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Sustainability

Students in Wolfson student garden

With a good shot at a Platinum Green Impact Award, a new Green Society, and plenty of sustainability initiatives, this may just be Wolfson's greenest year ever! The following are just some of the initiatives that have helped put sustainability firmly on the College agenda this year.

Students and staff work together for new beginnings

2020 started with the launch of the College’s first-ever Green Society in February. Members of the Green Society include staff, students, fellows and others from across the College, all working hard to make a positive environmental impact. It’s still early days for the Society, founded by students including WCSA1 Green Officer Charlie Barty-King, but the team have already completed a whole host of projects focusing on saving energy, managing emissions, reducing waste, improving recycling rates and embedding sustainable practices across the College. Andrea Kocsis, who is part of the Green Society, says that being part of such an active Green Society has made her feel that she’s really "doing something useful" with her spare time at Wolfson. Among her highlights of projects undertaken with the Green Society, Andrea speaks about "providing item, food and clothing exchanges as an immediate way to reduce waste, and biodiversity initiatives to support nature on site and the wellbeing of future Wolfson cohorts". The Green Society hasn’t stopped there, during Green Week (3-9 February 2020), the team ran a full schedule of events including a plant sale, organic wine tasting, a Green Movie Night, a litter pick and a wardrobe swap.

As Andrea so rightly puts it, the Green Society is all about "offering easy and efficient ways to help sustainability", and thinking of creative ways to engage the Wolfson community with environmental issues, is at the heart of the Green Society.

Whilst COVID-19 has disrupted some planned events, Green Society President Charlie Barty-King says the Society is full of "great people with great ideas" and "spirits remain high with a string of online events now lined up for Easter Term 2020 and even the beginnings of Freshers Week plans." Mercy Kariuki who is also part of the Green Society, is now helping with the coordination of the Green talks that will be held via Zoom and says that "being among the founders of the Society makes me feel proud that I am able to contribute and make a difference in my College on sustainability matters, both now and in the future." One of these Green Talks will be The melting Arctic and its global impact by Wolfson alumna and former EU Ambassador at Large to the Arctic, Marie Anne Coninsx.

Food for thought

Sustainable initiatives reach much further than the Green Society at Wolfson, however. During Green Week a Formal Hall was held featuring local fare including Ely leek and potato soup, chalk stream trout, Suffolk foraged herbs, carrots and parsnips, East Anglian kale and Lincolnshire cauliflower, while all beverages served were organic. These sustainable events wouldn’t be possible without a supportive and creative catering team who rise to the challenge, but sustainable food isn’t just for special occasions. Head Chef Sam Frost and his team have introduced a whole host of new vegetarian and vegan options into the daily menus at Wolfson. Among the more intriguing new plant-based items are breadfruit (the fibrous fruit of a tropical tree), vegan cheese, oat and rice milk, vegan cooking chocolate and even egg substitutes such as using chickpea water to stiffen meringues. Outside the kitchen, Food Services Manager Charles Correa has also been busy replacing plastic and disposable paper cups around College and encouraging reusable options.

Talking about food, we couldn’t go any further without mentioning the College's Senior Gardener Oscar Holgate. In 2019, Oscar helped organise the student garden which produced bounty practically year-round, from spring peas and summer aubergines to winter kale. With a donated greenhouse, tools purchased at a car boot sale and some handy carpentry from Chris Clarke, the garden is off to a good start again this year. Chris remarks that he’s been very impressed by the enthusiasm shown by students to help make Wolfson College more environmentally friendly.

"I have particularly enjoyed working with the Green Society students in devising various biodiversity wildlife initiatives, ranging from bird boxes to wild meadows and wormeries." Chris Clarke.

Students have been meeting regularly on Sunday mornings to plan, hoe, harvest, and drink, of course, tea.

Support on all levels crucial to environmental success 

At a more formal level, the College’s Carbon Reduction Committee have been recently renamed to recognise a wider brief encompassing broader sustainability challenges. Now known as the Sustainability Committee, it reports to Council (unlike the Green Society) and has an official task to enter the University’s annual Green Impact challenge. The Sustainability Committee and Green Society have worked together on many initiatives including Green Impact but, as Emeritus Fellow and Chair of the Sustainability Committee Dr Stephen Hoath says, "the strong support from our President and Council has also been key in making sustainability a strategic priority for the College."

Wolfson College achieved Gold in the University’s Green Impact Awards in 2017 and 2018 and now, with a revitalised Green Impact Committee, are hoping to achieve a Platinum award! Staff and students have been working together to complete the Green Impact actions and are delighted to have submitted their workbook ahead of the deadline. Now they’ll wait with fingers crossed to see whether a Green Impact award will be heading their way this year… stay tuned!

1 Wolfson College Students Association