Wednesday 5 June 2019 10:15pm
In this series, we take a look at some of the sustainability initiatives being introduced at the University of Otago.
A new initiative coming soon to Otago - Green Impact.
Want to join a fun team, make meaningful change and feel good? – Green Impact is for you, and launching soon across the University of Otago.
It is a chance for all staff and students to take small steps every day to make the University – and the world – a more sustainable and healthier place to be, University of Otago Sustainability Office Head Dr Hilary Phipps says.
Watch out for the launch of Green Impact at Otago’s Campuses in July.
People joining Green Impact form teams – that can be as small as two people – and work through checklists of steps to ‘green’ campuses, curriculums and the University community.
Team members are ideally in the same area – such as an office, department, floor or building, Dr Phipps says.
Green Impact was created over a decade ago by the National Union of Students (NUS) in the United Kingdom and has since been adopted by hundreds of organisations around the world.
At Otago, once a team signs up, they will get a celebration bag with all the things they need to get started, including a guide that covers workplaces or student accommodation.
Staff and students will also have the option of joining an existing Green Impact team by looking at the regularly updated team lists on the Sustainability Office’s website – launching soon – and contacting the relevant team leader.
The programme is so flexible, teams do not have to follow all the Green Impact steps, they can just do one or two if that suits them better, because Green Impact’s main aim is help raise awareness of sustainability and to spark action, Dr Phipps says.
However, anyone who does successfully ‘walk-the-walk’ by taking all the steps can get awards as their contributions grows – starting with a seedling award, then sapling and Kowhai.
Teams will not be doing it alone, the Sustainability Office already has a team of students who have volunteered to be Activator Agents to help out when needed.
Teams can win the three awards every year, by following the new steps added to the programme annually that help save energy, sustain resources, build a community and cultivate healthier working lives, she says.
Joining Green Impact not only means becoming part of a growing University-wide community of staff and students who are making a difference by taking small steps, every day but also gives:
- Staff an easy and clear way to engage in sustainability, and become part of a wider University network
- Students employability skills and the knowledge to implement sustainability in an organisation.
Through Green Impact, sustainability teams save time, energy and money – while also helping the University implement its sustainability strategy across the organisation, save carbon and cut costs, Dr Phipps says.