SUSTAINABLE UCL
ZINE
E T O N S ’ EDITOR Thank you for taking the time to read our #ChangePossible Zine! When we started the zine competition, we embarked on a search for stories about how the UCL community has been collaborating and adapting to promote community and sustainability during lockdown and research on how to create a more sustainable future afterwards. After receiving many brilliant submissions, we are happy to share the most creative and inspiring ones. From poems that reflect on the challenges COVID poses to mental health to innovative ways to address the plastic waste arising from COVID – Get ready to delve into a wide range of perspectives on the current circumstances from UCL students, staff, and alumni from around the world!
FOREWORD A big thank you to everyone who contributed to our zine! When lockdown began, our team set out to create an online publication that celebrates the creativity and community spirit that normally permeates the UCL campus. We also hoped to capture the innovative, resourceful, and diverse ways in which the UCL community is coping with exceptional circumstances and contributing to a fair and sustainable future. It is truly inspiring to see all your submissions and the different ways in which the UCL community is adapting to the current situation. Seeing all this energy and initiative makes us feel truly confident that we can make #ChangePossible and meet the sustainability commitments we have set ourselves for 2024!
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CONTENT OVERVIEW Carson Yeung | Winner - Photography
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Nishika Jain, Sachi Shah, Priyanka Rachel Peres, Jiarui Li Runner Up - Sustainability Project
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Freddie Rodgers, Hannah Alexander, Sophie O’Sullivan, Travis Caddy Runner Up - Sustainability Project
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Helen de Graaf | Prose
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Maddie Robertson | Poem
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Office of the Vice-Provost (Advancement) Sustainability Project
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Haoyu Zhou | Photography
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Dovile Meliauskaite | Poem
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Mostafa El-Ezaby | Sustainability Project
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Indie Channa | Art
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Nishika Jain | Poetry
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School of Pharmacy Library | Sustainability Project
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G N U E Y N O S R A C UCL STUDENT
My local place
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Milton Keynes It was late March 2020, and nationwide lockdown had just commenced. Like the majority of society, I found myself in a peculiar situation, one where I would be stuck around the house for a very long time. Being confined to the same quarters for weeks upon weeks created an urge in me to explore my neighbourhood and the surrounding estates, something I could do during the one session of exercise a day that the government permitted.
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Growing up in this ‘new town’, designed from the ground up in the 60s as a ‘City in a Forest’, the opportunity was there to discover how the vast green space would be utilised during lockdown. It would also be a chance for me to connect with my local area, a place in which I’d lived my whole life before University, but had never truly experienced.
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P U R E N N U R Covicycle
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NISHIK A JAIN, SACHI SHAH, RUI LI PRIYANK A RACHEL PERES, JIA UCL STUDENTS
We developed the idea of “Covicyle” in response to a sharp rise in plastic pollution and the death of sanitation workers across the world. Covicycle is a scalable and sustainable solution to collecting, sterilizing and recycling public PPE waste that is emerging from the Covid-19 crisis. Our idea is to collect public PPE waste (gloves and masks) at local collection points in popular supermarkets. This would be brought to the Covicycle warehouse, where it would undergo medical-grade sterilisation in UV cabinets (for gloves) and masks by an autoclave. The sterile masks would undergo quality checks, get stamped with Covicycle logos and then packaged to be resold via our online website. The gloves would be weighed and packed into boxes to be delivered to our partner recycling company such as ‘Terracycle’. Covicycle would earn a percentage of the sales (per kg) of the products made from the gloves. This income would be used to fund employee salaries and expand the business to hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. Our idea would generate employment, thereby generating positive economic growth. This contributes to sustainable development and pushes towards a greener economy.
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RUNNER-UP! EXANDER, L A H A N N A H DGERS, FREDDIE RO IS CADDY V A R T , N A IV LL SOPHIE O’SU UCL STUDENTS We reimagined UCL’s portico through a biophilic lens - a notion emphasising humanity’s natural affiliation towards the rest of nature due to our long evolutionary development with(in) it. The imagery presents a naturecentric retrofitting of UCL’s campus to accommodate other forms of life and creative productive green spaces such as cultivated roofscapes.
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F A A R G E D N E HEL ALUMNA Last month, I published my first book called ‘We, Together, and I’. The book is a stream of consciousness; it reflects on my life and on the lessons on sustainability I learned during my exchange at UCL in 2019 and during the 2020 Corona pandemic and it explores my imaginations for the future.
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This is an excerpt of what Helen wrote: “ Just like the golden summer sunset changes into a red-lit autumn sunrise, I want to become new, I want to become a Londoner.” This was a sentence I wrote down in my diary during one of my first weeks in London. In many ways I feel emotional when re-reading it. Looking back, I do consider myself a Londoner now. It was not about taking pictures with the London Eye, for me it was about becoming streetwise and understanding the dynamics of the people and why things are happening like they do. When I think of London now, I imagine people who push forward, who keep going, even when the sunset at Sky Garden is as early as half past three in the afternoon, or when there is a person standing on the left side of the escalator blocking your way through. London is a place where people hope to make their dreams come true, a place where people dare to aim for a better future.”
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Covid If you mention the word Covid, you hear the unison whisper of oh dear. It’s been the worst few months of our lives, open the pubs and get me my beer. No restaurants, no work, no socialising. What else is there to do? Slow down and breathe, be kind to yourself and take this time for you. Thank goodness for the NHS, where would we be without you all? But we must question our government and ask, was that the right call? No PPE, no protection, but what else could have been done? Lock down sooner, make it a priority, listen to the scientists for one. We’re angry, confused and desperate. With a government that puts us to shame. Lots of us didn’t want them in power, others say we want someone to blame. Let’s focus on some positives, all of this can really play on the mind. The world is such a scary place where good things can be difficult to find.
