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2 July 2013 |
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 News
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A fifth First for LSE in 2013 People & Planet Green League
On Tuesday 11 June, LSE was awarded a First in this year’s People & Planet
Green League, which ranks all UK universities on their environmental and
ethical performance.
This is the fifth year running that LSE has been awarded a First. The
School came 22nd in this year’s league – a rise of 20 places from its 2012
ranking of 42nd.
LSE Director Professor Craig Calhoun said: “This is terrific news. It is
always pleasing to rank well in league tables and our rise to 22nd most
environmentally and ethically friendly university in the UK is a great
accomplishment. As always, however, there is still much to do and we will
not rest on our laurels. LSE still faces challenges in continuing to reduce
its carbon use, but as our improved ranking shows, if the School community
continues to work together we can achieve positive results.”
Louise Hazan, who compiled the People & Planet Green League, said: “LSE
thoroughly deserves its First Class ranking this year and is helping to
drive up environmental and ethical standards for the higher education sector
as a whole. Its success in reducing waste and effective ways to engage staff
and students in the transition to sustainability is exemplary. We
congratulate LSE on listening to its students, who are quite rightly
demanding greener degrees and that the university tackles issues like
climate change head on.”
For the full Green League, click
here.
To coincide with the release of the Green League results, LSE sustainability
projects officer Jon Emmett joined a Guardian web chat on
how students can
make their universities greener.
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Celebration of Sustainability
LSE's annual Celebration of Sustainability was held on Friday 10 May
to recognise and reward staff and students involved in Green Impact and
sustainability projects at LSE.
Bob Ward (pictured) from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and
the Environment hosted the event, and prizes were presented by School
Secretary Susan Scholefield, NUS Green Impact officer Charlotte Barrow,
LSE alumnus Nandini Basuthakur and Kash Naik from Student Switch Off.
Green Impact results
Now in its fourth year at LSE, Green Impact was a resounding success.
This year, 50 departments signed up to Green Impact, 43 staff and
student auditors were trained up with IEMA approved auditor training, 15
student Green Impact Project Assistants worked hard to support Green
teams, and four departments took part in a pilot of the new Green Impact
Excellence Award.
The top scoring Green Impact team this year was the Grantham Research
Institute, with Green Impact Excellence Awards going to the Department
of Mathematics, ODAR, LSE Estates Division and LSE Catering. A full list
of results can be found on the
celebration webpage.
Outstanding contribution
Special recognition awards went to staff members David Scott and Dr
Kira Matus and to students Robin Ray and Margaux Wehr for making
outstanding contributions to sustainability this year.
Recycling League results
The hotly contested
Recycling League was topped by three departments who achieved 100 per
cent correctly sorted waste at audits in March. These were the Gender
Institute, the Department of Statistics and the Department of
Mathematics. Each department took away a recycled hamper stuffed full of
Fairtrade goodies.
Thank you!
LSE Catering provided delicious organic, seasonal refreshments and
the Jadamari String Quartet from the LSESU Music Society provided
excellent accompaniment to the reception. Thanks go to all who
participated in Sustainability projects this year.
To get involved next year, contact sustainability assistant Louise
Laker, l.laker@lse.ac.uk
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Notices
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Join the debate - Sustainability at LSE blog launches
The first School run blog dedicated to sustainability,
Sustainability at LSE,
launched this month on Wednesday 5 June.
The blog aims to host news and views from across the School, and to
put LSE’s sustainability work into a global context. You can read the
latest posts and subscribe at
blogs.lse.ac.uk/sustainability
Editors Jon Emmett, j.emmett@lse.ac.uk,
and Louise Laker, l.laker@lse.ac.uk,
are looking for contributors from all walks of LSE life, so do get in
touch to join the debate.
Tweets away!
@SustainableLSE has reached 264 followers!
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ISO 14001 re-certification
July will see the School audited to
re-certify its ISO 14001 status, which it achieved in July 2012.
This is an international standard
recognising LSE’s robust environmental management systems. It helps to
put the
Environmental Sustainability Policy
into practice in the daily life of
the School.
The School’s Environmental Management
System has developed and matured over the last year, culminating in LSE’s
rise up the Green League this week. We look forward to working with the
auditor to see how we can continue to drive this progress even further in
the year ahead.
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Flush to the future!
A new arrival is causing a stir in the Old Building.
Head of Maintenance Paul Franklin has installed a new loo in OLD.B15.
This isn’t your bog standard toilet; it’s a revolutionary loo that only uses
1.5 litres of water to flush (as opposed to the conventional 9 litres).
Propel Air: ‘the toilet reinvented,’ also boasts hygiene benefits as it only
flushes when the lid is down.
The Estates Division needs your feedback in order to expand LSE’s toilet revolution. So
gents, please take the time to visit the loo in OLD.B15, and send your
feedback to estates.follow-up-jobs@lse.ac.uk.
The water saving loo is all part of the challenge to
reduce the School’s water consumption, as part of
of
LSE’s Environmental Policy.
