a plot for four years. When he joined he’d never done any planting at all, so it’s been wonderful that he’s had this opportunity and got so much out of it. Doing a PhD in a different country where you don’t know anyone can be quite a lonely business. But at the allotment it doesn’t matter what your cultural background is or where you’re from: everyone is welcome. A lot of people involved are also attracted to the allotment because it provides an escape from work or studying. It’s a very joyful space; there’s a lightness to it. It’s a different pace to the other parts of daily life — a moment of time outside everything else.

We’re currently in the midst of a global pandemic. Do you hope this will make people think differently about things like food waste and ethical supply chains?

It’s hard to think about some good coming out of such a terrible situation. But it does make you realise how fragile our food systems are, and having empty shelves in supermarkets is not something we’re used to in this country. We’re used to absolute abundance, for those who can afford it at least. I hope that people start thinking about where their food comes from, and whose labour goes into producing it.

Are there any resources you’d recommend to readers who are keen to learn more about food supply chains and sustainability more widely?

There are some great podcasts and audio resources out there.

I’d recommend ‘Sow, Grow, Repeat’ from the Guardian, ‘The Permaculture Podcast’, and ‘The Search for Esiah’s Seeds’ ○ Find out more by searching for the Goldsmiths Allotment group on Facebook or by emailing Ros: r.gray@gold.ac.uk

CRITICAL ECOLOGIES Ros is part of the Critical Ecologies research stream, which aims to encourage and support environmental-focused research and practice across Goldsmiths.

Tackling issues of climate change and other ecological crises, Critical Ecologies brings together staff from different disciplines with the aims of embedding environmental concerns across the curriculum, and developing new academic platforms that can inform and shape public debate. The research stream is co-led by Dr Shela Sheikh (Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies) and Dr Wood Roberdeau (Department of Visual Cultures).

Find out more at criticalecologies.gold.ac.uk

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SHAH HYDAR

23 Are you ever curious about the kind of careers our alumni move into, or the day-to-day working life of people in different industries? ‘A day in the life’ follows alumni during a typical working day, and gives you an insight into the varied careers of the Goldsmiths community.

Shah Hydar is Senior Policy Advisor at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), based in Westminster. He is in the final year of the Civil Service Fast Stream, an award-winning leadership development programme that has also seen him work at the Department for International Trade and the Department for Transport. His roles have primarily focused on policy development, working alongside ministers to help address key government pledges. At Defra he has undertaken projects relating to future thinking around the environment, Brexit planning, and importing critical food goods into the UK. Shah graduated from the BA Politics degree in 2016.

Left: © Christian Sinibaldi

A day in the life

08.00

Eyes burning, and looking more zombie than person, I wake up. I sit in bed for a further 10 minutes contemplating why on earth I was awake watching YouTube videos until 2am. I guess my late-night habits from my time at Goldsmiths have travelled over to the working world!

I ensure that I make time for breakfast, though: I find stressing about work and my personal life easier on a full belly than an empty one. Then I take the Underground from my home in Bow to Westminster, so I get to enjoy 40 minutes of being squashed on the Tube before arriving in the office.

10.00

I start my working day by greeting my colleagues, and then begin where I left off the previous day. I’m based in the Agri-Food Team, and we work collaboratively with multiple policy areas within Defra and wider government departments. To counter the email culture that I’ve found within most office roles, I try to make sure my engagements for the day take place in person or over the phone. A large part of my role as Senior Policy Advisor requires a lot of communication with different stakeholders, so I get to meet new people constantly, which is great!

12.00

By midday I’m normally at least three meetings deep. They mainly consist of catching up with my team and following their progress, and having a quick check-in call with the Department for Transport, who I have been working with closely over a joint project that maps the environmental benefits of using more energy-efficient modes of transport (like rail) to move freight in the UK. This has been a great chance for me to work with others across government departments, and to develop a piece of policy.

