Justin Edwards and Lucy Forrester
Justin and Lucy are joint Eco Champions in the Communications and International Relations Division. Here they explain how they manage their role together, helping the division and the University become more sustainable.
Since becoming Eco Champions around two years ago, we have already seen positive differences around the University. When we started, Cardiff University was 84th in the People and Planet Green League Table. In June 2009 the University was ranked 17th which is a fantastic improvement. Our aspiration is to help in whatever way possible to be higher next year, hopefully with the help of all Cardiff University staff and students.
Our aim is to make people aware of issues and that small changes can make a big difference. In an ideal workplace, we would like to see sustainable choices as second nature. For example, automatically always ordering recycled paper, always photocopying double-sided and not printing out emails if unnecessary, put what can be recycled in the recycling bin, and our biggest bugbear, encouraging staff to turn off electrical equipment at night. We endeavour to raise awareness by co-ordinating and distributing information about green/eco/sustainability issues via internal notice boards and information posted to our shared drive that all staff can access.
Being eco champions at home, we have found it easy to bring our enthusiasm into the work environment. Outside of work, we make sure we are always recycling, using less packaging and that we cut down on gas and electricity consumption. Justin has signed up to a Read/Reduce/Reward scheme with his supplier and year on year has reduced his utilities consumption enough to buy 4 return Eurostar tickets to Paris (obviously not flying!). We both refuse carrier bags, compost our waste food and buy ethical or eco-friendly goods and use eco-friendly suppliers. Travelling by public transport where we can has also become quite regular for us.
We both feel lucky in that most people are becoming more aware of issues such as carbon levels, sustainability and recycling at home. More people than ever are recycling and people see the immediate financial reward for turning down the thermostat a few degrees at home, switching off the standby, using energy efficient bulbs. A great initiative that the Eco Champion group has introduced is a monthly report that will go out to each building to show energy consumption. We hope this will encourage more people to work with us to improve on energy consumption.
The main challenge for us is to make people bring that attitude to work. We are working hard to try and encourage people to always print and photocopy double-sided; put jumpers on instead of turning the heating up; and to think about what you put in the bin! These simple ideas will have a massive impact if we all try to do at least one of them.