Sustainability
Are your green fingers itching to get involved?
Well, you’re in the right place, here’s how!
Ravensbourne Students’ Union is dedicated to becoming a sustainable organisation. We know that many of our activities have a negative impact on the environment but attempt to minimise this through constant management and review of our activities.
How we do it
Annually, the students elect a Sustainability Officer to form part of the Union and represent them on green issues. The Officer is responsible for gathering student ideas and thoughts about green policy and developing them in coordination with the Union, Institution management and the Green Steering Group (GSG). This year’s Sustainability Officer is Emily Cook; you can contact her by emailing [email protected], following @RaveSU_Sustain on twitter or directly through RSU.
Eco Society
Find us on facebook: Ravensbourne Eco Society
Next meeting: tbc
Official Fairtrade Award
As of June 2013, Ravensbourne was awarded Official Fairtrade College Status. This means we are supporting and using fairtrade and making our campus more ethical.
Green Impact Award
By means of keeping the union sustainable, we take part in NUS’s Green impact Award Scheme every year. Last year we achieved Gold status, and this year, we’re going for Gold again! For more information, click here or drop Emily an email.
Our Campus
We are very lucky at Ravensbourne to have a brand new campus (building finished summer 2010). The building is great for sustainability:
It is very insulated, so that we don’t heat the street in the winter!
All lights are turned on by motion sensors and turn off automatically. This is not only good for the environment but also for the lazy student!
The whole building is controlled by a Building Management System (BMS). This fancy bit of kit controls all the lights, electricity, heating and pretty much everything in the building. At Ravensbourne, we are always tweaking the settings on the BMS so that we use as little resources as possible (but don’t leave students freezing!).
Recycling
At Ravensbourne we are very fond of recycling, and have recycling bins pretty much everywhere. This ties in with our paper use reduction policies which aims to use laptops and websites as an alternative to mass printing and photocopying.
Our Peninsular
Ravensbourne is right next to The O2 arena on the tip on Greenwich Peninsular, this is fantastic! The river Thames is all around us (literally) and has been steadily cleaned up by the authorities over the past years – it is now the cleanest metropolitan river in Europe! You can read about this fact and find out about lots more Thames trivia by going for a stroll around the river near our campus (there are lots of interesting signs and plenty of spots to laze in the sun).
Cycling
Cycling is a great alternative to other methods of transport and Ravensbourne really is in the perfect location for this healthy and sustainable form of travel. There are lots of cycle routes near our campus; in fact Sustrans route one runs right past us! It is very simple to cycle from south of the river, there are cycle routes from Greenwich, Charlton, Deptford and Woolwich. If you live further away you can bring your bike on the train to Charlton and from there is only a 10 minute cycle to campus. There are hoops to lock your bike to right outside campus main door and because the peninsular has 24 hour security bike theft is low compared to London averages – still make sure you bring a good lock though; the Union recommends a lock with Solid Silver rating for bikes up to the value of £600.
For more information on cycle routes you should drop Emily an email or visit the Sustrans website
Walking
For walking, the route from Charlton (which runs next to the cycle path along the river) is particularly scenic and you will often bump into other friendly walkers, joggers and cyclists. When on lunch break you can also walk around to the top of the peninsular where you will find a few benches and grassy spots overlooking the river and Canary Wharf.
If you wish to find out more about any of the routes to/from or near campus, Transport for London‘s website provides maps online or you can contact RSU.
Our Environmental Policy
Ravensbourne Students’ Union recognises that it must take a more proactive approach to dealing with environmental issues, and consider more fully its impact on the environment and natural resources, at all levels. It is no longer acceptable to adopt a position of maintaining the status quo. Active efforts are required to ensure that the College improves its environmental performance, year on year, and we are committed to adopting measures to this end.
We believe that it is our duty to operate in a way, which does not harm our environment or squander natural resources. It is our responsibility to ensure that we protect the environment and, where possible, seek to improve the local environment for College users and the wider community.
We have an obligation to promote good practice, and encourage all those who use our facilities to adopt sustainable approaches, seeking to reduce our environmental impact, and contribute to creating a more sustainable community.
Our aims are to:
Reduce consumption of resources
Ensure best practice environmental management
Set benchmarks and targets for continual improvement
Ensure sustainability is incorporated into all areas of College life
All union members must:
Use reusable cups, provided to them
Use online documents and email wherever possible, in line with our zero printing target
Travel by public transport including trains, not planes or cars
Share responsibilty for the Union wildlife (plants)
In accordance with this policy, the acting Sustainability Officer is required to:
Take part in the Green Impact Award Scheme, and strive to achieve the highest status
Maintain Fairtrade status
Keep a close working relationship with the Estates department at Ravensbourne
Promote any relevant campaigns and initiatives run by NUS
Attend regular SU Executive meetings and raise or ensure that Sustainability and Ethical issues are considered where appropriate
Organise eco or ethical events
Lead campaigns concerning sustainability and ethical issues
Sit on the committee of the RSU Eco Society
Attend appropriate Ravensbourne Committees as a representative of the student body
Attend appropriate NUS Conferences and Training
Fairtrade Policy
Ravensbourne (“the College”) assigns great importance to its role within the international community, and will therefore strive to become a Fairtrade University and will work with the Fairtrade Foundation to formalise this status.
Fairtrade products will be made available for sale in all retail outlets on site. Where this is not possible, for example where there are purchasing constraints and long-term contracts, there will be a commitment to replace existing stock as soon as possible.
Fairtrade options will be provided at all College and departmental meetings served by the College’s Catering Service. Where staff provide for themselves, they will be encouraged to purchase Fairtrade foods through campaigning.
The College will work closely with the Ravensbourne Students’ Union Sustainability and Ethics Officer to campaign for increased Fairtrade consumption within the College. These campaigns will include but not be limited to:
Encouraging students and staff to switch to buying Fairtrade products where possible.
Raising awareness about the work of the Fairtrade Foundation through Fairtrade Fortnight and other events that highlight the importance of buying Fairtrade and ethically produced goods.
Ensuring period meetings between a cross section of the management lead Green Steering Group and student lead Eco Society take place on a monthly basis. This body will act as The Fairtrade Steering Group, and continuously monitor and improve the College’s approach to Fairtrade.
The Fairtrade Steering Group will consider proposals for supporting or organising campaigns to enhance the Fairtrade ethos and work with the relevant bodies to achieve collaborative and coordinated campaigns.
The Ravensbourne Students’ Union Sustainability and Ethics Officer will submit a short progress report at the end of each academic year to the Fairtrade Foundation.
The policy statement will be available on the College website.
The certification of Fairtrade status will be reviewed annually.