A day in the life

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Lunch consists of me contemplating how I need to stop eating so much, then popping over to a local food market and getting a prawn paella (mucho tasty), and stopping at Greggs to sample their new vegan steak bake. As I finish my lunch and watch my colleagues head off for a mile-long run (which I’d previously promised to join…), I switch my attention to an upcoming meeting with industry representatives from road, rail and ferry ports to discuss the barriers they face when reducing their carbon footprint. It gives me a good opportunity to actually hear about the vision and plans of some of the leading industry bodies, and to coordinate my policy thinking based on a wide range of evidence.

My concentration levels have taken a major dip, so I try to power through the last stretch of the working day by engaging in trash talk with the team about an upcoming work table tennis tournament. This results in multiple requests for ‘warm up’ games. After being prematurely declared table tennis king, I return to my inbox ensuring all loose ends are correctly answered. I am preparing our weekly situation report to go up to our director and ministers, so I spend the rest of my day chasing up all policy leads to input. I usually finish my day at about 6pm.

I realise that I have football at 8pm, so rush home with the vision of scoring a hat-trick on the pitch. The reality is slightly different (which my friends do well to remind me of ): I end up with a rather large gash on my arm from falling over. But we win the game, so I go home in a good mood! Once back I have a victory meal, which consists of a lamb curry. I normally spend my evenings watching a pointless show on Netflix, or planning and failing to organise some type of social event with my friends. I do also try to keep up with current affairs and am a keen follower of international developments, so I try to attend lectures and presentations from international figures after work when possible.

As you can tell from this morning, I am not tucked away in bed ready to go to sleep. Not to fear, YouTube and a bad habit of eating various snacks until 1am will keep me company till I doze off! ○

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Students at Goldsmiths are doing their part to raise awareness about — and take action against — climate change. From the campaigning of the Students’ Union to the work of student societies and journalists, we share some of the initiatives and activities that have been taking place over the past year.

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GOLDSMITHS STUDENTS’ UNION

Above right: SU President Joe Leam

Goldsmiths Students’ Union (SU), along with Goldsmiths University and College Union (UCU), last year ran a campaign calling for the adoption and implementation of a Green New Deal by 2020. This led to the raft of environmental commitments recently announced by Goldsmiths [page 4].

The campaign was launched in response to the 2018 report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which called for radical and immediate emissions reductions, and a rapid phase-out of the fossil fuel industry as a means of stopping catastrophic climate change.

The Co-Chair of the IPCC advised that “the next few years are probably the most important in our history”.

With that rallying cry, the SU took action. After a motion for the Green New Deal was put forward by the SU and UCU (supported by Unison), and much work was undertaken by students, staff, and the SU President Joe Leam, the Goldsmiths community responded as a whole with a supporting petition of over 1,000 signatures. This led to a meeting between Warden Frances Corner, Joe, and UCU environmental representatives Dr Jason Hickel and Dr Ros Gray, to discuss moving forward with the Green New Deal’s proposals, including pledging to become a carbon neutral institution, and moving to a clean energy supplier. Goldsmiths agreed to all of the proposals. Joe, who was responsible for spearheading the campaign from the SU, said: “While this plan of action is only the beginning, and much work is yet to be done, it’s fantastic to see Goldsmiths taking responsibility and responding to its impact on the environment.”

However, he also concedes that more needs to be done at a national and international level. Speaking on Radio 5 Live recently, he said: “For something like a climate emergency, I think we need a much bigger intervention. The fact that we’ve got to this point after 20 years of politicians and scientists discussing climate change, and that very little change has come, shows that we need a huge intervention rather than these individualised nudgings. We need outright change on a vast level to really intervene on this — otherwise, as the scientists suggest, we’re doomed.”

