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Written by Lauren Stevens, Chester People & Planet member The University of Chester has signed a deal with oil producer Shell. The Shell Technology Centre in Thornton will be acquired by the University in a deal it called “one of … Continue reading
On Monday 25 March, Ben Powrie, student activist from People & Planet Reading attended a demonstration with 300 staff and students in opposition to the privatisation of services at Sussex University. That day a large group of people decided to … Continue reading
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By Matthew Franklin, University of Birmingham & Toby Munnion, Newcastle University Newcastle University are currently engaged in discussions with Adidas regarding a massive sponsorship deal. In what Adidas officials describe as a “first of its kind” the deal is likely … Continue reading
Ellie Davies is mentoring school students as part of Generation Fairtrade, a People & Planet and Fairtrade Foundation project. We think she’s doing such a great job that she should become a motivational speaker!
Ellie and other Generation Fairtrade school mentors at the training event in Oxford.
Who says young people aren’t interested in making the world a better place? Any student activist knows that there are thousands of young people trying to improve life for the world’s poorest. But what about school students? Would they really be interested in campaigning on Fairtrade issues?
The answer is a resounding yes! As part of the Generation Fairtrade project, former People & Planet members are taking on a new volunteer role, and training school students and sixth formers to continue the work that they themselves did while at university.
Although I enjoy public speaking, the idea of speaking to an entire year group of Year 9 pupils – 128 girls! – intimidated me a little bit. A horrible mental image of asking for volunteers being followed by a stony silence haunted me for weeks. Luckily People & Planet had provided lots of chocolate for bribes…
But thankfully, it went really well. The students were incredibly enthusiastic, they all had ideas, they all participated, and when I asked for volunteers to stand at the front, nearly all of them put their hands up! This enthusiasm was shown in the feedback forms, in which over half of them said they would have liked more opportunities to come up to the front and do the interactive activities!
And the best part? Out of the 128 students who attended, almost 80 of them signed up to form their own Fairtrade action group! Many of them had questions, and wanted more information on the various issues surrounding Fairtrade.
The school already has a Fairtrade Steering Group, which is run by the Sixth Formers, so they are on the way already. They are hoping that the Sixth Formers will be the main leaders of the People & Planet group, which is excellent news for the People & Planet network… After all, this is what it’s all about: empowering young people to make changes to the world they live in.
This is only the start.
* Find out more about what schools and colleges are doing for Fairtrade Fortnight.
Danielle Krage is mentoring school students as part of Generation Fairtrade, a People & Planet and Fairtrade Foundation project. She gives us a taste of what it’s like to prepare for the first workshop, and how it went.
So, a lot’s happened since I did my training with People & Planet back in August. I just had to check my diary – was it really August? Time seems to have gone really quickly!
I’m writing this having just given my presentation to 90 year 10s. Honestly, it’s taken a little while to get to this point. I was matched with my school really quickly, but the reality of a very busy school (including an Ofsted Inspection) presented a few challenges on the communication and scheduling front!
Things moved forward faster after meeting the Deputy Head and another interested staff member. The meeting was great for figuring out and pinning down scheduling options, talking through possibilities, and getting a shared agreement about some of the key factors – for example, the importance of it being student led. I left with firm dates for my presentation and follow up session, but also the challenge that all the year groups have a 15 minute assembly. If I wanted to talk to a big group any time soon that was my best option….
This has pretty much been the theme of my experience so far. Being really excited to get going, meet the students, and explore all the fun things we covered in our training. But also having to figure out when to be flexible in light of the specifics of my school. It’s helped that Laura and Juliette have been supportive and understanding of this.
Soooo…..15 minutes…Agggh! What to include? I went through and through the presentation, sorting material into what would make the most attention grabbing and stimulating introduction to Fairtrade on the day, and what I could save for my longer second session. I did this whilst still daydreaming of the school ringing me and telling me that, due to some unforeseen staff training, I could now have the year 10s until first break if I wanted…. – didn’t happen!
Still, you can do a lot in 15 minutes! What I kept reminding myself was that the students would just see what was in front of them, so it was my job to use the time that I did have, as positively as possible.
