Think Green!

Kermit the Frog once sang ‘It’s not easy being green’ and he was right. It’s not easy being green and in this case, I mean ‘more sustainable’ but there are many campaigns going on around campus which are making it easier for us to think green and be more sustainable whilst at university. This week we are looking into these different campaigns and how you could take part:

Student Swith Off Campaign – Guest post by Bastien Bernard
“Hello, I’m Bastien, a French Erasmus student studying a LL.M in international commercial law. I am involved with the Student Switch Off campaign which helps encourage other students living in halls to reduce energy usage and win prizes like Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and NUS Extra cards.

There are competitions every two weeks such as the Climate Change Quiz, or the Facebook photo competitions which are really easy to enter and raise awareness of the simple actions you can take to save energy. As an ambassador, I visit dining halls up to three times a year to tell people about the competitions and encourage them to sign up to Student Switch Off. I also ran my own campaign to encourage people to delete unnecessary emails – did you know around 62 trillion spam messages are sent every year, causing around 20 million tonnes of CO2e?

The hall that gets the most people involved saving energy will also win a massive end of year party! Lafrowda Blocks C & D are currently in first place! Check out our leaderboard.

You can sign up to the mailing list and like the campaign on Facebook to be the first to know when the competitions are out”.

Keep Cup
‘Give up your paper cup‘ is a student led project with the aim of working towards a more sustainable coffee culture on campus. You might have seen some University branded eco-friendly ‘Keep Cups’ around the university which are available to purchase at either £5.00 or £7.00 (for the glass version). If you purchase them from one of our ‘Eat & Shop’ outlets, you will receive your first hot drink free. Every time you use your Keep Cup or a reusable cup at a university outlet, your drink will be reduced by 25p and in Pret A Manger in the Forum your drink will be reduced by 50p.