Green Impact goes from strength to strength

Green Impact is a key part of delivering the School's Environmental Policy. There are currently 47 Green Impact teams across LSE taking part, but if your team is not one of them, there is still time to sign up

LSE can make a difference by providing research and education in sustainable development, but we all have a part to play. Martin Bolton explains why LSE is working towards achieving the international environmental standard ISO14001 this year and how you can help

Sue Kirkbride

Sue, who is retiring after nearly 36 years at LSE,  

thinks it is inspiring how LSE has taken up the mantle of good sustainable practices, would like to see the oceans cleaned up and thinks the combustion engine is probably the worst thing ever invented

Green Impact goes from strength to strength

Forty-seven Green Impact teams are currently taking green action at LSE. Twenty-two support divisions, 13 academic departments, five research centres and seven halls have signed up to Green Impact so far, and over 120 staff and students are directly involved.

Among those involved are LSE Enterprise, which has taken the lead in sourcing quality eco-friendly paper for all their publications, Estates, which is doing a great job of mentoring new team LSE Cities, and Elizabeth Venning from Accounting, who is just one of the new Sustainability Champions this year. Green Impact can cover a wide range of activities, as ODAR's Fairtrade bake-off, which was organised as part of Fairtrade Fortnight and Green Impact, shows. For more on the bake-off, see below.

Green Impact is a key part of delivering the School's Environmental Policy and in fulfilling LSE's pledge in the Strategic Plan to show 'respect for the environment'. Green Impact helps to facilitate the 'transition to manage the School's resources in ways that meet the needs of the present without compromising the options of future generations'. Our aim to expand the project across the School has the full support of Director Judith Rees.

It's not too late for your department to join the rest of LSE and take practical actions in cutting the School's carbon emissions. Who knows, your department could be next in line for an award at our Celebration of Sustainability in May. For more information, contact greener living assistant Louise Laker at l.laker@lse.ac.uk, visit the Green Impact webpages or come to the weekly Green Impact drop-in session on Thursdays at 1-2pm in TW1.4.MR1.
 

Going wild at the Sportsground

Tucked away in leafy Kingston, the LSE Sportsground is a place that many staff and students won't have had cause to visit during their time at the School. So it may come as a surprise to some that it contains far more than just a finely kept set of football and cricket pitches - it's also home to a rich array of wildlife.

A few dozen parakeets (one pictured) call the Sportsground their home and there have also been recent sightings of a little owl and a little egret, a wading bird that eats fish and insects in the adjacent Hogsmill River.

All of these have been caught on camera by head groundsman Steve Butter. Part of the reason for the flora and fauna thriving at the Sportsground is its proximity to the river and nearby woodland. But a big factor is the way that the land is managed, with well-maintained hedgerows and wild areas and the low use of pesticides and harmful chemicals.

Steve Butter says: 'It's a real pleasure to manage the Sportsground in a way that not only keeps the sports pitches in good condition but contributes to improving local biodiversity and has a positive effect on the local environment.'

Steve has plenty more projects planned, including piling up wood chopped from overgrown trees to create insect habitats, filling in hedgerows and replacing dead trees, and sowing mixed seeds to start a wildflower meadow. With all these developments in store, we look forward to bringing you more wildlife updates from the Sportsground in the summer edition of Green News.
 

Green Fund announces backing for student awareness project

Janine Eagling on why she is Going Dutch for London!

"When I first started cycling to work, a colleague gave me a London Cycling Campaign (LCC) magazine and suggested I sign up. Feeling a little nervous on London's streets, and thinking I could do with all the help I could get, I took that advice and didn't look back. Over the years I've often joined in with LCC events and campaigning activities.

"Now LCC has launched its biggest, most wide-reaching campaign ever, Love London, Go Dutch, targeting the 2012 mayoral election. We believe in a city where everyone can cycle and walk safely wherever they want - a London that's a  more pleasant place to live and work. That's why we want the mayoral candidates to pledge to make London more liveable for everyone by making our streets as safe and inviting for cycling as they are in Holland.

"In Holland 25 per cent of journeys are made by bike and they have the safest roads in Europe for cyclists. Traffic congestion and air pollution are lower and the economy has benefited.