MADDIE ROBERTSON ALUMNA POEM
Fast fashion brands have had it rough; they’ve been blasted by the spotlight. Not paying workers a fair wage, come on now, it’s basic human rights. Slave labour and exploitation, where poor working conditions are rife. It’s unacceptable, it’s unforgivable. A piece of clothing should not cost a life. Carbon increase has temporarily slowed, that may be something to celebrate. Let’s uplift unheard voices, highlight inequalities, the climate emergency does not wait. A system change is what is needed, and I accept that can’t happen overnight. So boycott fast fashion, encourage sustainability, lets stand up for what is right. In the midst of a pandemic, who knew what was yet to happen. Protesting for the black lives matter movement because if not now, when? Things are changing and that’s important, it feels different than before. Sentences given, statues removed, racist behaviour will be tolerated no more. Let’s not go back to how it was because is that really for the best? Let’s take this as a learning curve and we’re not at its peak yet.
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OFFICE OF THE VICE-PROVOST UCL STAFF (ADVANCEMENT) Before lockdown, the OVPA Green Team, started “Jeremy Beartham Walks the World” - a team challenge to power our office mascot (see pictures) through every country of the world by a weekly submission of steps. As he wanders, Jeremy is on the lookout in each country for challenges presented by climate change and for the solutions employed to combat these. He shares his discoveries with participants via his emails, Instagram account (@jeremybeartham), and blog posts (bit.ly/3gRPR4Q). When lockdown came about, the challenge took another turn– suddenly Jeremy’s virtual travel accounts, and the impetus to get outside for the daily walk to power Jeremy along – were having a really positive effect on our colleagues. When none of us could go further than our local Sainsburys, at least Jeremy Beartham could marvel at the wonders of the world.
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HAOYU ZHOU UCL GRADUATE During the lockdown, I took up a range of new habits to make my lifestyle more ethical. I admit that I am kind of a shopaholic, so when the stores reopened I was very excited. However, I made up my mind to make 70% of my purchases at second-hand shops or at sustainable businesses. I thrifted these white/tie-dye cowboy boots in the photos on Etsy.
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2020 I had a job To not let the spring decay Into a third-day salad, Beyond recognition Of its once discreet ingredients. A brown mush archived In the stagnant waters at the deep end of the fridge. No commute across the river Styx, No coin can reimburse For my failure To protect all color
. E IT A K S U A I L E M DOVILE ALUMNA
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A love poem in 2020 If we make it outside Alive, a life To make Our own again Will see a lot more of me Cooking for you Making out Making it But mostly a life Back inside
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WWW.CLIM8DE
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MOSTAFA EL-EZABY UCL ALUMNU
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Clim8Delta is a project to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change and possible technical solutions and nontechnical solutions to the climate crisis. Clim8Delta also highlights the progress the world has made regarding its battle against climate change. Having a Clim8Delta Instagram page allows me to connect with individuals and groups who share similar missions from across the world. During COVID-19, I have been working on improving the content I put out. I have also been learning how to create a website. Its purpose is to work in conjunction with the @clim8delta page containing expanded report-like texts to accompany the information provided on Instagram.
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A N N A H C E INDI
UCL GRADUATE ART
During lockdown, I took part in a virtual art club with friends and family. The drawings reflect emotions about the pandemic, lockdown and sudden change to our way of life, while simultaneously being a sustainable activity that has been good for my mental health during this time.
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Catching a glimpse of the big ‘C’ The invasionit came so quiet, accompanied by the cacophony, of death and misery, causing the ‘almighty’ and ‘pompous’ mankind, to get imprisoned behind digital screensthey once worshipped. Time- which never seems to stop for anyone, has suddenly come to a standstill, each day painstakingly blurring into the next, while we miserably try to befriend our only camaraderiethe looming shadow behind, as we realise just how much we need one another, and that concerns about mental health don’t just exist in a land of make-believe. Well, you may have thought that this pandemic, would finally unite the human race back together, but even today as I listen, to the bleak, ubiquitous news reports, I wonder whether historical racism snatches away more BAME lives, than this vicious conqueror.
Why is this happening to us- you may ask, well, we’ve burnt forests down to the ground, and have poisoned the oceans- once so pure, chained animals that once majestically crowned the earth, and are finally experiencing nature’s wrath. This time in isolation may have given you time to bloom, to read and write and listen, or pray and meditate and dance, but look around – even nature has finally gotten a chance to blossom. While I may be afraid, to catch a glimpse of the coronavirus, I am petrified that once the danger dampens downWe will turn our backs against one another, and once again- forget to sway with the hymn of nature. Let’s not invite another pandemic- and heal together.
NISHIK A JAIN POETRY
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SCHOOL OF PHARMACY LIBRARY UCL STAFF Over the lockdown period, the School of Pharmacy Library staff have been channelling their inner gardeners by adopting library plants. Since the great office exodus in March, purple shamrock, Chinese money plants and many other library plants, socially distanced from their old home at Brunswick Square, have been thriving more than ever in their new surroundings. The plants have grown incredibly well and produced lots of seedlings, so the UCL community might even mistake us for a botanic garden when we re-open our doors very soon!
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