Submitted by Peter Lumb on Tue, 2016-04-26 18:08
Nan Taplin is an Environment & Energy Coordinator (EEC) in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages (MML). With her retirement approaching later this year, she reflects on her time as an EEC, with insights into the role and her tips for success in turning a department ‘green’! Here are Nan's top tips for success as an EEC...
1. Build a team around you
The key to everything is your Green Team. A one-man-band EEC can build ‘green’ momentum in the department by completing the early stages of the ‘Bronze’ Green Impact award, which provided a great framework for environmental action in our department. However to make real change you do need help! Try to gather a team with representatives from the key areas of your operation. For example in MML, we have built up a team including members from the IT department, the Library, the Facilities team, a senior academic and an undergraduate student, as well as four administrators with different areas of responsibility in the Faculty. A team of nine might seem quite large, but actually with everyone being so busy it has been good to have enough people to share the work. To date, we haven’t managed to recruit a postgraduate student, nor indeed enough undergraduates, and we should have focussed more on this as they can be a great help in carrying our message to, and involving, the student body.
2. Use the Environment & Energy Section
The Environment & Energy Section (E&E) is a huge source of information and support, so I would advise others to make use of them! I didn’t cotton on to this at the beginning, but I have now become a shameless plagiariser of their ‘Greenlines’ bulletins and an avid searcher of information to share from the E&E website. I have also found the Environmental Coordinators in the team to be very open to suggestions and requests for help. So, don’t try to re-invent the wheel – contact E&E, they may well have an answer to your problem!
3. Tap into the network!
Similarly, other EECs can be a great source of ideas and inspiration. Collectively, I don’t think we share ideas as well as we might. I have certainly been remiss in this respect, and if I had the last three years all over again I would definitely do this differently. I would advise EECs to save the EEC distribution list in your ‘contacts’ and keep in touch with other people around the University who share your enthusiasm for sustainability and environmental responsibility. EEC networking events run by E&E are another useful way to get to know and share ideas with other EECs. It can sometimes feel like a lonely task being an EEC, and your fellow EECs are bright stars in the (sometimes dark) firmament.
4. Don’t get disheartened on the ‘thankless task’ days.
Not everyone is going to share your passion, many are busy and have different priorities, and there will definitely be some who get fed up of hearing you banging on about lights and recycling and leaving the car in the garage. But I am a firm believer that the vast majority of people want to do the right thing by the planet and are on board with your objectives. Just because they don’t shout about it or respond to every email you send it doesn’t mean that they are not, quietly and in their own way, supporting what you are trying to achieve!
5. Celebrate your successes
Finally, always remember to celebrate your successes. Tell people about the improvements which you have all made together. Thank them for their commitment. Engage their support for the next change you are going to make. And the next one. And the one after that. Little by little, day by day, month by month you will make a difference. We can sometimes be disheartened as countries and governments across the world take what might seem like far too little action to protect the environment – but we can at least do our bit closer to home, and we must do it too. Good luck!
If you are a member of staff keen to become an EEC, have a look at our EEC pages or feel free to get in touch!