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Want to get involved? Join the LSE Sustainable Development
Network
The
LSE
Sustainable Development Network (SDN) aims to engage the LSE community
in better understanding and creating practical solutions to local, national
and global sustainability challenges, and anyone interested in participating
can join the network.
The SDN held its last summer session of the Sustainable
Exchange Series (SES) on 24 June, to debate green investments and the
standing of Goldman Sachs.
Over the past two months, nine student-run SES sessions have
been organised at LSE to tap into pressing environmental problems. Almost
250 people attended, including LSE students, staff and alumni and an average
of 2,000 people from all around the world (including Chile, the United
States, Argentina, France, Ecuador, Germany, South Korea, Mexico, Spain,
Colombia and more) are following the SDN's Facebook group on a weekly basis.
In the face of current challenges such as climate change,
biodiversity loss, soil degradation and resource depletion there is a sound
interest in sustainability across LSE's departments and beyond. In
particular, the vast network of LSE alumni working on these issues all over
the world shows us that universities have a role to play, not solely as
knowledge providers but also as promoters of socio-environmental change.
Everyone is welcome to join the network so for more, see
https://www.facebook.com/LSESustainableDevelopmentNetwork.
The Sustainable Development Network want to hear from you. Please take a
minute to complete a quick survey to help the network in their next steps:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZRDXXP9 |
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Recycling
round up
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It costs councils £100 on average to collect and process each
tonne of recyclable materials such as glass, cans or paper. It
costs almost £130 to dispose of each tonne of non-recycled
waste. Find out more facts about London
here. |
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Waste training for cleaners In
response to reports of problems with the bins, waste officer Richard Allen
is visiting all buildings on campus to train cleaners in the different waste
streams, putting correct liners in the correct bins and making sure that the
right lids are put back on the right bins.
Richard is highlighting the importance of correctly sorted
waste by using photographs of Mixed Recycling compactors containing rogue
waste items. Incorrectly sorted items result in a charge to LSE for
non-conformance and the waste being then disposed as if it were
non-recyclable.
Immaculate bins are not just the concern of the cleaner,
however, and it is down to every individual at LSE to correctly sort their
waste. The cleaners are now reporting all instances of waste being placed in
the incorrect bin. They will be letting Richard know the areas where bins
are, the type of waste stream contamination they are finding and taking
photographic evidence where possible.
Richard will then pay the offending areas a visit to audit
the bins and meet with departmental managers or sustainability
representatives. When he has worked his recycling magic on campus, Richard
will start the process at the School's halls of residences.
For more information on how to recycle, see the signs
above the bins or visit the
Recycling webpage.
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Bins, bins, bins ... what do you think?
LSE has achieved zero waste to landfill as part of its implementation of
its
Environmental Policy on reducing waste and resource consumption.
The next challenge is to improve the quality of the School's recycling,
and waste officer Richard Allen is looking for your comments and ideas
about how to improve the bins and to make staff and student tip top
waste sorting skills second nature. Email Richard at
r.allen1@lse.ac.uk
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Green
alumni
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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.
Vijay Kolinjivadi (MSc Environmental Policy and Regulation,
2009)
Tell us a bit about yourself?
My background was in ecological science and I made a sort of side
step by joining LSE for my Masters in Environmental Policy and
Regulation. The opportunities I had during and after my MSc have kept me
on the path of sustainability science, with particular emphasis on
ecosystem services. These ranged from an internship with the United
Nations Environment Programme to a research consultancy with the Centre
for International Forestry Research.
I am currently at McGill University in Montréal, Canada. From critical
analysis of market-based policy tools for nature conservation, my PhD
research takes an ecological economics (strong sustainability)
perspective towards natural resource management. Were you
involved with any sustainable activities during your time at LSE?
While not directly involved in activities on campus, during my time
at LSE I contributed to designing an environmental education programme
for primary schools in the borough of Lambeth through 'Save our World'.
How has your time at LSE led to your current research interests?
I was introduced to an emerging conservation policy known as
'Payments for Ecosystem Services' during my Masters course at LSE. The
knowledge I obtained from reading widely on this policy not only
directed me to the topic of my thesis, but also inspired me to analyse
this tool further through emerging opportunities in the field. I have
decided to critique this policy and propose alternatives through my
current PhD research.
If you could offer one piece of advice to LSE staff and students,
what would it be?
Definitely invest the time to meet with your director of studies or
tutor. This is important, not only for getting appropriate support
during your course, but also for career guidance afterwards.
Opportunities abound both on campus and in the City of London to apply
the knowledge from your course to the real world. |
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Eat your way to a sustainable lifestyle by choosing the food you
eat by the time of the year.
Right now there’s plenty on offer (courgettes, aubergines,
spinach, strawberries, lamb, crab, scallops, sea trout…) so
there’s really no excuse. Find out more at
Eat the Seasons.
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Residences
round-up
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Students Switch Off to success Students
living in Sidney Webb hall of residence have won the 2012-13 LSE Student
Switch Off energy-saving competition. Over this academic year, energy usage
in the hall reduced by 8.5 per cent compared to the average usage over the
last few years.
