Category: Staff (Page 10 of 11)

That time I went Vegan

May 5, 2015 /

[This guest post comes courtesy of Elle Harris, a 2nd year French and German Student who is also a member of Ecosoc, Fossil free and Urban garden projects and is a student rep for the Sustainable food steering group and is also president of KCL stop the Traffik. The views presented do not necessarily reflect those of King’s Sustainability]

From the offset I should just clarify, I am not a very good vegan. The King’s community contains many more impressive vegans who will truly wow you with their dedication to the cause, as opposed to my novice ways. That said, I feel I am in a unique and exciting stage of adopting a lasting vegan lifestyle i.e. the transition from vegetarian to vegan and can provide some confirmation that even the small steps are ok. So I feel my humble story can offer a refreshing outlook on how this whole veganism thing isn’t really as radical or scary as it sounds – it is surprisingly simple and makes a lot of sense!

Beginning with the start of the vegetarian lifestyle. After 18 solid years of eating meat, within the first month of university I decided to stop (which was surprisingly easy!). Despite years of watching horrific PETA videos, it didn’t seem to click that not eating meat was a logical response. Due to the questionable vegetarian options at my catered halls, I continued to eat fish, but my morals soon caught up with me and when I went home for Easter (and had more control in the kitchen), it was proper vegetarianism from then on. So, in terms of the veggie part of my life, it was primarily prompted in support of animal rights. Why kill a cow for dinner when there are SO MANY other things to eat that provide just as much satisfaction and nutrients?! I am not even a massive ‘animal lover’, but still, it just seems so absurd and unnecessarily greedy to eat meat in this modern day.

Moving swiftly on to the vegan ‘step’, I began at the end of January 2015 (so it wouldn’t get caught up in that New Years Resolution phase and become an immediate fail). Although vegetarianism was prompted primarily for the animal rights issues, my involvement within environmental groups last term introduced me to the environmental side of the meat industry. Watching ‘Cowspiracy’ finally pushed me to begin the transition, a film that puts the effects of the cattle industry on the environment in real perspective. It not only confirmed my vegetarian ways but also highlighted how the dairy and egg industry are just as bad.

To ensure this would be an actual lifestyle change, I started by being a vegan during the weekdays and then a vegetarian on the weekend (mainly to eat Quorn fajitas). The whole ‘Protein Problem’ that I was often bombarded with as a vegetarian is ever more present with veganism, but once more, it is misinformed. Granted I eat a lot of lentils and sweet potato, but this whole ‘restricted’ diet malarkey isn’t the case at all. There are so many fabulous recipes out there that makes vegan food fun. If anything I am more conscious of my protein intake, so I probably have stronger bones than meat-eaters who rarely eat fruit or veg. There are some unlikely perks of not eating meat too, for example, the limited veggie/vegan options on menus means I annoy my company less by being more decisive. Also, the feeling when you beat the system by discovering that something labelled as ‘vegetarian’ is actually ‘vegan’ is so rewarding that you will be put you in some ethical high all day. People often comment that such a lifestyle is costly. Granted, if you have a splurge at Wholefoods every week, this would apply (just like if a meat-eater went cray at TGI’s). However, with kidney beans at 30p a tin and a packet of rice lasting weeks, it is actually saving me a lot of pennies! It is also great for the environment. especially when comparing CO2 emissions, Oil and water use and land needed to sustain an omnivore diet to that of a vegan.

To sum up, I could literally ramble on for hours about reasons to go meat-free. It’s not in my nature to be that pushy veggie girl, but I hope this brief insight into my own vegan attempts shows that it is a journey that shouldn’t be rushed but rather, enjoyed – I get excited when I see soy yogurt on offer and the way to my heart is with a bag of hummus crisps. A poignant moment which confirmed that this is the right lifestyle for me happened over Christmas when I accidentally ate pork scratching, thinking they was just really salty breadsticks. Despite my initial horror, slips like this are okay. It proved my Eco and ethical ways are not just a university fad and veganism is the lifestyle for me. It is clear there is a lot of room for improvement in my own diet, but I hope I have demonstrated that even a switch to soy milk in your coffee is still a great step to eating sustainably. So, for the animals, the planet, your health, there are a wealth of reasons to go meat-free.

The Sustainability team takes over staff news!

February 27, 2015 /

Over the past few weeks the Sustainability has had multiple stories featured in Staff News. So what have we been up to? Here are a few of the highlights from our news over the last few weeks.