On the day, I tried to keep it as visual and interactive as I could, using pre-selected parts of the original presentation. And above all, I tried to focus on the tone and atmosphere - smile, enjoy the time I had there, engage fully. Stimulate the students’ interest in the hope that they’d feel inspired to sign up for my second session, when we could explore Fairtrade and campaigning in more depth.
I don’t know how many students have signed up yet, and what other practical factors will be at play (Coming to my workshop will mean missing PE…probably a range of reactions to this one? ) What I do know is that I really enjoyed engaging with the students, and seeing how quickly their body language changed. When I first looked out at them, in their rows and rows of chairs, there was a generally slouched and sleepy air to the room (It was 8:25am on a rainy morning!).
But within minutes they were contributing suggestions, sitting forward, pointing things out on the projections. And as I wrapped up, I noticed that I was hardly having to project my voice anymore, because the students were so attentive. I left really wanting to hear more of their responses, so am looking forward to going back in a couple of weeks to meet them again!
Are you a teacher looking for support to get your school going Fairtrade? If you’d like to work with a Fairtrade School Mentor like Danielle in 2013, then register online today.
Lucy Walker is mentoring school students as part of Generation Fairtrade, a People & Planet and Fairtrade Foundation project. Here she describes her first school visit.
”Two weeks ago I was preparing for my first visit to Venerable Bede School to give my first WearFair campaign workshop to three hundred students, years 7 and 8. I fashioned homemade flashcards with old dividers and went through the presentation to work out what worked well and what didn’t work so well for me.
“I wasn’t expecting the high tech auditorium I was provided with when I arrived, complete with gallery, clicker that didn’t need to be pointed at the screen, almost invisible microphone and hand held mic for ‘chat show effect’. Important advice? Meet the IT guy and make him your best friend – he will be your saviour when the technology fails!
“As the hall filled up the nerves kicked in but the flashcards, signs and chocolate provided me with some form of security blanket. A teacher was telling his form that we were here to have a talk on Fairtrade. One girl at the front piped up that she had done it so many times, that she hated it and that it was so boooooring. I wandered over and said that this was different, more fun, to which I received the classic eye roll!
“The room seemed fit to burst as I was introduced. I was off to a shaky start with the question ‘where are your clothes from?’ eliciting responses including any country (or planet) the room could think of! My saving grace? The Simpsons video! Everyone was suddenly paying attention. The conditions in the video were somehow much more relatable when involving such familiar characters.
“As the room got involved, I relaxed, sitting on the stage so I, and consequently the room, felt more comfortable. The quiz really got everyone thinking about what was fair. After many answers in the range of 100 years to ‘How many years would a worker need to work for to make the same as Kate Moss?’, one joker shouted out 2,500 – how surprised he and everyone else was when he was right!
“The ‘Blame Game’ followed. Warning: careful when promising chocolate to volunteers in a room of 300! Half the room were reaching for the ceiling! I had signs for the different groups and got the room to suggest reasons why one group may blame another. By this point everyone was shouting out. We moved onto Fairtrade and a simplified version of the chocolate game using prices to involve more people– for every pound spent, put up your hand if you think the chocolate company gets over 10p… 20p… etc?
“I finished up with the explanation of how everyone could get involved and had twenty minutes to spare which was great as there were so many questions (including a marriage proposal)! Everyone was interested to hear that this was happening in other schools – to get them all talking would be fantastic.
“I was told that the current supply chain is ‘ridiculous’ and given lots of suggestions as to how I could improve it – from starting a charity recycling uniforms to making a company that gives all its money to the growers to ‘making it like Cuba where everyone’s paid the same – why don’t they just do that?’. These gave a great starting point to what wasn’t possible but also what was – and to be done by them!
“And the girl at the front? Her hand was first up when the room was asked who would be interested in coming back for the next workshop.”
Are you a teacher looking for support to get your school going Fairtrade? If you’d like to work with a Fairtrade School Mentor like Lucy, then register your interest online today.
Greetings from sunny Oxford.
My name’s Lauren, and I am one of the fabulous new People & Planet interns. This year, I’ll be working on climate change education and workshops in schools and colleges, and on lots of exciting enterprise projects to help People & Planet stay active and independent. (Money stuff. Boring, I know.)
Before People & Planet, I volunteered delivering Film Club sessions to primary school children alongside completing my PhD at the University of Warwick. I get a real buzz from introducing young people to new ideas and concepts, so I’m thrilled to be working with People & Planet to help support the next generation of activists. I also love yoga, playing football, and dreaming up ways to save the world while wearing pretty dresses.
It’s going to be a great year for People & Planet, and I’m really looking forward to meeting you all. If you are interested in getting us in to do one of our amazing, empowering workshops for your school or college, or if you have any other questions, please get in touch. You can email me on lauren.thompson@peopleandplanet.org, follow me on Twitter @toomanydresses, or add me on Facebook.
Kat Thorne & Jon Bailey receive First Class 'degree' from Caroline Lucas
People & Planet’s first ever parliamentary event took place yesterday, in Portcullis House. Representatives of over forty universities who achieved a First Class Honours in the 2012 Green League joined other distinguished guests for two hours of discussion, debate and celebration.
One of these guests was the leader of the Green Party (for another two months at least) Caroline Lucas. In an interview before the event, Caroline emphasised how successful the Green League had been in the five years since it began, encouraging progress and change. This year, universities reduced their carbon emissions by 4%. Caroline was optimistic that the Green League could be a model for other sectors of society and the economy to emulate. This idea was taken up enthusiastically later in the panel debate – where couldn’t the Green League model be applied! How about MP’s constituency offices? What about reputation-savvy large corporates? Schools and the further education sector?
Jonathon Porritt (Founding Director of Forum for the Future) brought everyone back down to earth with some cold hard statistics – only 0.66% of universities’ energy is self-generated. Absolutely pathetic! It’s too easy to buy in renewable energy, it needs to be produced too. Jonathon reckons that universities have all the assets necessary to generate their own energy. They could take advantage of the government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) to buy biomass boilers, or collaborate to invest in big wind generator projects. Better, he thinks, to address carbon cutting measures and carbon generating measures at the same time, rather than set up an unhelpful ‘either/or’ opposition.
Sadly, Jonathon doesn’t see any help from the government coming any time soon. In fact, in his view, they are a bunch of “sustainability illiterate mugwumps” who need to be re-educated or better educated. Instead, hope lies with students who must be engaged and empowered by the inclusion of sustainability in the curriculum.
Kat Thorne from the University of Greenwich, this year’s winners, responded positively to these suggestions. Despite the problems Greenwich has faced along the way (a flight path blocking their wind farm plans; poor communication from the local authorities; the restrictions of having heritage buildings), their achievements so far have been more than impressive, and Kat is hoping for more. Kat takes the ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’ approach, and sees communication and collaboration as integral parts of universities’ future progress. Communication should be particularly with the students, and there needs to be a focus on the positive aspects of sustainability – not just managing and reducing the negative ones. For example, knowledge and engagement with sustainability is an increasingly employable skill.
Tim Pryce, of the Carbon Trust, agrees and described the “financial business case for significant carbon reductions”. Reducing carbon is not just good for the environment, but good for the economy too – something that former members of today’s government also acknowledge. The cost effective argument is undoubtedly a very powerful one for many; Jonathon Porritt went so far as to say that the green rhetoric should shift from cutting carbon to cutting pounds, as a more persuasive tool in times of austerity.
This audience, though, was already convinced about the merits of cutting carbon – and more importantly, they had taken great strides in doing something about it. So after all this debate, they were invited up to receive their First Class Honours awards from Caroline Lucas, suitably clad in a graduation gown.
All too soon it was time to leave, and as I walked out I noticed what I hadn’t before – that a 2006 portrait of David Cameron was hung outside the door. Funny, isn’t it, that yet again the government was sat outside the room, while the green agenda moved on inside – time to brave it, David, you might even like it in here.
A blog post from students in the University of Birmingham People & Planet society.
The University of Birmingham was ranked 89th in the People and Planet Green League, and gained a 2:2 award.
We’ve left the Vice Chancellor this certificate and letter (shown below), and are keen to work with the Vice Chancellor, his team and the Sustainability Task Group so that the University gets a better result next year.
