The Green CSE team, who share an office in Newton Building, won our recent Go for Gold Week prize of a tea party, despite some stiff competition from other teams (congratulations in particular to The Green Machine in the Sports Centre, to the SURF and SURGE teams and to everyone who completed actions during the week. I took the opportunity when delivering their cake and tea to take some photos of their office, which includes a Green Impact noticeboard displaying the team’s contributions.This includes a list of Green New Years’ Resolutions (turning old newspapers into paper logs, taking used yogurt pots into local schools for remodelling, turning off the heater an hour earlier than usual and wearing jumpers, turning the thermostat down by one degree, ensuring a planned takeover of Stretford Town Hall is as green as possible, and my personal favourite:”Cut down on unnecessary purchases of shoes” (hopefully our clothes swap on 5th March will be up your street!).
The team has switched to using 100% recycled, chlorine-free paper and display their Lighting and Equipment Management Plan on their noticeboard. Team members told me how much they’d enjoyed taking part, despite initial misgivings. Lynsey Grace said “it was surprisingly easy to complete a lot of the tasks and I was pleased to make a positive contribution to the environment”. Susan Press expressed how her green impact has spread beyond the office: “it made me think about how I could be more environmentally friendly at home and I have involved my children in this”. Agreeing with her, Barbara Kelly reports that “Green Impact has made me think about issues that I haven’t before and we have all had fun doing it”. Team lead Daniel Wadsworth spoke of how his team have supported their progress, discovering hidden talents and having fun along the way: “Looking down the list for the bronze award it was clear that we already did a lot of the requirements without even realising it. This just goes to prove just how easy it is to become that little bit more green, and each little step taken helps this University save money and in turns helps save the planet.Having now completed the bronze award, the silver award and a lot of the extra challenges, we have made a lot of progress within CSE to ensure we are a greener department. Emails have been sent out to all academics, technical staff and across the University, with responses quickly received including the possibility of a space for growing fruit and vegetables.”
Well done everyone! GreenCSE are showing that Green Impact can be fun, can foster better team coordination and can help staff develop knowledge and skills both in and out of work. Looking forward to seeing how other teams fare- and remember to send us your success stories- we want to share them!
