An Interview With Trinity’s Sustainability Manager Jane Hackett

5) What can students do to make your job easier? In other words, how can Trinity students help you?

It would be great if students got involved in the Green Campus committee as this programme really focuses on partnership, collaboration and action. Trinity has been awarded a Green Flag since 2013 and that achievement is down to the collaboration between students and staff. I would also encourage students to get involved in college societies and add a sustainability dimension to the society that you are part of. That could mean getting involved in Green Week which is being held from 20nd – 24th of March, and we are really hoping that societies ‘lean in’ and get involved. I would be particularly interested in seeing a diverse range of events being planned from societies that traditionally don’t participate in Green Week. For example, maybe the Gaming Society can put on a talk about digital carbon or maybe the Comedy Society can do a few sketches?

Think outside the box and get involved! However, the most important thing that students can do is to keep pushing for sustainability to become an essential part of life in Trinity. We are working hard to make changes happen but will need support and we will try to keep you as informed as possible. If have any ideas, suggestions or want to get involved email me at sustainability@tcd.ie

CONTACT: sustainability@tcd.ie hacketja@tcd.ie

6) Ideally, if you could do anything to make Trinity more sustainable what would you do?

I would appoint a Vice President for Biodiversity and Climate Action who has the remit of embedding sustainability across everything we do. However, our Provost Linda Doyle thought of that already!

7) In your opinion, how can Trinity campus as a whole be kinder to the climate?

I think we need to be a whole lot kinder to nature in general and remember that we not only have a climate crisis, but a biodiversity crisis too. We need to start rethinking everything we do and how we do it, from the resources we use every day to the courses we are developing for future students. We all need to adjust our own personal behaviours to respond to these crises and that might mean changing our habits, learning more about sustainability, using our jobs as a way to effect change, collaborating with others, sharing ideas, as well as supporting those who may not have the capacity to get involved. I think Trinity is in a unique position to be a leader, not only in thought but in action, and that means that we as a community need to work together to put nature first. We have some big challenges ahead, but we have the solutions at hand and can meet the challenges head on because of the imagination, knowledge, passion and dedication of the students and staff in Trinity. I am really excited to be playing my part in making these changes happen, here’s to 2030!

INTERVIEWED BY Emma Harris PHOTOGRAPHY Kallum Linnie