Does your departmental team need a bit of a kickstart to your Green Impact year? Well you’re in luck! The Sustainability Team have provided some top tips and inspiration to help you get stuck into 10 of this year’s actions before the Christmas break.

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Working From Home actions

Tackling the standard Bronze-Gold workbook may feel daunting during lockdown whilst many of us are working from home or in near-empty buildings. The Working From Home actions not only make environmental improvements feasible in these situations, they can also be used to support staff morale and wellbeing. The collaborative actions, many of which can be undertaken in home environments or as virtual events, can help staff and students feel less isolated at this challenging time. You may also find that the unique Working From Home actions enable your team to reach people that you wouldn’t usually have the opportunity to chat to or hear from. To get the ball rolling we've highlighted just a few of the actions below.

WFH001-007

The first of almost 50 Working From Home Actions focus around biodiversity initiatives and engagement actions. Actions 001-006 provide some targeted ideas but you could always boost engagement whilst learning more about biodiversity by tuning into events such as the Museum of Zoology’s 12 days of Winter Wildlife event. Community galleries and #OpenYourWindowBingo also hosted by the Museum of Zoology, offer accessible and fun opportunities to meet WF007.  

WFH015

This action requires participants to go round their houses and unplug any chargers or equipment which have been left on unnecessarily. The majority of chargers and appliances will use some energy when left plugged in or on standby – this is known as 'vampire energy'! The only way to be sure an appliance isn't using energy is to unplug it. For the competitive among you, why not turn this into a virtual event with participants trying to unplug as many unnecessary appliances as they can within 10 minutes? Is there a common item that the majority of people found they had to unplug?

Bronze actions

B009

With staff and students starting to return to the workplace and creating new habits, now is a great opportunity to display fresh awareness stickers and posters to encourage staff and students to switch off lights when not needed, and reduce water use. When considering where to place your posters think about areas with high footfall or where people are stood still e.g. by photocopiers, kettles, lifts and in toilets. Download useful resources and posters from our website.

B012

The University’s Transport Coordinators send out a quarterly Travel Newsletter to staff. This newsletter gives details of upcoming or in progress sustainable travel measures, University schemes which support staff to travel more sustainably, as well as local transport items of interest. Promoting this newsletter, along with the University’s other sustainability newsletter Greenlines (there's a student version too), will help you meet bronze action ‘B012 – Communication’.

B019

Many departments and buildings will have been rearranged to allow for social distancing and other COVID-19 safety precautions. If your department has any unwanted but usable office furniture, equipment or other resources why not re-home them through WARPit? WARPit is like a free version of eBay or a University version of Freecycle and, by posting unwanted items or sourcing items you need from WARPit, you’re helping to cut down on waste and reduce expenditure at a time when we know budgets are tight. Remember that more guidance on tackling your department’s waste is available on our website.

Silver actions

S001

While some actions may need to wait until you’re back in buildings, ensuring that the department has one or more Environment and Energy Coordinators (EECs) is an action that you can get started with now! Currently, there are over 80 EECs across the University who provide a local focus point in departments for any sustainability issues, questions or ideas. In order to become an EEC, members of staff will need to book onto an online induction – sessions from November through March are already available to book via the Events section of our website.

S006

Now that the weather is getting colder, people may reach for portable electric heaters so it’s the perfect time to focus on this action. Portable electric heaters are a costly way of heating space and should only be used in the short-term if heating breaks down. ‘S006 – Energy’ encourages you to remove portable electric heaters or ensure they are only used occasionally in exceptional circumstances through a booking system. Further information on energy can be found on our website.

S014

As departments are re-thinking office set up in light of COVID-19, why not see if you can capitalise on this time of change by ensuring the department has less than one laser printer per ten desk-based members of staff? Changes such as this may be easier to accomplish whilst buildings aren’t at full capacity and whilst staff are expecting changes to their day-to-day working routines.

Gold actions

G047

This Gold action asks Green Impact participants to conduct an audit of facilities available for the promotion of sustainable travel modes and to take action as a result. As a first step, why not have a walk around your buildings and look at showers, lockers, cycle parking, pool bikes, pool cars and information points to see where you could improve? For some ideas check out the travel and transport pages on our website and feel free to contact Travel@admin.cam.ac.uk for a chat.

G051

The annual staff and student travel surveys took place in October this year and we expect the results to be available in the New Year. Why not make a note in your diary to contact Travel@admin.cam.ac.uk in February and request your results for ‘G051 – Travel’?

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We hope this quick round up helps you get your Green Impact year off to a flying start ahead of the Christmas break but if you have any questions, we’re only an email away. Remember, both students and staff can take part in Green Impact and you can join a team at any point of the year.

Written by Jess Haskell, Jo Beale and Rebekah Ward