{"id":788,"date":"2024-02-26T11:59:56","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T11:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/?p=788"},"modified":"2025-04-08T10:37:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T09:37:47","slug":"nusu-sustainability-week-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/2024\/02\/26\/nusu-sustainability-week-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainability Week: the highlights!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Running Monday through Friday last week, Newcastle University Student\u2019s Union (NUSU) collaborated with a wide variety of groups and individuals (including us the Sustainability Team!) to organise an action-packed week of sustainability events. Read on to learn more about the range of engaging and thought provoking sessions put on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image: an aerial shot of the Students\u2019 Union building with other campus buildings, Leazes Park, and St
James\u2019 Park in the background. Credit: Elemental Photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Monday 19 February<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Second-hand Market<\/strong>
To kick off the week, Alex Theodosiou (NUSU\u2019s Activities Officer) organised a market of student-run stalls for our university community to come together and exchange items. Championing reuse and the circular economy, the event helped to find new homes for a variety of items and thus extended their useful lifespans!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Information Stalls\/Q&A with Newcastle University<\/strong>
Next, in the nearby King\u2019s Road Boiler House, we in the University\u2019s Sustainability Team hosted a Q&A and information fair on everything sustainability at the University and beyond! Stall holders included Newcastle City Council, the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, and the Student Brewing Society. Additionally, our Q&A panel included sustainability professionals from our team alongside postgraduate students, NUSU representatives, and our Pro-Vice-Chancellor Global and Sustainability, Richard Davies!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give it a Go: Making Upcycled Crafts Tea Lights<\/strong>
Continuing the circular economy theme of the morning\u2019s second-hand market, Monday finished with an upcycling workshop to create home d\u00e9cor at no cost to the planet! The social was a lovely, relaxed way to wrap up the first day with new people and a chance to get creative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday 20 February<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Swap Shop<\/strong>
Tuesday began with a return of the popular Swap Shop initiative at NUSU! The event drew colleagues and students from across campus to reduce purchases of new items and instead find new homes for all sorts of clothing via direct swaps. This non-monetary approach was continued at the end, with all unused clothing being donated to local charity shops!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give it a Go: Charity Shop Tour<\/strong>
Following on perfectly from the morning\u2019s Swap Shop, Tuesday afternoon featured a tour of our favourite charity shops in town and introduced colleagues and students to the range of quality items that can be found when low-impact shopping!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image: students walk through Armstrong Quad surrounded by greenery. Credit: Nick Figgis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday 21 February<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Fossil Free Careers Workshop with People and Planet<\/strong>
Offering information and ideas for greener futures, the Fossil Free Careers campaign joined People and Planet to host an engaging workshop on sustainable work and decarbonising the recruitment industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give it a Go: Beach walk and collecting items for upcycling crafting<\/strong>
Wednesday afternoon saw a trip to the coast to explore King Edward\u2019s Bay and Long Sands beach and learn about the valuable crafts materials we\u2019d elsewise simply walk past. The trip included gathering of shells, pebbles, and driftwood, all in preparation for the crafts session on Thursday!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday 22 February<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Sustainable Finance with John Adams<\/strong>
<\/em>The first session on Thursday was a workshop with former banker John Adams on the financial flows and major state and corporate players fuelling climate change. The session widened to include a wide range climate change associated issues and offered food for thought on the ways that the financial and fossil fuels industries can be influenced to reduce their climate destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give it a Go: Making beach upcycled crafts
<\/strong>The second part to Wednesday\u2019s beach walk, Thursday finished with an upcycling crafts session to transform the resources gathered the day before into stunning decorations!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday 23 February<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Pond Workshop & Ouseburn Trip with Mike Jeffries<\/strong>
To finish off the week, NUSU Go Volunteer and Eco-soc came together with Professor Mike Jeffries of Northumbria University for a hands-on introduction to small scale freshwater habitats, the biodiversity they support, and how we can create and maintain them in our communities! This session was especially relevant as proposals from the Student Environment and Sustainability Committee for a pond habitat here on campus are currently being considered in plans of projects here at Newcastle University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A huge thank you to NUSU and everyone who got involved to make this such an incredible week of community building, awareness raising, and sustainable action!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Monday through Friday last week, Newcastle University Student\u2019s Union (NUSU) collaborated with a wide variety of groups and individuals (including us the Sustainability Team!) to organise an action-packed week of sustainability events. Read on to learn more about the range of engaging and thought provoking sessions put on! Monday 19 February Second-hand MarketTo kick […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11771,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,13,22],"tags":[69,68,67,56],"class_list":["post-788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-blogs","category-lifestyle","category-news","tag-climate-awareness","tag-student-involvement","tag-sustainability-week","tag-sustainable-action"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11771"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":797,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions\/797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}