GOING GREEN 2010 INTRODUCTION The inclusion of sustainability as one of the 9 strategic priorities within the new Medium Term Strategy is positive and should be seen as a sign of UAL moving forward on the green agenda. That said it needs to be backed up with leadership and staff resource if the University is going to be able to significantly increase it’s positive and reduce it’s negative impacts on the environment. We believe there are some short term decisions and actions that can be taken to push UAL towards becoming the most sustainable education community in the UK. Cleary dropping to 125th in People & Planet’s Green League last year, show that we have a long way to go. The implementation of last year’s five GO GREEN objectives has been mixed, and although there was a fair amount of consultation on what was and wasn’t achievable to reach the commitments that were ‘signed off’, almost all of them have slipped. There’s been some progress on bike facilities but very little progress on recycling. These issues cannot wait, students want action now. This year we have again complied five GO GREEN objectives, some of which are repeated from last year. We are calling on the University Management to sign up to the objectives and commit to completing them in realistic, but challenging timescales. 1. Every student should have the opportunity to study sustainability as a part of their course 2. University of the Arts London should commit to achieving fair-trade status 3. More staff time should be committed and fully dedicated to getting Arts London to GO Green - a sustainability team? 4. University of the Arts London should dramatically cut energy wastage 5. More recycling facilities should be made available
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STUDENT SUPPORT GO GREEN WEEK 2010 ran from 8th – 12th Feb 2010 and saw the Students’ Union out and about again championing green living and raising awareness of the campaign. Over the course of the week the objectives received a lot of support, with hundreds signing the giant GO Green Valentine’s Day card that toured the University. The Students’ Union, in association with Student Switch Off, visited a number of Halls of Residences as well to spread the work and get residents to think about how they can save energy through a number of quick and easy activities The support UAL students showed to the campaign this year was fantastic and hopefully sends a strong message that they want green issues to be taken seriously. Several events were put also put on throughout the week with a few real highlights. Over 60 people turned up to Tuesday’s visit from Stitch and Bitch London whilst over 100 attended Thursday evening’s Swap Shop along with similar numbers attending ECCA’s ‘How to be a Green designer’ event at Chelsea. The week was signed off in style with ‘Ethics+Aesthetics=Sustainable Fashion’ a hugely successful and well attended event put on by our LCF’s MA Fashion and Environmental students, following which the brand new ‘Sustainable Design Society’ has been set up.
THE OBJECTIVES 1. Every student should have the opportunity to study sustainability as a part of their course This was one of our five GO GREEN objectives last year, and it’s encouraging to see that ‘Curriculum & Research’ is one of the title themes of the emerging sustainability strategy. But this area needs real commitment and leadership, although there has been much support for development in this area, there hasn’t been little tangible advances. 30% of respondents in the annual SU survey answered yes to ‘Has any aspect of your course been to do with sustainability?’, if they answered yes they were asked to tell us about it and what you thought of it, here are a few of the respondents: “We have done a whole project on ethical fashion! I think it was a really interesting project and raised a lot of awareness in ourselves and friends/relatives we spoke about it to.” “It was very brief but quite interesting; I think more should be done to make us more aware of these factors as they're going to influence our future careers in a big way.” “Every year we have one project specifically to do with sustainability or recycling, and we are generally encouraged to consider it but I am the only person in my class who specializes in sustainability. I think the marking criteria should include considerations towards sustainability and environmental issues so students naturally address these issues in future work.” SUARTS REPORTS | GOING GREEN 2010 | March 2010
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“My course (BA Ceramic Design) is always making us aware of the importance of environmental issues and sustainability in design....so if they don't do it in other courses, tutors should make an effort to do so.” Those students engaged in green issues are crying out for leadership and direction from their course and college on ensuring that more environmentally sound practices are adopted. However there are some students who are not informed about sustainability in direct relation to their course and desire more knowledge and how this can be implemented in their future careers.”