A second Salix loan under the Revolving Green Fund Initiative has been received by King’s. The £745,000 loan will be spent on funding energy and carbon reduction initiatives across the university, which aim to reduce annual carbon by 703 tonnes. This will include the installation of LED lighting, improving heating systems in the Philosophy building and installing more efficient hand dryers in Student residences. Check out the full story here.

As you may already be aware Green Week and Fairtrade fortnight have also taken this month. The aim of of these events was to engage and encourage students and staff to think about how they can improve their own sustainability as well as the sustainability of King’s as a whole.

Kat Thorne, Head of Sustainability here at King’s, was also interviewed by staff news, describing the roles of our team and why sustainability is important to King’s. She mentioned King’s biggest opportunities for greater sustainability as being operational labs and education.  She noted that the switch off campaigns seen over the past few months demonstrated that if everyone made some small changes there would be a huge overall impact.

Look out for more news from the Sustainability Team over the next term!

News, stories, and interesting bits.

Upcoming events

Sustainability Forum #2: Well-being and green space

February 5, 2015 /

Last Tuesday night we had our second sustainability forum which focused on Green space and well-being. We were joined by some wonderful speakers; Kate Sheldon from Trees for Cities, Gavin Atkins from the Ecominds project and Elle, Emily and Tobias from King’s own Urban Garden Project.

Held at Denmark Hill campus, the idea of the forum was to show that there is a benefit to everyone to spend time in green spaces, and how this can be a form of therapy, from helping with depression to relieving exam stress for students.

Our first speaker was Kate talking about Trees for Cities, a charity that started out as Trees for London but now reaches across 15 other UK cities and multiple international.  Each year they plant around 50,000-100,000 urban trees with the help of volunteers including members of the local community, schools, corporate groups and many more.

Kate described charity as a ‘natural health service’ giving people the opportunity to improve their health through planting trees.  She described how there is vast evidence around the value of high-quality green space for physical and mental health as well as an improvement of the surrounding environment.  Involving local communities in the project also makes the community more motivated to look after the trees and take an interest in their local area.trees

This video shows more about the Horticulture training base located next to Denmark Hill at Ruskin Park.  Over 350 hard-to-teach individual have been trained at this site over the last 12 years.

Another project that Trees for Cities are working on is edible playgrounds which aims to combat childhood obesity and hunger. It aims to improve the knowledge of healthy eating among the school children and gives them the tools to make better diet and lifestyle choices.

She ended her talk by mentioning how King’s and Trees for Cities could collaborate, including links between public health commissioners and clinical commissioning groups.  If you are interested in anything Kate and Trees for Cities has to offer you can contact her here or visit their website.

The next speaker was Gavin from Ecominds who spoke about ecotherapy – an intervention that improves mental and physical health by supporting people to be active outdoors. Currently 57 locally based Mind charities provide some form of ecotherapy, with 130 Ecominds project setup in 2009. This programmes includes activities such as care farming, green exercise, creative arts and much more. Gavin explained how each project was unique and focused around the individual needs of those in need of the therapy.mind

One key characetrics within some of the projects is the idea that participants are actively shaping nature, rather than passively experiencing it.  It is also key that natural environments can also take you ‘away from stressors’ which can help those that are currently experiencing mental health issues and those thought to be on the verge of developing them.

The Ecominds projects have shown positive outcomes on how the programme can help individuals.  7 out of 10 people experienced significant increase in wellbeing with more than 3 in 5 perceiving a positive impact on their overall health.  This is a huge achievement and shows the potential of ecotherapy as a form of treatment.  The case studies which Gavin also shared showed how findings like these in practice have saved the NHS/state up to £12,400 a year per person introduced in the schemes.

The major challenge now facing project such as Ecominds (apart from funding) is the perception that there needs to be hard evidence on the benefits of the schemes.  GPs often do not realise that these treatments are operating in their area and only 52% of GPs considered ecotherapy suitable for treating anxiety and depression.

The Ecominds project has now come to an end (due to funding) but Mind still continue to run numerous projects.  Three publications have been realised with research into ecotherapy.  To find out more about these or how to get involved in the project contact Gavin or visit the website.

Finally we had Elle, Emily and Tobias from the Urban Garden project from King’s speak about the work they are doing with regards to having working gardens on campus. Excitingly they now have a confirmed site at Guy’s Campus and one in process at Maugham Library.  The hope is that the gardens will start to be developed in the next few months.

