The problem with “Green Week”

We are all guilty of not being as green as we could be. I know for one that I am guilty of chucking recyclables in my little desk bin at times when the journey to the recycling bin (just outside of my office) seems too far. Yet I just can’t help but feel that hosting a Green Week is not the way to combat these behaviours.

Traditionally a Green Week takes the form of a series of small events leading up to a big event at the endof the week. This big change could be a campus wide switch off of computers or some other green initiative. My fundamental problem with the concept of a ‘Week’ celebration whether it’s about sustainability, LGBT rights or absolutely anything else; is that they aren’t fostering a change in attitude. Surely the point of any green initiative should be to embed sustainability into the consciousness of everyone across college both staff and students. Instead I feel we end up with grand tokenistic gestures which do little to change attitudes. To be completely honest after doing some research I can’t help but

Tokenistic gestures which do little to change attitudes.

feel that Imperial College simply isn’t doing enough to improve its environmental sustainability. Every year People and Planet publish a green league table of universities using a ranking system based on environmental and ethical performance. I’m aware that all league tables have their flaws (let’s not start talking about the NSS here) but in 2012 Imperial College was placed at 96th, this is a fall from a placing of 78th in 2011. The league table looks at a plethora of different sustainability and environmental criteria and awards each institution with a degree classification – Imperial got a 2.2. For an institution that strives for excellence this is surely not what we should be aiming for?

We have all heard the standard excuses when it comes to green issues; ‘Turning my lights off won’t make a difference’ and ‘To gain excellence in research its necessary to leave this (insert scientific apparatus with high energy consumption here) on all night’. The point of this piece is not to argue with either of these stances, merely just to say that I think if we want wide scale change we need buy in from a lot of individuals. I am not criticising College and putting the Union on a pedestal. The Union recognises that it has a way to go with green initiatives. But this is something very much on the radar, the Union has just received a quote to increase the number of glass washers further decreasing the use of plastic skiffs. It is not just the direct environmental effect that this will have that it is important, it is the idea of establishing the role that sustainability plays in the culture of the Union.

So this is all very well and good, but how to do go about ‘changing a culture’ and making a difference, well I would argue that is not for me to sit and dictate from my office. To effect change on a campus wide basis we need student involvement at every level from the very beginning. This is the cheesy bit where I say WE NEED YOU. Myself and the Environmental Officer will be hosting a Green Forum at the Union on Friday 2nd November from 12.30-13.30 in Meeting room 8, Union building. If you agree with the sentiment of this article come along, and importantly if you don’t then also please come along to air your views and get the ball rolling. I promise to stop throwing my recyclables in my desk bin, but that alone is not enough…