Students protesting at Green League result
Dear University of Birmingham,
We’ve just dropped off your degree certificate for this year’s People & Planet Green League. You have successfully achieved a 2:2 in this year’s Green League, ranking a fantastic 89th nationally, down from 53rd last year. A 2:2 is a good score that students should be proud to achieve but, for such a large & well-funded university like this we feel you are falling considerably short of your true potential.
Last year you announced the investment of £600 million pounds into the University, perhaps the single largest investment in its history. However, not a single penny has so far has been ear-marked for a green or ethical initiative. There is plenty you could be investing or doing to improve the University’s sustainability. A simple lesson that you could take to heart would be that if you are going to buy the Vice Chancellor a new Jaguar to drive him from his newly refurbished free university mansion to work, then you should probably have carbon management plan in place for university cars and some basic policy or plans to make sure refurbishments improve the sustainability of the refurbished buildings.
Unlike many of our peers we don’t have a Ethical Investment Policy and the bank we use for much of the university money, Barclays, has been shown to be one of the largest investors in the arms trade – this clearly isn’t scoring you any points.
We also question whether it is appropriate for a charitable institution, which is meant to work for the public good, to support the arms trade?
Another area in which you perform pretty dismally, when compared with the rest of sector, is integrating sustainability into the curriculum. Many universities are making sure their students are equipped for the future work place where sustainability will be vital by integrating modules on the environment & sustainability into their courses.
There have been some notable improvements in the University’s green credentials in recent years – with efficiency gains and better integration with some student schemes on the horizon. These efficiency gains should all be completed, as they are both excellent for the university financially and in terms of image. They are also creating a shift in ideas away from waste in all areas.
However, what we would really commend would be some real improvements which are outside the remit of ruthless efficiency savings techniques – though, in terms of energy and material efficiency savings there is commendation for implementation – the real task is to move towards being a low-carbon university by looking at long-term and far-reaching changes in the way we use energy and materials. We know, through such publications as the ‘Stern Report’ for the DECC, that ‘cutting carbon’ will yield far better returns in terms of global economic cost-benefit. We also know that due to the 2007-08 Climate Change Act, the UK must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% based on 1990 levels. How is the University going to manage its stake of the 20% cut by 2020? Efficiency savings are not the answer. They will never solve the problem of sustainability.
If you are really as concerned about league tables as you say you are we suggest you invest heavily into the sustainability task group and also begin writing some policy that actively points the University of Birmingham towards a sustainable future.
Feel free to hang this certificate up somewhere prominent.
Please try harder.
Best,
University of Birmingham People & Planet Society.
Full Green league results can be found here http://peopleandplanet.org/green-league-2012/tables?ggl12profile=8684&test=8aff42
Aberdeen fell back to a 2:1 Award this year
Written by Joanna Wilson, Aberdeen People & Planet
The waiting is over, the eagerly anticipated Green League results are out! And with a shock result for the University of Aberdeen. As somebody who spends most of my time, not studying, but lobbying the University on Green and Environmental issues, imagine my disappointment to find that the university has fallen a whopping 49 places. This takes Aberdeen from a First Class degree to an Upper-Second Class, and makes them one of the biggest fallers this year! When last year’s results were published I remember feeling proud that my beloved university held the same beliefs as I did, that environmental issues should be a top priority. However, this time around I can feel no such feelings. In fact all I can feel is a distinct disappointment.
Looking back over the year it is, perhaps, easy to see how the University has fallen in the ranks so badly. With the (surprise) rise in tuition fees for overseas students, lecturer strikes, job losses and occupations demanding the Principle speaks out against pension reforms and even that he return his unbelievably huge bonus, perhaps it easy to see why environmental issues have been put to one side. This, however, is not an excuse! In today’s climate, the only realistic way forward is in a green economy and the university should not only be promoting this in their environmental endeavours but also setting an example to its students who will be the future of this country.
Aberdeen students raise environmental awareness during Go Green Week 2012
Let’s end on a high shall we? As the Environment and Ethics Officer for the next academic year I say that students at Aberdeen should band together and lobby our university to aim to climb back up to a respectable First Class degree! We, as students, are expected to after all! We know now that the university has the capabilities for this, we have been there before, let’s hold them to account and Green up our Uni!