Right: Connor Newson

goldsmithssu.org

“WHILE THIS PLAN OF ACTION IS ONLY THE BEGINNING, IT’S FANTASTIC TO SEE GOLDSMITHS TAKING RESPONSIBILITY AND RESPONDING TO ITS IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT”

Above: The College Green

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Feature

EXTINCTION REBELLION MA Art and Politics student Connor Newson set up the Extinction Rebellion (XR) student society at Goldsmiths. Since then he has taken his activism to national level, and is now the coordinator for XR Universities, connecting and coordinating this work across the UK. There has long been a need for students in higher education to mobilise locally and globally to actively challenge the status quo, holding to account our education institutions, and empowering staff and students to have agency in how universities are run. In light of the worsening climate crisis, more young people are waking up to this realisation, and as such are realising the inextricable links between climate and ecological collapse, and all other social injustices.

Extinction Rebellion is a radical environmental activist organisation that operates through non-violent direct action to apply pressure on governments, institutions, and corporations responsible for blindly leading the natural world towards extinction. Our aims extend beyond surface-level climate issues and seek to address the structural failures of the wider environmental movement. It is with intersectionality and solidarity in our approach that we intend to help implement just solutions to the crisis.

Since its inception last year, XR Universities (XRU) has been nurtured through collaboration with XR Internationalist Solidarity Network and XR Youth. Students at Goldsmiths connect with approximately 50 universities in the UK and Ireland, and 15 in the US, to push for a collaborative approach with other organisations, groups and communities, to tackle what is inherently a political issue. My role is to help coordinate, connect and support these UK groups to enable a united effort to effectively achieve our common goals.

XRU’s most recent campaign saw an internationally coordinated effort of university students, other organisations and individuals to occupy several institutions in the UK and US for various lengths of time. Within these actions we offered an open space of radical alternative education with a plethora of teach-outs and workshops, demanding our universities and education system take radical action to decarbonise, decolonise, and democratise. This marks the launch of a campaign that not only targets institutions’ ties to exacerbating climate breakdown, but equally our complicity in the structures of oppression that led to, and perpetuate, this crisis.

We work to educate and empower ourselves with knowledge produced within and outside of our educational institutions. As we step outside the constraints of conditioned behaviour, many of us understand that we are late to this movement of resistance to inequality; we are joining a fight for justice that has been waging for centuries. My hope is that many more students and university staff join the millions of young people across the world who are reifying the potential we have to alter our catastrophic trajectory. We all need to take that step to connect and confront the reality of the climate crisis being felt across the globe today. xruniversities.com Twitter: @xruniversities

“THERE HAS LONG BEEN A NEED FOR STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION TO MOBILISE LOCALLY AND GLOBALLY TO ACTIVELY CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO”

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WILDLIFE AND ECO HAVEN SOCIETY Margaret Jennings is a Goldsmiths BA Fine Art graduate, and will be undertaking an MFA in the department later this year. She is the President of the Students’ Union’s Wildlife and Eco Haven Society, which has seen her set up an eco haven on campus, and develop a Tree Charter for Goldsmiths with the Woodland Trust.

The Wildlife and Eco Haven Society was born out of alarming data about diminishing insect and bird species. At the time I had only vague ideas about gardening, but with perseverance and hard slog in between academic deadlines, it continues to evolve, even branching out beyond the Goldsmiths campus.

The purpose of the society has been to develop a wildlife and plant-centred eco haven that embraces non-typical gardening methods, using solely organic and sustainable approaches. The haven encourages birds, butterflies, insects and bees through the careful selection of plants and approaches. As a whole it seeks to pose fundamental questions about the human relationship to nature, and provides opportunities to re-attune to it. A big focus is around decolonising nature to find out who we are and where we are going in the modern age, particularly in the face of the climate emergency. But it also meets wellbeing needs on campus and beyond, allowing the Goldsmiths community to (re)connect to nature and to recalibrate ourselves as visual, ‘doing’ creatures.

“IT CONTINUES TO EVOLVE, EVEN BRANCHING OUT BEYOND THE GOLDSMITHS CAMPUS”

We’ve been able to work with organisations like Kew Gardens through their community-focused Grow Wild programme, providing the opportunity to sow and give feedback on wild flowers native to the UK. The teacher training students at Goldsmiths have undertaken a ‘mini bug count’ of the eco haven, which demonstrated the rich biodiversity present and inspired them to create similar havens in schools. Where this is not possible we hope to invite school children to the Goldsmiths haven to experience its wildness.