The plan is for there to be a mix of seasonal and all year plants, as well as having a few edible plants which can be taken home by the volunteers that grow them.

The project aims to provide stress relief for staff and students as well as teaching them useful gardening skills.  The project with also to bright up the campus and make the area a more enjoyable place for students that sit outside in the Quad at Guys or outside the library.

Urban gardens plans to link with Trees for Cities to help in the design and planning stages of the project, with the idea of using upcycled furniture as part of the garden.

Overall this was a great event, giving us a good overview of why green spaces and active involvement with them is just as important for well-being as it is for the environment.

Now let’s meet Ann – Sustainable Operations expert

January 19, 2015 /

We have introduced Tom, energy manager, and Martin, sustainable Lab’s coordinator, both who are working to minimise the impacts of King’s use of natural resources in our energy consumption. The role of the sustainability team is however much broader than just energy – it is our responsibility to embed sustainable culture throughout King’s operations. Enter Ann.

Ann joins the sustainability team as Sustainable Operations Manager. Starting just before Christmas, Ann has begun to sink her teeth in to a variety of projects. So Ann, tell us more about your role:

‘My role as Operations Sustainability Manager is primarily involved with championing and embedding sustainability across the university. This includes working closely with colleagues both in Estates and Facilities and across the wider university; and together with students to help deliver the university’s sustainability objectives while minimising the impact of King’s on the environment. The focus of my role include areas of sustainability such as travel, sustainable procurement, waste & resources, sustainable construction and, development of our Environmental Management system.

In the past my career has included a working for a range of sustainability roles within a variety of industries in the private sector including a renewable energy company, buildings interiors fit out company and as an airport operator.

I’ll be at the next Sustainability Forum on 27th January at the James Black Centre, Denmark Hill so please feel free to pop along and say hello!’

So Ann is implementing an environmental management system; in other words she will be ensuring all sustainability policies and procedures become apart of our culture here at King’s so we can reduce our carbon footprint.Once Ann has had a chance to catch her breath, she will be no doubt providing updates in her progress.

Since Ann has started, she has been leading our latest initiative: Sustainability Champions. The Sustainability Champions programme is a great way to get involved with sustainability at King’s at the grassroots level. We are looking for passionate staff who would like to champion sustainability in their workplace and help King’s have a positive impact on our surrounding environments. Please get in touch if you would like to become a champion: sustainability@kcl.ac.uk

News, stories, and interesting bits.

Upcoming events

Calling all Sustainability Champions

December 9, 2014 /
100MSDCF1

Brilliant sustainability tips from King’s staff

This week we’re looking for staff volunteers to help us launch a new initiative, Sustainability Champions. If you have a passion for sustainability and want an opportunity to help drive change at King’s, then this is a great opportunity for you! This initiative seeks to embed sustainability within our departments, offices and labs through the efforts of King’s own staff. Volunteers can create teams of any size, from an entire department to a few colleagues, and will be working with the NUS Green Impact workbook with the full support of the Sustainability team. If you want to learn more and see a list of times and places at which you can drop by to chat with the Sustainability team throughout this week, take a look at our Sustainability Champions page.

This initiative is meant to complement our operational goals and to build on the efforts of King’s staff that have already been championing sustainability. Allison Hunter offers a great example. As Technical Manager for the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, Allison is responsible for technical provision across laboratories and relevant campuses. In this role she has managed to make some truly sustainable strides, and last month she was awarded a prestigious King’s Award for Sustainability. The King’s Awards recognise outstanding achievements of staff members as nominated by staff and students. In this case the Award recognised the successful implementation of a laboratory cold storage energy saving programme, which has saved 250,000kWh, or £25,000, per annum across six research buildings. Indeed, the efforts of staff like Allison can have a tremendous impact on the operations of the College, and we hope that Sustainability Champions will enable many more staff to participate.

What else is sustainable this week? EcoSoc is holding a Christmas dinner Tuesday evening at the Duke of Cambridge to reflect on the year and plan for the next (find details below). This seems a fitting end to an exciting term. Again, if you’re a staff member interested in becoming a Champion, swing by our drop-in sessions for a chat (and some cake!). We’ll be back next week for a final post before the holidays. Until then, keep it sustainable!

