Campus takes on eco-challenge (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Campus takes on eco-challenge

8:26am Wednesday 19th August 2009 in News By Helen Mead

"It is ‘big and wide and deep’. That’s the way we describe it.”

Peter Hopkinson proudly outlines the scale of the environmental work being carried out at Bradford University.

“We are working across a wide scale of activity,” he says, “We have achieved such a lot in three years.”

As director for education for sustainable development, Peter spearheads changes that span operations across all areas of university life, from lecture planning to travel, to food and buildings.

He plays a major role in implementing the Ecoversity Programme, which aims to embed the principles and practice of sustainable development across the institution by getting people involved, taking the lead on issues, and encouraging people to adopt sustainable lifestyles and behaviour.

The success of the programme has led to two prestigious Green Gown Awards being given to the university, in recognition of its planet-friendly practices.

Now in their fifth year, the national awards recognise exceptional initiatives being taken by universities and colleges across the UK to become more sustainable.

The university competed with more than 170 applications from more than 100 universities and colleges to win the Institutional Change category and was highly-commended in the curriculum category for its work involving sustainable development in students education.

“Both are fantastic – we are really thrilled to have been recognised,” says Peter. “We have a commitment to sustainable development through the education of students and their degree programmes.

“We work with all the teams and course tutors to develop strategies to build sustainable development into the courses. You have to make the connection between a particular subject and how it can be built in.”

It may seem difficult to imagine how this can be introduced to subjects such as health and social care and English, but with thought and imagination, it can be woven into the syllabus.

“With English you can look at how the environment is included in literature,” says Peter. “You could look at the relationship between human beings and their environment through the work of Wordsworth or African literature and see the changes over time and place, and how the environment is represented.”

The study of health care and well-being could look at generations working for future generations – sustainable populations. “The idea being that if people are not looked after, the idea of sustainable development will not happen anyway,” says Peter.

Subjects such as engineering are easier to adapt. “You can look at the use of sustainable construction materials and design of buildings and infrastructure, as well as anticipating the future to address climate change.”

Other subjects that lend themselves well to addressing sustainable development include architecture and geography.

He adds: “It is about a shift in thinking; looking at ways to integrate sustainability within teaching. It is straightforward with subjects such as geography, which can look at climate change or deforestation, but you can’t do the same with pharmacy. You would need to look at what contribution pharmacy makes to sustainability – you could look at the development of drugs and the resources needed to produce them.”

Because sustainability principles are embedded in a wide range of courses at the university, students and graduates are empowered to contribute to a more sustainable society.

Ecoversity involves changing practices and behaviour. Staff and students are embracing the concept and the university is seen as a trailblazer for delivering change across the campus.

“You need the desire and enthusiasm to do this among staff, to have staff on your side,” says Peter. “It is a challenge – winning hearts and minds.”

The programme has led to changes in various areas of environmental performance, in attitude, curriculum development, and the involvement of staff, students and the community.

In areas such as energy, buildings, recycling, water usage and travel, change is more straightforward. “We have a whole set of projects running simultaneously,” says Peter, “From banning plastic bags to car sharing, to planting edible crops such as fruit trees and herbs on the campus.”

Other initiatives include installing a biomass boiler fuelled by woodchip from sustainable forests, to replace three gas-fired boilers, sourcing food for sandwiches locally, and cutting the use of disposable cups – “we have probably saved 100,000 of those” – by introducing reusable mugs.

For Peter, as well as the many staff and students who have helped establish the programme, the awards are the icing on the cake.

“It is brilliant – it is testimony to a lot of hard work over the past two years. We are trying to do a huge amount over a very short period of time. This is great for Bradford.”

Says Ecoversity programme support officer Emma Griffiths: “This is about the whole university working together to improve sustainability and our success is thanks to all the hard work of the staff and students.”

She adds: “It is all really exciting, but we still have a long way to go.”