Tuesday 14-11-2017 - 00:51

 

Amazing, worth-while, life changing. 

 

Some of the few things that the NUS Sustainability Summit 2017 at Coventry Students' Union was for me.

 

 

Never have I been surrounded by such dedicated, passtionate people. It was honestly such an uplighting and motivational experience. 

 

 

 

 

I began my travels at 6:00 AM! (dedication much?). Rob Young, Vice President (Society & Citizenship) at NUS welcomed us into the Student Sustainability Summit with a powerful, green powered speech! Some of the key areas of his mastered speech was the 17 Global Goals which aims to end global poverty, climate change and inequality by 2030! is it possible you ask? YES! 193 world leaders have already agreed to the 17 Global Goals and with the SDG (Sustainable Develop Goals) being introduced on the 19-23 February 2018 as an enlightening and vital part of further and high education to help unite and imply the changes that is needed to make these goals possible. Keep a look out of changes in your teaching, assessment and learning this February and hopefully after that! #Targets4Actions

 

 

Mr Young also mentioned his aim of having all Students' Unions be 100% Fairtrade cotton by 2022, is this possible you ask? YES! why? because Fairtrade should be the only option available. We live in a society that can just go about life purchasing products without having any genuine thought of where these products come from and who makes them. It is vital that we are considerate of others in various countries that provide us with the necessities that we often take for granted and it is a moral right to make sure they are fairly treated. Our union shop currently provide some cool Fairtrade T-Shirts! so pop in and try some on :) 

My first workshop of the day was Tackling Coffee Cups on Campus which was so relevant to an idea that the union is considering at the moment! I was already keen on ditching coffee cups on campus and this workshop/discussion about the negative issue of using single and non recycled coffee cups really hit home. I will definitely be watching A Plastic Ocean and encouraging others to do so! #NetflixAndEducate. Also, it was really inspiring hearing what other universities and unions are doing across the country about coffee cups and the contribution towards NUS coffee cup campaign. Well done to the students from Sheffield and Winchester for discussing the amazing coffee cup campaigns they currently have in place at their institutions and good luck with the first ever Student Thrift Shop! Also, big praise to Rob once again for the #TheLastStraw campaign which encourages students and their unions to pledge to stop using single-use plastic straws.

As a younger generation we're very quick to blame older generations when it comes to questions about our future, but how are we going to explain to generations to come that we ruined our oceans for a straw or a cup of coffee. Rob Young. 

 

 

 

 

Next workshop I chose was Turning the Curriculum Green. Again, relevant to upcoming plans and changes at WGU! This workshop highlighted the importance of sustainability being in every course and how NUS can support this such as the NUS's A - Z guide of introducing sustainability into every curriculum (even psychology, woop!). Further emphasis on the 17 Global Goals and SDG pledge also took place. Discussions about the NUS Sustainability Skills survey results showed over 13,000 respondents and that : 

85% believe that sustainable development is something which universities and colleges should actively incorporate and promote and 70% would like to see this being taught in their university and college courses.

These results clearly show the need for sustainable development which includes sustainability education. The courageous Esha Marwaha who ran such an important campaign against The Department of Education's plans to remove climate change from education for those under 14 years old. Victory was with Esha as she was able to get support from over 31,000 people to stop these plans. 

 

Next up was something very special to me... FOOD! Lunch was provided by the amazing, pro-sustainable company Orang Utan who uses food that is local, vegan, organic and healthy. All the best to them on their mission to make fast food more sustainable and I must say it made me smile knowing that orangutangs were not harmed. 

 

 

 

The final workshop and last part of the summit was Tackling food waste on campus. Again, very relevant to WGU and WGSU. It was great hearing about what other institutions are doing and the amazing idea of Food Drop. Definitely took some notes down! 

 

That was it for the Sustainability Summit 2017. 
Huge thanks to Coventry SU for hosting the event, Orang Utan for the amazing vegan food, WGU for making this happen, and the various other people who organised this wonderful event (you know who you are). 

 

Catch you guys this time next year for the next Summit, yeah?