Upcoming events

Some news and stories

Introducing Martin, the lab guy

December 1, 2014 /

Last week we learned a bit about Tom Yearley, our new Energy Manager. Tom is just one of a group of new staff to the Sustainability team. Energy is a broad and important strand of sustainability work at any institution. Also important to King’s is its laboratories, which on average consume 3-5 times more energy per square meter than other academic spaces. This is a big reason why Martin Farley has joined the team as the Sustainable Laboratories Project Coordinator. This week we will be looking into what Martin’s role entails, and why those of us working in labs ought to be thinking seriously about sustainability.

blog pic martin

Martin, bringing some serious sustainability into the laboratory.

‘I work with research labs to improve sustainability in short. Research labs consume a lot of energy, way more than most areas, and yet are often overlooked. There are a variety of areas we try and focus on like cold storage, ventilation, management practices, and about anything that produces heat. I try and bridge the gap between the researchers and facilities to find win-wins for everyone.’ In particular, Martin says he’d ‘love to further improve cold storage management here at Kings, though people like Allison Hunter have already been trailblazing in this area. For now I’ve been following in her footsteps. Cold storage is a unique challenge from the purchasing of freezers, to their maintenance and management, and finally their disposal, there is always something else to do. Kings isn’t unique in this respect I should add.

I worked just under two years at the University of Edinburgh doing a similar job, and before that worked in a few research labs and got a MSc in biology. Chatting around with lab people and learning how things and people work was pretty useful.’

Generally speaking, Martin urges everyone to be the change they want to see: ‘I really love working in and the idea of sustainability. Figuring out how as a species we’re going to survive on this planet without making it too painful for ourselves seems to be the big quest of our time, and it’s fun to be involved in a small way.’ Also, he suggests enjoying your local organic apples!

While he was at Edinburgh, Martin initiated an ongoing study into cold storage units, which seeks to discover the impact of various extreme cold temperatures on sample viability. Martin will write more in the future about laboratories to help those unacquainted to understand better what labs can and need to do in order to become more sustainable.

On another note, the Sustainability team is excited to welcome another new member, Ann Maclachlin, who steps into the role of Operations Sustainability Manager. We’ll share more about what she’s up to in coming weeks.

Unfortunately, due to last-minute scheduling conflicts, we have decided to re-schedule our second Sustainability Forum for January. The topic – green spaces and well-being – is one that we feel is very important, especially in a large city like London, and so we are very much looking forward to hosting the event in the new year. Keep checking back here for details, and we apologise for the late notice – we hope it doesn’t cause any inconvenience!

Until next time, keep it sustainable!

Upcoming events

Some news and stories

Let’s meet Tom, Energy Manager

November 24, 2014 /

So what does the Sustainability team actually do? You know we put together events like Blackout and the Sustainability Forum, and maintain this blog. But as important as these things are, they form only one part of what we’re up to. Our goal is to embed sustainability within King’s at all levels from operations and administration down to the actions of staff and students. One major focus of this work is energy, and this week we’ll meet Tom Yearley, our new Energy Manger, to gain some insight into what his role entails and what it means for everyone at King’s. So, Tom, what does the Energy Manager do?

Tom Yearley

The man himself, likely pondering how best to increase energy efficiency at King’s. Or surfing. He also likes surfing.

‘As Energy Manager at KCL and a professional environmentalist, my work involves minimising the environmental impact of the use of utilities at the University. This includes gas, water, electricity and oil. More widely the role involves influencing and reporting on the University’s carbon footprint, including broad factors such as travel, waste and procurement. Fortunately, sound environmental practice leads to financial savings and compliance with legislation which are also key deliverables for me. On a daily basis, I may have my head buried in a spreadsheet, be out and about engaging people in carbon reduction projects or completing energy surveys of buildings.

My primary challenge now is to accurately measure how and where we use utilities. This will enable us to demonstrate to staff and students exactly how great an impact they can have on not only the University’s environmental impact but also on its finances at an individual level.

I have enjoyed a varied career in the environmental sector over the past ten years. I have worked for private and publicly funded organisations including a chocolate factory, consultancies and upstream oil and gas. For the past five years I have been working in the higher education sector. Before KCL I was employed at the University of Reading. I passionately believe that the greatest contribution to a reduction in societies’ environmental impact can be made by responsible use of resources. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, including technological innovation and especially by changing the relationship individuals have with natural resources. Working at a university, I not only aim to influence our consumption directly now, but also hope to influence future leaders, providing a social norm for how business can be run with a minimal carbon impact.’