"London's mayor can have an enormous impact on transport. We want to be able to demonstrate to the newly elected mayor that there is a strong body of support for a more liveable London. If you love London but wish you could walk and cycle around more safely, then support our campaign - please sign the petition and help London to Go Dutch!"

Janine Eagling is senior project manager in IT Services.
 

Go Green Week at LSE a success

This year's LSE Go Green Week was held from Monday 6 to Friday 10 February with a variety of events for staff and students across campus. Relove, Dr Bike, the cycle cinema and a Feel Good Food Day were just a few of the exciting events held over the week, which was a great opportunity to see what sustainability projects are happening at the School.

In the midst of the People & Planet Go Green Week, LSE staff and students were treated to an afternoon of free Love Food, Hate Waste training given by Emma Barnett from WRAP, an organisation that works with partners to prevent waste, promote recycling and develop markets for valuable products. The training explored the causes, consequences and potential solutions for the UK's £12 billion worth of avoidable food waste generated each year.

Gemma Levy, Green Impact team leader from LSE Enterprise, said: "The training was great and I have loads of information now to pass on to people here. I am going to bring in snacks and baked goods made from 'leftovers' and things that are normally wasted to encourage people to be imaginative in their cooking to prevent food waste." For more, see www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

On Go Green Week's Waste Not Wednesday, LSE Catering, led by Sustainability Champion Karen Agate-Hilton, hosted its first Feel Good Food Day. Working in collaboration with Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, LSE Catering drew attention to the negative impacts of meat consumption and illustrated how eating less meat can benefit the individual, the environment and the animals the products come from. These feel good days are now a regular feature in the Catering calendar so watch out for more and be sure to give catering (and our planet) your support.
 

How many bats live at LSE?

Nobody knows... but we're about to find out as London based ecologist Huma Pearce will be investigating how many of the furry insect-eaters come to feed at the campus.

Huma will monitor the School's green roofs and the bat boxes on the roof of the NAB - did you know we've got bat boxes on the NAB? - by detecting their echo-locating calls every night for a week in May. This forms part of a project to investigate the value of 40 urban green roofs to bat populations in London.

We will have an update on the LSE bats in the June edition of Green News so watch this space...

On Monday 5 March, ODAR held its first Fairtrade bake off, with the aim of raising awareness of the type of baking ingredients that could and could not be found in Fairtrade and raising money for the LSE Annual Fund. The multitude of keen bakers in the office ensured the competition was fierce, with Adam Gale from IT Support and Lesley Causley from the fourth floor restaurant judging each offering. All entries had to contain at least one Fairtrade ingredient and were awarded extra points for each ingredient that was Fairtrade.

There were 12 entries over four categories in total, and the winners were: Felicity Jones for her tea loaf, James Driscoll for his innovative Cookie Monster muffins (pictured), Asiya Islam for her tart au citron and Justine Rose for her ginger cookies. Asiya was also the overall winner with the most points out of any of the category winners.

Waste contamination

LSE is experiencing unprecedented levels of waste contamination. Staff and students are reminded that the majority of waste goes in the mixed recycling and that only polystyrene, crisp packets and sweet wrappers are general waste. Please look carefully at the sign on each bin which shows which items go where.

If in doubt, mixed recycle.

 

Cycling  

If you have been inspired by Janine's story (see above news section) and want to cycle in to the School, there are 208 open access and 102 indoor cycle parking spaces available with access restricted to LSE students and staff. These facilities are monitored by CCTV.

There is also the option of signing up to the London cycle hire scheme which is a public bicycle sharing scheme for short journeys in and around central London. There are three cycle hire stations on the campus: Houghton Street, Sardinia Street and Portugal Street.

LSE also runs a tax-free salary sacrifice scheme for the purchase of bikes for members of staff, cyclescheme. Savings under this scheme vary from 23 per cent to 41 per cent, depending on your personal tax band. 

The Students' Union also holds termly second hand bike sales in the Underground of the East Building. Email su.reception@lse.ac.uk for details of the next sale.

Martin Bolton

LSE is not only at the forefront of research into the economics of climate change but is also a leading organisation on climate change action. Being based in one of the few countries with legally binding greenhouse gas targets, the School has the opportunity to make a huge difference by providing credible research to influence international and national policy, and by providing excellent education to its students, especially in sustainable development.

