Brasenose has already taken many positive steps to improve its sustainability, however it has the potential to do even more. In my first term as student Environment Rep I have been working hard towards realizing this potential. As someone who cares deeply about environmental issues it has been highly rewarding to be part of some important changes. We now have a battery recycling system in place and a collection box for unwanted items so that they go to local social enterprises and charity shops rather than in the bin. We will also have recycling bins at Brasenose Ball to help reduce the environmental impact of that much-anticipated event. Looking ahead, we are hoping to get permanent recycling bins on quad and food waste bins in kitchens to reduce the amount we send to landfill. ‘Secondary glazing’ is also being slowly rolled out for as many windows as possible across our sites
A recent survey of students helped me get a sense of the changes people want to see around college and also the level of interest in sustainability issues. There was a high response rate and respondents ranked the importance of sustainability highly. Of course there will have been a considerable sampling bias, but this was still nice to see. A number of good suggestions for potential improvements were put forward which I will now look into. These included rolling out motion-sensitive lighting in hallways rather than it being on all the time and reducing the amount of packaging used in hall.
As well as working to make Brasenose more sustainable my role involves raising awareness of environmental issues. To do this I ran a vegan welfare tea earlier in the term to publicize how much switching to a vegan diet - or even just reducing your meat and dairy intake - can reduce the overall carbon footprint of your lifestyle. I have also entered Brasenose in the Green Impact awards for the first time this year. This is an exciting NUS scheme which rewards Colleges and Departments in Universities across the UK for taking positive sustainability steps. There are many criteria that can be met, with a couple of examples including encouraging use of reusable cups through discount schemes, publicizing what can and can’t be recycled and kitchens using sustainably sourced produce. Various awards can be obtained, and this year we are aiming for a Bronze. I want to thank my Green Impact team for their help in ensuring we meet all the criteria and therefore will (hopefully) be successful.
Over this term I have come across a number of challenges. In particular it is hard to keep people interested in and thinking about environmental issues as they go about their daily lives. I completely understand that it isn’t easy to remember to think about acting sustainably whilst also living a busy Oxford life. Therefore I have tried to encourage environmentally-friendly behavior in a realistic way - in my weekly emails I advise people about small changes they can make in their lives to reduce their environmental impact. I have also encountered difficulties when trying to push for changes to make Brasenose’s beautiful old buildings more environmentally-friendly. The stone walls are highly inefficient at retaining heat which is a hard problem to address and double-glazing isn’t an option for the old windows. But there are things that can be done, such as the previously mentioned ‘secondary-glazing’ on windows as a compromise. I am highly optimistic that Brasenose can become an even more sustainable and environmentally-friendly college over the coming years.
by Rachel Dunne (Second Year Physics & Philosophy student)