So, basically, Tom is an energy expert in a position to affect tremendous change. His top sustainability tip for everyone is to ensure that hot water temperature and timers are correctly set up at home. ‘Not only can this dramatically affect your carbon footprint,’ he explains, ‘it can also save you hundreds of pounds per year. It’s amazing how little changes that do not affect comfort levels can significantly alter energy consumption.’ And Tom knows his home energy; this year, he won an Observer Ethical Award for improving his own home’s energy efficiency. He also urges everyone to turn off unnecessary equipment that’s not in use at work (yes, he had a ridiculously fun time at Blackout).

If you’re interested in hearing more about Tom’s work and energy and sustainability at King’s, he happens to be participating in EcoSoc’s panel discussion tomorrow evening (see below for details). We hope to see you there!

Upcoming events

Some news and stories

  • International Maritime Organisation adopts Arctic protection measures: Are they enough?
  • New Fairphone offers sustainable, ethical option to mobile users (so probably everybody?)
  • The importance of communicating climate science consensus (because some people still don’t get it)

NUS Blackout 2014!

October 28, 2014 /

NUS blackout logo

Blackout Friday 14 November – please join us!

King’s and KCLSU will be participating in the first UK-wide National Union of Students Blackout on Friday 14 November 2014.

As a university, King’s spends nearly £10 million on utilities per year. Small changes made by staff and students have the potential to dramatically reduce this figure, as well as reducing our carbon footprint and saving energy. For the Blackout, buildings on the Strand, Waterloo and Denmark Hill Campus  will be included in the shutdown (not including labs).

Volunteer

Staff and students can work across the campuses during the Blackout evening. The evening will run from 18.30 until 21.45, and then we will have a small celebration with food and drinks. To volunteer, please fill out our sign up form.

Opt-out form

If you are in a blackout area and have essential equipment that should not be shut off, you need to advise us by completing an opt-out form by Friday 7 November.

If you require any more information please contact us on sarah.hayes@kcl.ac.uk or Olivia.1.james@kcl.ac.uk

Reflecting on my time with King’s Sustainability team

June 24, 2014 /

janneHi everyone, I’m Janne and I work with the Sustainability team as a Sustainability Projects Assistant. As I will be leaving the team soon off to a new job, I thought this would be a good time to share my experiences and reflect on working with the King’s Sustainability team.

After graduating from my MA Cities at King’s I started here as a STEP intern. I have always been very interested in sustainability and with a group of friends at King’s I established a sustainability committee called ‘sustainitects’. This role seemed like a great opportunity to get involved with sustainability projects at King’s so I applied straight away!

The role is varied and you get a chance to work closely with students and staff cross the College, which I find really inspiring. My favourite project has been my research on education for sustainable development. It was very interesting to have conversations about sustainable development with so many people at the College.

Continue reading

Learning for change: education for sustainable development

May 19, 2014 /

Hi everyone,

Over the past few months my colleague Kiran and I have been doing research on education for sustainable development (ESD) for Karen O’Brien, our Vice-Principal of Education. The goal of this research is to get a better understanding of how sustainability is currently understood and taught across the College. It’s been a very interesting journey so far and we have discussed sustainability with many departments at King’s. Here I would like to share some my initial findings with you.

So… what is ESD?

There are different approaches to education for sustainable development. Traditionally ESD has focused largely on environmental problems. In this philosophy environmental sustainability can be explained through science, and solutions need to come from human action and technological innovation. This idea doesn’t cover the more social, cultural or economic aspects of sustainability. A more common view in ESD nowadays is that our present knowledge may be inadequate to cope with future uncer

ESD seeks to balance human and economic well-being with cultural traditions and respect for the earth’s natural resources. (UNESCO)

“ESD seeks to balance human and economic well-being with cultural traditions and respect for the earth’s natural resources.” (UNESCO)

tainties and risks. I like the broad definition by the Higher Education Agency (HEA): “Education that prepares people to cope with, manage and shape social, economic and ecological conditions characterised by change, uncertainty, risk and complexity.” (Fu​​ture Fit Framework)

According to Vare and Scott, this means that learning needs to be more ‘open-ended’. If we understand ESD in this way, this means we no longer look for a specific desired end-state of learning. This way we can realise what they call ‘social learning’ and be more reflective on how we might live in the future. I find this approach sustainable in that it uses out-of-the-box ways of thinking to deal with this unknown future.

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