Equally important as our research, however, is the fact that we can all affect change through our individual actions. To this end, the School has developed an Environmental Management System (EMS) and is working towards achieving the International Environmental Standards ISO14001 in June this year. The Sustainability Team is leading this work, but the School will only achieve this award if it can show that staff and students are collectively working to reduce our environmental impact.

So how can LSE meet its carbon reduction targets? Carbon is very important but the real question is, how can we reduce our ecological footprint, of which carbon is a very important element. The School's Environmental Policy highlights what LSE will focus on to reduce its footprint, and while certain aspects, such as the installation of renewable energy technology, are the responsibility of certain departments, we all have our part to play. Putting rubbish in the right bin has allowed the School to achieve zero waste to landfill, which is a huge success, but which needs each and every one of us to take responsibility for our own actions. Printing less and turning monitors and computers off may all seem like small steps, but collectively they can make a big difference.

As well as taking the small steps mentioned above, we are also encouraging people to get involved by starting or participating in the Green Impact programme, where individuals organise themselves into teams and focus on the actions which most interest them and find their own ways of implementing them. There is also the School's Sustainable Projects Fund which has been created through the 10p tax the School places on all bottled water. The Fund will be used to bring about further environmental projects at the School and is open to all students and staff to pitch their ideas for funding. For more information, please contact sustainable.futures.lse@gmail.com  

LSE students Switch Off

LSE now has 290 Eco-Power Rangers signed up to the Student Switch Off campaign and over 100 students have taken part in the climate quiz.

Students have been winning prizes, like NUS extra cards and nights out, by uploading photos of their energy saving actions onto our Facebook group. The hall of residence which saves the most energy this year wins a celebratory party for the residents.

If you live in halls and want to get more involved, you can also become a Residences Sustainability Champion. Champions work together towards the shared vision of a sustainable society. There are between two and six Sustainability Champions in each hall of residence, each committed to improving the environmental and social performance of their hall during their stay. Champions benefit by gaining experience of environmental projects, putting good sustainability ideas into practice, awareness raising and event organisation.

Halls of Residences to get the LSE bin treatment

Over the next three months, all of the nine halls of residences managed by the School will be equipped to increase their recycling rate with the installation of new bins. The bins are being implemented alongside training sessions to ensure students know how to make sure their recycling and waste end up in the right place. 

In this regular column we catch up with alumni involved in sustainable activities and find out how their time at LSE shaped their interest in sustainability. 

Olya Skotareva (MSc Environment and Development, 2009) is currently on a fellowship programme at Practical Action Consulting in Lima, Peru.

Farewell to Victoria Hands, by Allan Blair

Dr Victoria Hands joined LSE in 2002 as a PhD student researching how sustainable development is embedded in institutions. She started work in 2005 and a decade later has left us as LSE's well known head of environmental sustainability to become director of the Sustainability Hub at Kingston University.

Victoria leaves a strong legacy behind her. During her time here she embedded sustainability as a key concern for LSE; established a Sustainability Team and an environmental management system, which we hope will achieve external accreditation to ISO14001 this summer; secured first class awards in the national People & Planet Green League; ensured the School's success in delivering a series of projects which minimised environmental impact; gained external recognition in awards too numerous to mention here, such as the Green Gown Awards and the National Recycling Awards; empowered students to establish Sustainable Futures, now an SU Society responsible for the Sustainable Projects Fund; and supported staff in green office practices, now part of the School's Green Impact project.

It is thanks to Victoria's hard work and commitment that LSE is now leading the way in sustainability in the HE sector. She continues in her role as the chair of the London Universities Environment Group and as one of the Mayor's London Leaders for sustainability.

We wish her all the best for her new role at Kingston. Victoria will be at LSE for a celebration on 23 March if colleagues would like to come to bid her farewell at 1.30-2.30pm in the Shaw Library.

Welcome to new members of the Sustainability Team

Martin Bolton 

Miriam Grossmanova

Miriam joined the team as a part time sustainability officer in November and her main task was to compile the Estates Management Statistics data on waste processes at LSE. Currently she is working on the submission of the LSE report for the People & Planet Green League Survey 2012.

Want to know more?