7. Energy Fairies
Perhaps distant cousins of the tooth fairy, the energy fairy (or fairies should I say) have been stealthily visiting offices early in the morning and later in the evening to reward colleagues who have switched off their computers and unplugged their equipment or chargers. Rewards have ranged from home baked cookies to small biscuits and Fairtrade chocolates.
Whatever the reward though, it’s surprising how much trouble can be caused when some people get treats and others don’t! I’m told repeating the activity a few weeks later led the treatless colleagues to start switching things off. Never under-estimate the power of edible bribes!
8. Savvy Student Engagement
Students are big users of our buildings but even in student facing departments, engaging them in Green Impact can be a challenge, so here are two big success stories to inspire you!
Meet PEET – the Psychology, Energy and Environment Team – they wrote some excellent blogs a couple of weeks ago. PEET are a group of around 7 undergraduate students from the Department of Psychology who meet to help promote Green initiatives, reduce energy consumption and increase sustainability. They are coordinated by Dr. Chris Jones (Environmental Champion for Psychology) who initially recruited them through a presentation at a level 2 introduction session. It seems there are often willing and enthusiastic volunteers, they just need to be asked!
- Clean Up Chemistry! This was a short-term project that formed part of an undergraduate module aimed at helping scientists develop skills beyond those typical of labs-based degree. A small group of students sourced prizes and used these to run social media based competitions to promote Green Impact and Environmental issues to staff and students over the period of a week. Research by the NUS concludes that 75% of freshers expect sustainability to be covered in some way as part of their degree.
9. Friday Updates!
Drip, Drip, Drip. No your roof isn’t leaking, a new trend has started to trickle from the Arts Tower, filling Fridays with Fun Facts. Outreach & UK/EU Recruitment, and the International office among others have started sending their offices, short, topical and easy to read Green Impact related news, updates, facts and practical actions every Friday. Regular, easy to digest information has increased sympathy for green issues and support for the green impact teams. They include things like:
- Charity events
- Sustainable travel tips
- Weekend and vacation shut down tips
- Green Impact progress
- Paper saving hints
- Energy saving ideas
- Sustainable food facts
Fun. Simple. Effective.