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Sustainability

The Environment and Energy section’s first ever ‘Spotlight on Sustainable Food month’ ran throughout February and brought about a whole range of activities and initiatives around food. Here, we round up all the action…

The launch of the University’s Sustainable Food Policy took place on 2 February. The event provided an opportunity for staff and students from the University, Colleges, suppliers and local organisations to get together to discuss the topic of sustainable food, and make plans for greater action. A full write up of the event can be found here, and photos of the event are available on our Facebook page. We’ve even produced a short video which describes the policy and gives an overview of the event. There are lots of follow-up actions taking place as a result of connections made and ideas shared at the event, so stay tuned for more developments through our dedicated sustainable food webpages.

The Environment and Energy section also worked with Earth Sciences’ Green Impact team to run an insect tasting session, run by ‘Crunchy Critters’, a supplier of edible insects. Crunchy Critters offered staff a range of edible insects tailored to appeal to the most discerning of palates, and talked to staff about ‘entomophagy’ (the eating of insects). According to a recent report, insects could be the sustainable 'food of the future' - but can we overcome the 'yuck factor'? Have a look at our pictures of the event to see how it went.

Meanwhile, many of the Green Impact teams from around the University have got involved:

  • The Geography Green Impact team are planning to host a panel discussion on sustainable food centred around the question of 'How can we create the future of sustainable food?'. The event is due to take place on 6 March from 3-4pm in the Geography department and a number of impressive panellists are lined up to speak.
  • Centre for Mathematical Sciences Green Impact team held a special waste and recycling awareness event to link with the roll out of food waste collections throughout the building. Staff were encouraged to familiarise themselves with the new food waste bins and what goes in what bin, and were rewarded with free bags of popcorn!
  • Sociology’s Green Impact team held a ‘brown bag lunch' social and attended the 'Crunchy Critter' entomophagy event -  'watch the excellent videos of them tasting some bugs on their Twitter feed!
  • The Green Impact team in Philosophy hosted a sustainable coffee morning, and have responded to requests from students in the Faculty to provide an alternative to cow’s milk in their coffee area.  They now have soya milk in their coffee room (as well as providing an option for those who are lactose intolerant, evidence shows soya milk can have a much a lower impact on the environment).
  • Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute worked with their café to provide a special sustainable food menu, the recipes of which were shared with staff. CRUK have also set up a food collection point for staff to give contributions to Cambridge City Foodbank.
  • Sidney Sussex and Christ’s Colleges held green formals, which included special environmentally-friendly menus.
  • Pembroke College held a green week with a film screening of ‘Demain’ (and award winning documentary focused on sustainability solutions), a panel discussion, a green formal, a trash art session, and a photo campaign.
  • Greenwich House’s Green Impact team are running a food drive for local food banks.
  • Cambridge Commonwealth European and International Trust hosted a workshop on Valentines day. The workshop look at different types of sustainable food and was delivered by Bev Sedley of Cambridge Sustainable Food.
  • Cambridge University Vegan Society are holding a panel discussion at Downing College about 'food choices and the environment'.

Beyond activities in February, there is plenty going on around sustainable food across the University. You can read more about that on our website and on our events page.