The eco haven has given focus to lots of other activities too.

There have been tree planting ceremonies held at Goldsmiths and, recently, King’s College London, connecting us to a ‘super wildway replanting routes’ green corridor, and involving reciprocal tree donations. Through student and staff sign-ups we’ve also joined the Woodland Trust’s Tree Charter, and have been gifted a rowan tree in recognition of this. We have held various workshops at university and community locations — one of which, ‘Tree Stories’, involved writing nature-inspired pieces handwritten on recycled paper, which were displayed and archived, and will hopefully be made into a book. There have also been ‘Silent Tree Walks’, where participants are invited to connect with tree planting, and to consider the loss of wild green spaces in the local community.

We’ve been able to introduce a number of eco art works in and around the haven, including insect lay-bys and moss graffiti. And we’re undertaking drawing research to investigate how and in what ways nature and spiritual connections are depicted in ancient sculptures.

We recently successfully presented at the London Student Sustainability Conference for the second year running, and a film about the history of the eco haven and tree planting ceremonies was screened at Deptford Cinema as part of the Deptford Storytelling Project 2020. We also have an ongoing fundraising campaign with the World Land Trust, purchasing an acre of wildlife-rich woodland for each £100 donated. There’s a lot going on, and we’re keen to keep the momentum going! goldsmithssu.org/activities/list/wildlife

Left: Part of the eco haven has provided the space to sow and study wild flowers native to the UK

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Feature

EASTLONDONLINES.CO.UK Eastlondonlines is an independent local news website produced by journalism students at Goldsmiths, guided by the experienced journalists who teach them. It serves the diverse communities of four London boroughs: Lewisham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Croydon. Two of the student journalists are Claudia Rivas (BA Journalism) and Areski Boutraa (MA Television Journalism).

Here we share news posts that highlight how they have been reporting on local environmental issues this year.

Parents take action against air pollution in Lewisham with weekly protests Concerned Lewisham parents are staging weekly 10-minute protests on Lewisham Way in a bid to raise awareness about their fight for cleaner air in the borough.

The parents’ group Cleaner Air Lewisham want what they describe as ‘small acts of agitation’ to register their protest against increasing levels of toxic air within South London.

Martin, a campaigner and parent, said pollutants were really impacting the community. He explained: “I cannot believe or accept that we are destroying our planet on so many levels: carbon dioxide emissions, methane emissions, depletion of drinkable water, loss of topsoil, deforestation, plastic pollution are just some of the issues we face in this day and age.

“The convenience of driving a car in London comes at a cost of 25 people per day dying prematurely in our city from illnesses linked to air pollution.”

Fellow campaigners Marie and Patty also said they noticed the poor air quality during their daily school runs.

Marie, a mother of two who previously lived on Lewisham Way, said: “My son began suffocating and wheezing at the age of two. The effects of living on a busy road were obviously clear to see. Most of us (parents/carers) walk our children to school every day. We are concerned about their health and the poor air quality they have to endure. It’s not a choice, it is something we have to live with at the moment.”

Patty added: “You cannot breathe walking on Lewisham Way. We had seen enough statistics and numbers, we decided to take direct action to make the problem more visible in real life.

“Ten minutes a week to protest is nothing in comparison to our children’s health. Lewisham is considered to have one of the highest levels of air pollution in the UK. This is due to its location.”

Statistics released in January 2020 by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) suggested that East and central London were the areas worst hit by high levels of persisting pollution.

Larger cities and towns were also places noted to have been affected by increasing levels of unclean air. According to new studies, pollutants are still the most harmful risk to public health, with more than 40,000 deaths in the UK each year attributed to air pollution.