2. University of the Arts London should commit to achieving fair-trade status With over 70 universities and colleges in the UK already signed up to become Fairtrade, UAL should join them. A Fairtrade University or College is one that has made a commitment to supporting and using Fairtrade. They ensure that Fairtrade products are available in as many places as possible and they raise awareness and promote the benefits that it brings to producers in developing countries with students and staff. This is an easy way to demonstrate to students that we are serious about improving our ethics. Oxford Brookes became the first Fairtrade University in… May 2003! Nearly seven years ago. Becoming Fairtrade is an important step towards institutions like ours recognising we have a global responsibility, and it’s a lot easier than many people think. The following easy steps need to be taken into account … a. Create a Fairtrade policy incorporating the following goals: b. Fairtrade foods are made available for sale in all campus shops. Fairtrade foods are used in all cafés/restaurants/bars on campus. Where this is not possible, there is a commitment to begin to use Fairtrade foods in these establishments as soon as it becomes possible to do so. c. Fairtrade foods (for example, coffee and tea) are served at all meetings hosted by the university or college and the Students’ Union, and are served in all university of college offices. d. There is a commitment to campaign for increased Fairtrade consumption across the colleges e. A Fairtrade Steering Group is established. It’s a criteria in People & Planet’s Green League, and this simple step will show to both students and staff that the University and Colleges are willing to take proactive policy decisions to improve its record on ethical and environmental issues.
3. More staff time should be committed and fully dedicated to getting Arts London to GO Green - a sustainability team? Of those Universities taking part in the Green League over 60 have at least one full time member of staff responsible for developing and implementing environmental plans with additional support from other part time and full time staff. The vast majority of the rest of those taking part still have one dedicated member of staff. University of the Arts London currently has no-one specifically responsible for this area of work and is instead bolted on to other people’s job descriptions. This is simply not conducive to the successful implementation of a successful environmental plan. UAL faces challenges due to the disparate nature of it’s different sites and colleges but this in itself is not an excuse for a lack of coordination and consistency on environmental issues. This does however, make the argument for a staff with specific responsibility for sustainability even stronger – a centralised team with real power to coordinate and implement the necessary measures would ensure that UAL is no longer left SUARTS REPORTS | GOING GREEN 2010 | March 2010
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behind by other institutions. – The current lack of dedicated staff resource is without question why UAL has failed to make great advances in this area.
4. University of the Arts London should dramatically cut energy wastage Climate change is arguably one of the biggest problems facing us in the modern day and the impact we have on the environment, not only as individuals, but also as institutions, is becoming more and more important. Large institutions such as UAL inevitably need to use a lot of energy. If we can increase the efficiency of activities, we have potential for savings that can be put back into further green initiatives. By July the Students’ Union, with the help of our GO Green volunteers, will have completed a light audit, impartially observed and then analysed by Climate Squad, an organisation funded by v, Bank of America and Global Action Plan, in order to calculate and present energy wastage. Climate Squad will then be able to offer follow up support and guidance on how this wastage can be reduced. This will be symbolic of the University taking the approach seriously, is free and will also provide the opportunity for development in other areas apart from just lighting.
5. More recycling facilities should be made available Highlighted in last year’s GO GREEN objectives but still a lack of activity in addressing this problem over the past year is a growing worry for students and staff alike across the University. Recycling in local councils, universities and schools has highlighted the need to make the process as simple and natural for people as possible. On many sites there is a worrying lack of recycling facilities completely and where there are facilities they lack consistency in design, size and location ensuring that students need to actively seek out the minimal facilities that are available. Anecdotally, I have been told that at one college recycling bins were removed because staff ‘didn’t like the design’ and they looked ungainly. The apparent lack of consistency ensures no clear and coherent information can be sent out about recycling and that students will not take recycling seriously. The University must provide the opportunity for recycling to become a norm for staff and students alike with clear, easy options. Such a simple practice would make a huge difference in terms of both environmental impact but also the perception students have of the University’s attitude towards taking this issue seriously. We know that there is some materials recycling that goes on – whether that is graduating students offering items to lower years, or technicians helping out with the reuse of clay in workshops – but this happens on an ad hoc basis and is more because of the work of one individual – rather than a culture across the institution.
Helen Gimber Students’ Union President president@su.arts.ac.uk
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