We are going out of our way to encourage students to behave more sustainably this year.

We have developed a Student Engagement Strategy with lots of interesting activities being planned.

One of these activities was delivering a campaign at the start of term in all of the halls of residences. We worked with accomodation services to deliver a co ordinated campaign where the main messages were to turn stuff off and recycle! Pretty simple really.

These photos show some of the flavour of the campaign:

Plant a tree and help to achieve a new Guinness World Record with the BBC.

On Saturday 5th December 11am-12noon the BBC is launching an attempt to plant the most amount of trees ever in one hour, across the UK.

You can find out more about the local and national tree planting events and giveaways on the Tree O’clock website.

To coincide with this initiative here at Newcastle University we expect delivery on Friday of the free trees that were ordered by many staff at our World Environment Day event.

These trees will be available for collection from 12.00-1.30pm on Friday 4th December, outside Merz Court.

Hannah

We are developing a new electricity use campaign called “Switch off 2010!”

The main message of the campaign is to switch off electrical items when not in use- especially when staff leave for home!

The target audience is mainly staff and we will be hitting a building per week every week starting in January with the “Switch Off 2010!” campaign.

When developing any communications we have to consider our target audience and what response we desire. We need to explore: what language to use, how to use it, what material will be engaging, what will prick the awareness bubble, what will drive action…Etc etc.

Every sentence and what it infers is poured over and debated! This has been especially hard this time as it is the first time the whole team has been involved in one project.

The “slog” on this communication has highlighted again to me how much I enjoy the creative process when you are producing communications. It is really challenging to get everybody’s opinion into the content and then finding a compromise that 1) people are happy about but 2) still gets the desired response from the reader.

Our communications content usually start life as a bit of work someone has strung together. The whole team then breaks it down until we are happy with it. This means lots of passing around on the email and meetings etc.

There have been a few versions of the current communications leaflet we are working on because we kinda over engineered it to start with……then we reviewed it.. then we went to the Futerra masterclass …. and we reviewed it again!!!!

The next step is to market test the 1st draft for feedback- so we will be passing this to our 70 odd Environmental Co ordinators before next meeting for feedback….and it could be back to the drawing board! Yoikes!

Any hoo here is our draft before it goes to the printers to prepare a pdf for environmental co ordinator to comment on. (our printers Alphagraphics are very patient and produce excellent results from our scribbles!)
Dan

It’s getting towards that festive time of year again, bring on the mince pies!

If you’re looking for Christmas gift ideas with a difference the Energy Saving Trust have just published a list of fun, environmentally friendly options aimed at the whole family on their website.

So if you’re looking for some gift inspiration check out the Energy Saving Trust webpage to found out more.

Happy Shopping!
Hannah

We have just introduced campus textile recycling.

We have had textile recycling in the student residences for a long time but we still generate quite a bit on campus too:

The recycling facility is ran by The Salvation Army.

Textiles made from both natural and man-made fibres can be recycled. Textiles include: curtains, bedding, towels, handbags, cloths, rugs and mats.

PLEASE NOTE WE CANNOT ACCEPT ANY PERSONAL TEXTILES FROM HOME. All textiles to be recycled must have been generated as part of University activities.

Make sure the items are clean. We cannot accept oily rags. Remove any NU logos.

Clothes placed in the textile bank are taken to a warehouse for sorting and separated into those good enough to wear again and those that aren’t.

Textiles good enough to wear again are often exported to Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe.

The rest is reprocessed: 22% will be used as filling for furniture, vehicle seats etc; 12% will be used as industrial rags or wiping cloths. Only 7% cannot be used again.

The fibre reclamation process
The mills grade incoming material by material type and colour. The colour sorting means no re-dying has to take place, saving energy and pollutants. Initially the material is shredded into fibres then spun ready for reweaving or knitting. The new yarns can then be used to make new items.

The new fibres can be used to make new clothes, furnishings, blankets, towels and many more things. Industrial quality “blankets” which protect equipment whilst being transporting is one example of what recycled textiles may become.

It is getting to that time of year and I know some of you will be concerned about socially responsible shopping.

By purchasing from companies that are more socially and environmentally responsible, you can arguably help make the world a better place for everyone. Here is a decent guide:

http://mashable.com/2009/09/06/socially-responsible-shopping/

Newcastle based www.MadeInNations.com is on the list, a not-for-profit organisation which shows the country of origin of popular consumer goods and cars.

Made In Nations is doing some research work and is seeking some opinion/information.

If you are interested and have 5 minutes please email: Oliver Heidrich (Newcastle University academic) at oliver@seqm.com and request a questionnaire

Dan

Hi all sorry for the late notification on this one but just in case any one is interested the student action group, People and Planet, are doing a free screening of “The Age of Stupid” tonight in the Union lounge at 7pm.

The Age of Stupid is “… enormously ambitious drama-documentary-animation hybrid stars Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as an old man living in the devastated world of 2055, watching ‘archive’ footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change while we had the chance?”

More details here:

http://www.ageofstupid.net

People & Planet is the largest, student network in Britain campaigning to end world poverty, defend human rights and protect the environment.

PS There is a cake stall also!

Thanks

Daniel

We have just launched brand new Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Whether you want to start a discussion on the Facebook page or get an insight into a day in the life of the Sustainability Team through our updates on Twitter, we’d love for you to get involved!

You can find our twitter site at: http://twitter.com/NUSusTeam

To find our Facebook page, search for ‘NU Sustainability Team’ and you can become a fan. We’ll be updating the page with information on our latest campaigns and any upcoming events.

So become a fan or a follower and we’ll hopefully be hearing from you soon.

Hannah