This year, Go Green Salford ran between February 28th – March 27th and explored four themes: Our Planet, Our Food, Our Resources and Our Nature.
Throughout the month, we saw lots of engagement and support from our students, staff and local community. A massive thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s events!
In this post, you will find a summary of all of the events, including links to recordings and resources.
The first week opened with Instagram live streams, where we spoke with four inspirational guests:
- Godiya Olinze – MSc Environmental Assessment & Management student at the University of Salford and a passionate sustainability advocate. We talk about her studies, sustainability journey and everyday actions we can all take to help the planet.
- Fay Watts – owner of The Dispensary, Salford’s first zero-waste shop based in Walkden Town Centre. We talked about zero-waste shopping habits, running a sustainable business, and the importance of education in the fight against the climate crisis.
- Jenny Bennion – Peatlands Communications Officer at Lancashire Wildlife Trust. We talked about the #PeatFree campaign, the importance of peatlands for the planet and our wildlife, and the ways in which we can all help restore and protect it.
- Watch the recording here
- Help protect peatlands:
- Holly Broadhurst – PhD student in Molecular Ecology at the University of Salford. He talked about her research, what to consider when applying for a PhD, and her sustainability journey.
- Watch the recording here
- Follow Holly’s research journey on Instagram
We also celebrated World Wildlife Day, and ran our first Hedgehog Friendly Workshop, as part of the Hedgehog Friendly Campus campaign which aims to make our campus as safe and welcoming for wildlife as possible. The purpose of this workshop was to learn about the basics of wildlife surveying, including methods and tools. As a result of these workshops, we’ve now got footprint tunnels and camera traps installed on campus. To stay up to date with news about hedgehogs on campus, you can learn more about the Hedgehog Friendly Campus campaign here, and join us on Teams!
During the second week, we supported the second Food Waste Action Week which aimed to create lasting change that helps to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goal of halving global food waste by 2030. To read about the Food Waste Action week, and to find lots of useful tips and recipes to help you reduce food waste on a daily basis, visit the Love Food Hate Waste website here.
We also hosted two Instagram live streams with:
- Emma Lawton – geography student at the University of Salford and creator of the Salford Swap Shop. We talked about Emma’s studies at Salford, avoiding food waste & eating sustainably on a student budget, and sustainable fashion.
- Watch the recording here
- Follow the Salford Swap Shop on Instagram
- Holly and Josh from Impact Score – a free app designed to help us make better shopping decisions by scoring products according to sustainability criteria. We talked about the idea behind the app, how it works, the different aspects of sustainability it considers, and what’s coming next.
The week started off with the first ever Salford Swap Shop. This initiative was created by Emma Lawton, a geography student at the University of Salford, to help promote sustainable fashion. The idea is simple: donate your unwanted clothes and swap them for someone else’s. There was also a sewing station with buttons, zips and ribbons to customise the clothes. Alongside the clothes swap, donations were also collected for the British Hedgehog Preservation Charity (we collected over £130 pounds!) and there was an option to pick up some local herb and plant seeds. The second Salford Swap Shop is coming soon in May! Follow it on Instagram to stay up to date.
We also had two Instagram live streams that week:
- Rowan Pritchard – Graduate Associate at the University of Salford Art Collection team. We talked about her journey from studying to working at Salford, her current role, and her approach to sustainability in personal life & work as an artist ??
- Watch the recording here
- Find out more about Rowan’s work on her website
- Gideon Marriott – University of Salford graduate (MSc Sustainability) and a green woodworker. We talked about his journey to his current role, his degree, why he decided to study at Salford, and the role and challenges of sustainability in a small business.
- Watch the recording here
- Follow Gideon’s work on Instagram
We also held a zero waste pop-up with The Dispensary at the Media City campus, and organised an online event exploring the links between nature and wellbeing (watch recording here – internal login required).
The last week of Go Green Salford was full of events dedicated to our local natural environment and wildlife:
- Live stream with Caitlin Cross – BSc Wildlife and Practical Conservation student at the University of Salford and Chair of the Wildlife Society. We talked about Caitlin’s interest in wildlife, her studies and placement year at Chester Zoo, and the Wildlife Society – how to join and the benefits for students’ skills & employability.
- Nature on Our Doorstep – event exploring the urban nature of Salford with Dr Luke Blazejewski, a Manchester-based photographer and filmmaker, and a researcher at the University of Salford. His creative work focuses on capturing and celebrating the presence of the wonderful, and sometimes unexpected, nature in urban settings. You can find out more about his work on his website. The event started with a screening of one of Luke’s films – Salford Wetlands, which explores the wildlife of our local wetlands area. This will be followed by his talk on the importance and benefits of the relationship between nature and people in urban environments. There will also be an opportunity to ask Luke questions at the end.
- Watch Salford Wetlands here.
- Salford Tree Trail Tour and visit at the “You Belong Here” exhibition – this in-person event included a guided tour of a part of the Salford Tree Trail, followed by a visit to “You Belong Here” exhibition at the Salford Museum & Art Gallery, which celebrates Salford’s green spaces.
- Eyes Peeled for Nature 2022 – a series of events including workshops, online talks, quizzes, blogs, and live feeds which celebrate the wildlife which can be found in and around Peel Park. It ran throughout March and ended with a BioBlitz (24h of wildlife surveys and recording) on 25 & 26/03.
For a quick summary of all the events and even more useful resources, visit the Go Green Salford 2022 webpage! And don’t forget to follow us on social media, to stay up to date about our upcoming events and volunteering opportunities: