• Another award winning term

• Green Impact
Twenty-five staff and students have been trained to become auditors for this year's Green Impact project. Over 100 people, across 32 departments, have signed up to this year's scheme.

• Liz Trumble

Liz, design coordinator in the Design Unit, leads a team of dedicated roof-gardeners who harvested a good crop of lettuces and chard, although their courgettes proved to be less of a success.

• Nicholas Stern wins award for 'pioneering' report on economics of climate change

LSE economist, Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, has won the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Climate Change category.

This was given in recognition of his 'pioneering report' which the award jury said 'shaped and focused the discourse on the economics of climate change'. The advanced economic analysis applied by Lord Stern has been the means to quantify the impacts and costs arising from climate change, as well as providing a unique and robust basis for decision-making.

• Go Green Week a success

Go Green Week 2011 showcased both the serious and the silly side of being 'green' at LSE and was a great success.

The event packed week kicked off on Monday 7 March with the promotion of sustainable fishing, 'Meat Free Monday' and the Part Time Carnivore Campaign.

'Turn it off Tuesday' saw staff and students taking part in a photo competition, signing up to Green Impact auditor training and getting involved in the Student Switch Off campaign. That evening there was also excellent attendance at the Sustainable Revolution public lecture, where speakers included Nick Heller, head of green business operations, Google EMEA.

A rooftop garden workshop and cycling cinema was held on 'Wellbeing Wednesday' to highlight the more active side of being a 'Tree Hugger'. Over 20 students helped create a new growing box to add to LSE's network of rooftop gardens.

Thursday was a fusion of fashion and ethical issues. There was an ethical bead workshop, ethical procurement petition, public lecture and a ReLove event, run in partnership with the Fashion Society.

Friday aimed to promote recycling with the Every Can Counts competition to guess the number of crushed cans in a bale. A human banner was created in Houghton Street to spell out the letters for a national campaign to 'cut carbon, not education' run by People and Planet.

Valentine's Day concluded the week of greenness by encouraging everyone to just love their planet a little bit more. For more information about all things green at LSE, visit www.lse.ac.uk/sustainablelse
 

• Sustainable Projects Fund winners announced

February saw the launch of the Sustainable Futures society’s Sustainable Projects Fund (SPF). Both students and staff were invited to apply for up to £10,000 in grants which would contribute to increasing the sustainability of the School.

The SPF received a total of nine applications, three of which have been awarded funding. Project ideas ranged from starting an LSE bike rental scheme to giving out free customised cotton bags. The three successful applications had one thing in common: they looked to the roofs of LSE for inspiration. The winning applications are:

• £5,000 to Olivier Scialom, Stanislas Bic and Sidhart Gopalan, all postgraduate Management students, for their 'Green Roof' project idea. This laid out plans to build a green roof on one of the buildings on campus, which will see the roof covered by soil and planted with moss and wildflower species. Not only will this contribute to the existing biodiversity of campus, it will also act as an insulator, requiring less energy consumption for heating. The green roof has also been awarded an optional further £2,000 if the project manager can justify the expense

• £2,500 to De Denaro Vieira and Julia Hug which will introduce the concept of urban beekeeping to another rooftop of LSE with the introduction of bee hives

• £500 to Lois Clifton, SU ethics and environment officer, for the 'Roof Garden', which was launched earlier this year. 

The SPF was raised from the revenue generated from the Water Bottle Tax, introduced in 2008, which collects 10 pence for every water bottle purchased on campus. Projects were asked to target carbon management, biodiversity, waste reduction, sustainable agriculture, sustainable water use and education and awareness. The SPF also recognises the value of social and economic sustainability.

It is hoped that the launch of the SPF will have increased awareness of sustainability in LSE itself, as well as creating opportunities for those who would not normally be involved with sustainability efforts on campus. For more on SFP, see www.sustainablefutureslse.com .

• Good Food on the Public Plate 2010

LSE Catering has won yet another prestigious sustainability award.

The 2010 Good Food on the Public Plate award is bestowed by Sustain and is made to public sector organisations who make great strides towards serving food that is more sustainable, by ensuring it is local, seasonal, Fairtrade, or assured by an animal welfare scheme.

Liz Thomas, head of LSE Catering, said: 'This award recognises a number of our recent initiatives, namely our move to using only UK free range whole eggs; filtering and bottling water on site for use at our hospitality events; our Feel Good Food days where customers are encouraged to eat healthily and to eat less meat; and by ensuring that waste, including oil, is recycled.

• LSE photo competition win

Go Green Week 2011 saw the launch of the first ever Degrees Cooler, national photo competition and LSE scooped two prizes.

There were over 160 entries from universities all over the country and Olivia Knight-Adams, Greener Living project coordinator at NUS said 'It’s been fantastic to have so many people getting involved, and to see so many positive images of sustainable living.'

LSE has won the Best University/Union category and will receive a Dyson Airblade hand dryer and university membership to the Part Time Carnivore Campaign. LSE student Helena Manzella has also won the Sustainable Food category and will be receiving a selection of eco-goodies.

During the LSE Go Green Week, over 50 LSE students took some weird and wonderful pictures of themselves on Houghton Street, “Loving the Planet”. This included some bin hugging, bicycle cuddling and lots of seasonal vegetable kissing. Helen Craig, LSE Greener Living Assistant, commented that 'LSE staff and students really got creative with this competition and everyone had great fun taking part, LSE definitely deserved to win!' To check out all the photos, visit www.degreescooler.org.uk/gallery

• Green Impact update

Twenty-five staff and students recently trained to become auditors for this years Green Impact project.

Green Impact is an environmental accreditation scheme where teams across the School are recognised for implementing simple environmental office procedures. The team workbooks they complete have to be audited before an award can be given, so the auditors are a vital part of the project.

The training involved a three hour morning preparation session and then each trainee audited one of this year's Green Impact team workbooks. Auditors worked with the team leader to go through the workbook and determine which award they had achieved. Green Impact project officer, Joanna Romanowicz, who led the training sessions said 'all of the trainees from this year were brilliant and have made an excellent contribution to the programme.'

Once all the results have been collated we will be able to see which of the participating teams have achieved the coveted Gold award.

This year, the Green Impact programme has been really successful in engaging both staff and students to work together, and with over 100 people involved this year, across 32 departments, it is reaching even more people than last year.

• LSE Student's Union to join the Worker Rights Consortium

The LSE Students' Union is to soon become one of the first UK universities to join the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), and so take the lead in ensuring its garments are free from human rights abuses.

WRC is an international monitoring organisation working with trade unions to tackle human rights abuses in the factories supplying university clothing such as hoodies and sports kits. With around 200 members in the US alone, the organisation is able to exert pressure on major suppliers such as Fruit of the Loom, Nike and Arco, in order to hold them to account for poor pay and conditions in their factories. In 2009 Fruit of the Loom were forced to re-employ 1,800 workers fired at their Honduras factory allegedly due to union activity, after universities threatened to cut huge contracts in solidarity with factory workers.

As a member, LSESU will become part of this ground-breaking approach to tackling corporate unaccountability. The proposal to affiliate, passed by the environment and ethics committee last week, commits to lobbying the university to sign up also.

• LSE Sustainability in Practice lectures

There are three LSE Sustainability in Practice public lectures scheduled for next term.

Monday 9 May, 6.30-8pm
Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Next-generation Leadership and Management
Speaker: Tim Macartney, founder and CEO of Embercombe, a published author, and an associate of Leaders’ Quest

A lecture from a leadership expert who seeks to challenge some of our fundamental preconceptions and current ways of thinking.

Wednesday 25 May, 6.30-8pm
New Theatre, East Building
Eradicating Ecocide: laws and governance to prevent the destruction of our planet
Speaker: Polly Higgins, barrister, author and international environmental lawyer

Polly Higgins advocates a different approach to preventing the destruction of our planet. Instead of our laws protecting the property rights of the few, we can shift to laws that impose responsibilities, duties and obligations for the benefit of the many.

Wednesday 31 May, 6.30-8pm
New Theatre, East Building
Homo Sapiens Report, the Future of Humanity
Speaker: Michael Wadleigh, Oscar winning film director and co-founder of The Homo Sapiens Foundation.

The Homo Sapiens Foundation is part of an official project of UNESCO’s education for sustainable development. Michael Wadleigh’s highly visual presentation will take a broad look at the complex issues mankind will be facing over the next century.

All events are free and unticketed. For more information, email events@lse.ac.uk

• How not to keep bees

• The first LSE orchard

In response to resident demand, LSE Residential Services is taking action to create more sustainable and enjoyable 'green living' spaces within LSE Halls of Residence. Staff, students and local community members were invited to get involved with planting LSE's first orchard garden and planning for the next project, a green roof at Rosebery Hall in Islington, on Sunday 20 March.

Developed by LSE staff and funded by Capital Growth, Rosebery's orchard garden will support local biodiversity. The trees will also provide a colourful and vibrant green escape for those living in the hall and some edible treats on a seasonal basis.

The next project is to design a green roof and work together with local community neighbours to share ideas and expertise. Green roofs provide a haven for welcome wildlife such as insects and birds, often help maintain roof surfaces for longer and can even reduce heavy rain run off and high temperatures by protecting the building. The Rosebery Green Roof is supported by the Islington Community Chest grant.