Trevor Murtagh (pictured, left), Warden at Sidney Webb Hall, collected the
award from Kash Naik (pictured, right) from Student Switch Off.
Together, LSE residents have reduced carbon emissions by
78 tonnes, which is equivalent to making 4,486,469 cups of tea! It just goes
to show that small actions can make a real difference in the fight against
climate change.
There are over 235 Eco-Power Rangers across all of LSE's
halls of residences who have been switching off lights and appliances when
not in use, putting lids on pans when cooking and not overfilling their
kettles. Keep up the good work!
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Green Impact congratulations Congratulations are in order for all the halls of
residences for taking part in Green Impact this year. Rosebery Hall kept its
position at the top of the table as the only hall to achieve a Gold Award, a
testament to the hard work of the Green Impact team led by student Andrew
Hughes.
Passfield Hall were hot on their heels with a Silver Plus
Award; Northumberland House and Carr Saunders achieved Silver; while Bronze
Plus Awards went to Bankside and High Holborn, a Bronze Award to Butler's
Wharf and a Working Towards for Grosvenor House. |
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60
Second Interview
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with.....
Analiz Vergara
I
am from Ecuador and am currently
studying for an MSc Environmental
Economics and Climate Change. I have
been involved in motivating action
for sustainable development since I
was very young, through civil
society and youth empowerment, and
right before coming to LSE I was
working in environmental foreign
policy with the government of
Ecuador promoting and negotiating
proposals such as the
Yasuni-ITT initiative and the
Net Avoided Emissions mechanism for
climate change mitigation.
I
have been involved with the
LSE Sustainable Development Network
since it took its first steps a the
beginning of this year, when I was
able to present at one of the
Sustainable Exchange Series (SES)
sessions. It has been very exciting
to see it grow so rapidly and
progress to a global, multicultural
network of people who are interested
in bringing change through
sustainability. I am hopeful that
the upcoming generations of students
will keep the ball rolling and take
advantage of this platform.
What would you do if you were LSE
Director for a day?
I
think universities have a strategic
role to play with current
environmental challenges around the
world, and LSE should embrace its
potential as an institution which
can facilitate change in society
through the creation of knowledge to
promote sustainable development. If
I was director for a day I would
start an interdepartmental
initiative to 'understand the
causes' of environmental degradation
at the local, national and
international level, its links with
socio-cultural issues and economic
implications. In particular, I would
propose the creation of a seed fund
to finance environmental research
and internships around the world,
carried on by LSE researchers and
students in collaboration with
communities and local agents, on
issues such as climate change
adaptation in the developing world.
I would also focus on the importance
of linking entrepreneurship with
sustainability through the promotion
of environmental start-ups around
the world.
What would be your ideal holiday?
My
ideal holiday would involve
travelling for a month around the
four nature regions of Ecuador, the
Amazon, the Andes, the coast and the
Galapagos Islands, visiting the
protected areas and also the
different communities that live
alongside incredible biodiversity
sites. I am particularly fond of
taking walks in the rainforest or
canoeing down a river at night time,
because even though it can be
somewhat scary, it is often the
moment when you discover the most
amazing creatures. Parts of the
Amazon are one of the few places in
the world where light pollution will
not ruin your view of a starry
night.
What change would you like to see in
the world in 50-100 years' time?
I
would like to see societies which
have come to terms with new and more
resilient definitions of
development, which operate within
the ecological and physical
boundaries of our planet. I would
like to see developing countries
transitioning out of an economy
based on the extraction and
exploitation of natural resources
towards an economy based on
knowledge, and I would like to see a
world where the potential for
behavioural change is realised in
the face of challenges such as
climate change.
What is your favourite film?
I
love The Matrix - watching it
as a teenager blew my mind. I find
it incredibly entertaining yet
profound in the questions that it
poses to the spectator. Another one
of my favourites is Pan's Labyrinth,
a must see if you are into magical
realism.
What do you see the Sustainable
Development Network achieving in the
next couple of years?
The
Sustainable Development Network (SDN)
must keep growing, as it could
become one of LSE's strengths in the
area of sustainable development in
theory and practice around the
world. The network has been designed
as a space for students, academics,
staff and alumni to connect and work
together to understand and bring to
light creative solutions to the
environmental challenges our
societies face.
The
network is a means to an end, and an
end in itself. By taking advantage
of the incredible diversity at LSE,
the SDN will become a community of
individuals around the world who
care about sustainability and are
willing to take action on these
issues across borders. We have
already seen great interest from
students, staff and alumni in our
nine SES sessions and through our
online network this year, and we
will continue to support the network
when we become alumni ourselves. Our
hope and invitation is for students
at LSE (both undergraduate and
postgraduate) and professors to
continue to promote the development
of the network from inside the
institution. Everyone is welcome to
get involved in this exciting
initiative - if you would like to be
a part of the network coordinator,
Cristobal Barros at
c.barros@lse.ac.uk
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Advice
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Want
to know more?
If you have any questions about the sustainability work going on around
campus or would like to become involved, why not contact one of the many
Green Impact Leaders who take active roles in the School's work in this area. A
list of Green Impact Leaders is online
here.
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