Degrees Cooler-Behaviour Change in Action Olivia Knight-Adams: NUS – Greener Living Project Coordinator EAUC Annual Conference 23rd March 2010

Greening Universities Through Behaviour Change Barriers Motivators Old habits hard to break Environmental / social reasons No time / inconvenient £ incentive I can’t make a difference Easy to do I don’t know what to do Feel good factor University not doing enough Encouragement from friends /colleagues Too expensive health benefits 23 March 2010 EAUC Annual Conference

EAUC Annual Conference Student Switch Off Energy-saving competition Eco Power Rangers: films, quizzes Encourages simple changes 9.3% or 650 tonnes CO2 saved 23 March 2010 EAUC Annual Conference

People & Planet : Going Greener Based around Transition Town Movement Staff and students engaged in practical projects Go Green Week and ongoing campaigns 23 March 2010 EAUC Annual Conference

EAUC Annual Conference EAUC: Green Impact EAUC accreditation scheme Greening departments from bottom up Over 10,000 staff & 250 departments Empowers environmental champions Makes sustainability easier Shares good practice 23 March 2010 EAUC Annual Conference

Studentforce for Sustainability Julia Jack: Greener Living Assistant University of Exeter 23 March 2010 EAUC Annual Conference

Being A University of Exeter GLA My background Role of GLA Links to other sustainability initiatives My role as a Greener Living assistant is to support and deliver Degrees Cooler locally amongst staff and students at University of Exeter. Degrees Cooler is not a bolt on – University of Exeter has found Degrees Cooler useful in providing a framework link to our other environmental initiatives 23 March 2010 23rd March 2010 EUAC Conference EAUC Annual Conference 7 7

Behaviour Change & Staff Engagement Green Impact & empowering staff Sharing good practice & celebrating achievements Healthy Competition! Green Impact has been well received by staff at the University of Exeter, we have 19 teams taking part. On average there are 20 staff members in each team and the size of individual teams continues to grow. Staff have felt empowered to encourage their colleagues to ‘green’ their work practices – each team has devised their own weekly newsletters and meet regularly. Good news stories are included in both the newsletter produced for the Green Impact leads and individual team newsletters – examples of this are: Our campus services team have reduced the number of print outs they produce by 200 per week by changing their processing system The School of Physics, Mathematics and Engineering have raised £184 for the Haiti appeal, All academic teams have made students an integral part of their team, Education Enhancement department have chosen a novel way to reduce waste by installing a wormery in their kitchen! The good news stories have proved to be a useful motivational tool with staff striving to get their team mentioned! 23 March 2010 23rd March 2010 EUAC Conference EAUC Annual Conference 8 8

Behaviour Change & Student Engagement Green Impact Staff & Student Collaboration Student auditors Exeter University have recruited Green Impact auditors from our student body which we expect will really increase staff / student collaboration around promoting a more sustainable university. We have linked the Green Impact auditor positions to our employability award programme, the Exeter award. We had over 100 students apply to be Green Impact auditors (far more than we had capacity for!) who are keen to improve their employability, learn more about environmental issues and put this into practice. 23 March 2010 23rd March 2010 EAUC Conference EAUC Annual Conference 9 9

Behaviour Change & Student Engagement Student Switch Off Raise Awareness Save Energy The Student Switch Off campaign has resulted in halls of residence staff and student working together to raise awareness on energy saving issues 23 March 2010 23rd March 2010 EUAC Conference EAUC Annual Conference 10 10

Behaviour Change & Student Engagement Go Green Week Lower carbon diet events Working with other Student societies For Go Green week students choose to focus on the environmental benefits of adopting a lower carbon diet They held various events (for e.g. vegetarian cookery demonstrations and film screenings). They found that by working together with other student societies that participants included a whole range of students and not just ‘the usual suspects’ 23rd March 2010 23 March 2010 EUAC Environment Conference EAUC Annual Conference 11 11

Greener Living Assistant’s Perspective Benefits for GLA Rewarding Benefits to University Raising Awareness Encouraging & Engaging I have really enjoyed being a Greener Living Assistant and I have found it very rewarding to provide staff and students with the tools for greening their school or department. In turn, the university has found it really useful to have someone dedicated to increasing awareness around sustainable living within the university system. It’s been a great way to raise awareness, and encourage student and staff to do their bit, and let them know that individual action taken collectively can make a difference. 23 March 2010 23rd March 2010 EUAC Conference EAUC Annual Conference 12 12

Greener Living Assistant’s Perspective Wealth of experience E.g. Project Management Challenges Work Commitments Opportunities Encourage & share good practice My involvement in Degrees Cooler has enabled me to gain a wealth of experience - From project management, to facilitating workshops to advising students on how turn their ‘green’ ideas into practical initiatives. One of the challenges I initially faced was assisting the Green Impact teams to fit in Green Impact around their other work commitments. I have overcome this challenge though through lots of positive encouragement and encouraging Green Impact leads to involve all members of their team in order to complete the Green Impact workbook. Also getting staff to share their ideas with each other has really helped and I’m sure staff will achieve even more in terms of positively changing their behaviour in the second year of the project. . 23 March 2010 23rd March 2010 EUAC Conference EAUC Annual Conference 13 13

EAUC Annual Conference Thank you! www.nus.org.uk Now I have told you about my personal experience...Olivia and the rest of the Degrees Cooler team have put together a film to showcase some of the great work that the other 9 Greener Living Assistants and Degrees Cooler universities have been doing across the country. Hopefully it will also inspire those of you not directly involved in Degrees Cooler! Thanks very much 23 March 2010 23rd March 2010 EUAC Conference EAUC Annual Conference 14 14