It is said that 5.8 million vehicles travel through London each day, with cars emitting the most harmful pollutants made up of rubber and metal particles. Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, recently announced his commitment to making buses zero-emission by 2030. This comes as concerns on health and links to premature deaths have notably increased over the past couple of years. — Claudia Rivas

London boroughs have lowest recycling rates in the country Campaigners have warned that the capital could fail to meet recycling targets if local boroughs don’t get more money to help them tackle the problem.

The warnings come after figures from Defra revealed that local authorities across London were way off the 50% target set by the European Union for 2020 for turning household rubbish into reusable materials.

London recorded the lowest home recycling rates in England last year at 33.4%. That was up just 0.3% on the previous year and 10% below the national average.

Close to bottom of the table was Tower Hamlets, which has more blocks of flats than any other borough in the capital.

The borough managed to recycle just 26.4% of its household waste in 2017/18. Last year the figure showed a slight increase, with just over 28% of household waste being recycled. This compares to 14% in neighbouring Newham, which has the lowest rate in London.

“LONDON RECORDED THE LOWEST HOME RECYCLING RATES IN ENGLAND LAST YEAR” A Tower Hamlets Council spokesperson said: “Bringing these functions in-house will give us greater control and flexibility. It will allow us to effectively respond to the challenge of serving a rapidly increasing population while ensuring value for money for our residents.”

A campaigner from Friends of the Earth told the East London Advertiser: “One of the things stopping councils meeting the target is the number of people living in flats and tower blocks where recycling facilities aren’t easily available.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced plans last February for a range of measures to tackle the issue. This included a plastic bottle deposit return scheme that gives money back for recycling bottles, and setting up drinking fountains in busy areas. Local measures planned included schemes in partnership with local business, and installing infrastructure that benefits air quality.

The Mayor’s Office commented on the figures saying: “Responsibility for waste management in London lies with boroughs and although the Mayor has no powers in this area, he believes that it is essential that more action is taken to reduce waste and increase recycling.” — Areski Boutraa ○ eastlondonlines.co.uk Twitter: @eastlondonlines

AROUND THE WORLD IN 7 DAYS Opportunities

Illustration: Alva Skog

In March 2020, in what would have been the fifth year of our signature event series, Around the World in 7 Days was called off — global pandemics can have that effect. Despite this — or perhaps because of it — the ability for alumni to connect with each other is more vital than ever. The series will return next year, and its evolution depends on your input.

On the face of it, Around the World in 7 Days is exactly as labelled: an event series that takes place during seven consecutive days each year, all around the world. Under the surface it is a readymade opportunity for our alumni, both in the UK and overseas, to remember their time at Goldsmiths and connect with us and each other, using a timehonoured format: face to face.

Around the World was born in 2015 and has developed over the years.

The original idea was for Alumni Ambassadors to organise and host reunions in their countries during one week each May, alongside a flagship event hosted by Goldsmiths.

In its first year there were gatherings, exhibitions, screenings and talks, in cities across Europe, the US and Asia. Former Warden Patrick Loughrey travelled to Tokyo, Japan to host an event.

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In 2016 the event roster grew, thanks to our Ambassadors. And in 2017 there were decade-specific events in London hosted by the Alumni Team, with Alumni Ambassadors flying the Goldsmiths flag internationally in more cities yet.

It was the biggest year to date and an enormous undertaking, so in 2018 we gave our very hard-working Alumni Ambassadors a much-needed break.

We focused instead on organising events in a small handful of countries, where incoming Goldsmiths students could meet former students.

In 2019, the series got a makeover, and was opened up to all former students to organise. With the exception of a few flagship events, all gatherings were led by volunteers and operated on a self-funding basis. This timely change ensured that Around the World could live on in the coming years and that its events would be truly volunteer-led.

Although 2020 hasn’t gone to plan, this is an opportunity to make next year’s series bigger, better and more inclusive than ever, with your help.

We’re keen to get your feedback on Around the World: please fill out our survey at explore.gold/ATWinput to share your ideas.

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Announcement

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