In March, we ran a series of events for this year’s Go Green Salford. They followed four themes, one for each week, and aimed at raising awareness of environmental issues related to food, wildlife, waste, and climate. Throughout the month, we saw lots of engagement and involvement from our community, including both staff and students!
Don’t worry if you missed any of it – here’s a summary of everything that’s happened throughout the month, including recordings from all events and useful resources to learn more about each theme.
Week 1: Food
1 – 7 March
During the first week, we focused on food – sharing planet-friendly recipes, and tips on how not to waste it. We also supported the first ever Food Waste Action Week organized by WRAP, and the Fairtrade Fortnight online festival. We were joined by the Salfood team, who shared tips on reusing coffee grounds, and offered fresh herbs to our staff and students on campus, and by one of our students, Abbie Storan, who shared her recipe for veggie enchiladas.
Resources
Environmental Sustainability at Salfood
Fairtrade Foundation – learn about what Fairtrade means, why it matters, and how to find Fairtrade products.
Love Food Hate Waste – find out why we should reduce our food waste, and how to do it with lots of useful resources and easy recipes.
Books: Ruthledge Handbook of Food Waste, Waste-Free Kitchen Handbook: A Guide to Eating Well and Saving Money By Wasting Less Food
Films & documentaries: Wasted! The Story of Food Waste, Rotten
Week 2: Green spaces
8 – 14 March
This week, we encouraged outdoor activities, such as cycling instead of driving, and completing our very own Tree Trail. We also shared tips for welcoming wildlife into your garden by making it hedgehog friendly, or making bird feeders (easy tutorials here and here). On Wednesday, we held a great event with Dr Luke Blazejewski, a wildlife photographer and filmmaker, where he talked about the importance of urban nature. The event included a screening of one of Luke’s films – Salford Wetland. You can view the recording from the talk and Q&A here, and access more of Luke’s work here.
Resources
Hedgehog Friendly Campus – this is a campaign which aims to revive hedgehog populations by raising awareness and improving habitats across the UK campuses. At the beginning of this year, our University achieved the Bronze accreditation! You can read more about the campaign here, and join the Teams group here.
Love to Ride – an online platform with lots of useful tips and resources for both new and adept cyclists. You can also log your mileage and enter prize draws.
Books: Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm, RSPB Handbook of Garden Wildlife
Films & documentaries: A Life on Our Planet, Kiss the Ground
Week 3: Waste
15 – 21 March
During the third week, we had lots of great events and content following the theme of waste.
On Wednesday, we were joined by Jess Janvier, a Fashion Image Making and Styling (FIMS) student from our University, for an online talk about finding balance between being passionate about fashion and caring for the environment. She shared useful tips for sustainable clothes shopping, too. You can watch the recording from the event here. Jess also wrote a post for our blog about her personal perspective on the environmental impacts of fashion. Another FIMS student, Isobel Webster, also wrote a blog post where she shared her favourite sustainable creators and designers.
On Thursday, we launched the Plastic Free University of Salford campaign. Using a framework provided by the charity Surfers Against Sewage, it aims to help the university achieve its commitment to eliminate all avoidable single use plastics. The campaign is led by us, the Environmental Sustainability Team, and Stephanie Bateman, who is a Wildlife Conservation student at our University, and the founder of The Environment Coach, where she offers workshops and courses on sustainability and climate anxiety. You can watch the recording from the launch here, and read more about the University’s commitment here. We’re currently auditing university departments to establish where single use plastics are currently being used, and more information on the campaign will be available soon.
On Friday we had two more events. First, we were joined by Kirsten from Hey Girls, a social enterprise which aims to fight period poverty and help organizations such as our University provide free period products to those in need. Hey Girls products (specifically reusable pads and menstrual cups) will soon be available for pick-up on the Peel Park campus – more information will be available in the next few weeks. You can watch the recording from the event here, and read more about Hey Girls on their website. On Friday evening, we were joined by another FIMS student – Beth Duncan, who led an upcycling workshop, where she showed us how old or unwanted clothes can be remade and given a new life instead of being thrown away. You can watch the recording here. Beth has also shared with us her favourite sustainable creators and sources of inspiration: More or Less Magazine, Collina Strada, Masha Popova, Lou de Betoly, Story mfg., Bode New York, Alexandra Sipa, Kapital Global, Kevin Germanier, Bethany Williams, Ottolinger, Maryam Nassir Zadeh.
Resources
How we reduce our waste at University of Salford
A to Z of Waste and Recycling at University of Salford
Abbie Storan’s sustainable swaps
Salford Litter Heroes – if you’d like to get involved in litter picking, you can join this community group and help contribute towards cleaner streets in Salford.
Books: How to Break up with Fast Fashion, No more rubbish excuses
Films & documentaries: The True Cost, Riverblue, A Plastic Ocean, Seaspiracy
Week 4: Climate
22 – 28 March
The last week of Go Green Salford was all about the climate and ways in which we can all make a difference and fight climate change.
On Tuesday, we hosted a talk with Josh Simpson from Impact Score. He told us about their app which helps its users become more conscious consumers by revealing businesses’ actual environmental and social impacts. You can find out more about the app here, and watch the recording from the talk here.
On Wednesday we were joined by Dr Rosie Anthony, a lecturer in Climate Change and Sustainability at the University of Salford. Rosie gave an incredibly informative talk which aimed to help us get an understanding of the science behind climate change by debunking the technical terms. She also told us how everyone can take responsibility and action to have an impact. You can watch the recording here. In addition, Rosie has provided us with lots of useful resources to learn about climate change:
Websites: Climate Action Tracker, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), United Nations Climate Action, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), The Committee on Climate Change, Carbon Brief
Instagram: @unep @futureearth @goclimate @earthbyhelena @earthrise.studio @shado.mag @theclimatecoalition @ssustainably_ @ashden_org @climatecrisishub @guardian
Twitter: @GretaThunberg @SDGsCoLabm@theCCCuk @CarbonBrief @TyndallCentre @unredd @FAOclimate @FAO @GCAdaptation
On Friday we held our last event. Our guest was Jo Hand, a co-founder of Giki, which is a social enterprise aimed at helping us track and reduce our carbon footprint for all kinds of activities – from our grocery shopping habits to the way we travel. You can read all about Giki on their website, and watch the recording from Jo’s talk here.
During that week, we also posted on our blog about the wasteful side of technology, and encouraged our community to get involved in this year’s Earth Hour.
Resources
How we manage our carbon, water and energy at University of Salford
Books: The Sustainable(ish) Living Guide, How bad are bananas?, The Future We Choose
Films & documentaries: Our Planet, Before the Flood, 2040
A massive thank you to everyone who got involved in this year’s Go Green Salford, and everyone who attended our events and helped us spread the word. Although the events are now over, you can still participate in our challenge and enter the prize draw until April 22! Take a look at the image below to see how you can take part with your friends and family.
And remember to follow us on social media to stay up to date with our events and campaigns:
Photo credit: Katie Smith, Mike Benna, Gary Chan and Thomas Park on Unsplash.