Submitted by Grainne Kennedy on Tue, 2019-05-28 17:02
May 2019 is the 100th edition of the Greenlines newsletter! To celebrate this milestone we’re looking back to some previous issues of the University of Cambridge’s sustainability newsletter, first published in 1995.
Greenlines Issue 1 was published in November 1995. It was introduced as “the first newsletter in what is expected to be a regular series”, Greenlines 1 set out to “keep staff and students informed on a range of environmental issues which come under the umbrella of ‘green housekeeping’.” The article set out that “while many environmental concerns are global, there is much that can be done locally to contribute to a more sustainable future”. One of the top issues covered in this issue was a new recycling collection set up by the City Council. This collected 2.5 tonnes of mostly paper waste from across the University estate in August 1995. For comparison, in August 2018 over 39 tonnes of mixed recycling was collected from around the University – quite the improvement! As well as this, a ‘cycle challenge’ and free exhaust checks for vehicles were newsworthy in 1995.
Issue 2 of Greenlines highlights the University’s energy use which, during the financial year 1994-95, cost £3.8 million. Adjusted for inflation, that’s £7.2million – quite some way below the most recent figure of £18 million!
While park and rides are now a fixture of Cambridge’s travel network, Issue 3 focused on the opening of ‘Cambridge’s first park and ride’ at Madingley. Meanwhile another Cambridge landmark was announced in Issue 11, which highlights the West Cambridge Development getting ‘the Green light’!
By the time Issue 6 arrived, the turn of the century was fast approaching and another new development was worthy of mention. This issue of Greenlines, published in 1998, commented on the wealth of information now available on the University’s page on ‘The World Wide Web’ – a means of disseminating information “increasingly exploited by the University”.
By Greenlines 20, published in March 2005, a further technological advance was coming to the fore, in the form of videoconferencing. This had the potential minimise travel, after ‘a recent assessment of the University’s contribution to global warming identified carbon dioxide emissions associated with work-related travel as a significant part of our overall impact’. The University Computing Service Videoconferencing Facility was highlighted, and could provide a videoconference to Canada ‘from just £35.25 per hour’. Clearly, costs of videoconferencing are much lower now!
In 2017 we began to send out two editions with different content each month; one edition for staff and the second for students. The editions often some share stories, but as the interests of staff and students can vary there is also information for specific groups. At present the newsletter is received by over 3,000 staff and students, and that figure is constantly rising. We are also aware that the newsletter is also circulated within some departments. Staff members can sign up to receive the newsletter here and students can sign up here.
The archive of news stories can be found here.
See below for an example of how the design of Greenlines has changed over the years…
Figure 1: Greenlines 1 Figure 2: Greenlines 20 Figure 3: Greenlines 48