Go Green Goes Live

Later this week we launch our Go Green campaign which aims to transform Aber Uni's environmental performance.

Close your eyes (after you read this sentence) and imagine a university that offers a comprehensive recycling system for students across campus, runs a green landlords scheme for private accommodation options, low-energy lightbulbs everywhere, multi-flush toilets, solar panels and wind turbines on roofs and lights, sources its food from local farmers, actively reuses and reduces, demands that its suppliers are green, sustainable buildings...

It's done elsewhere across the country, so it can be done here in Aber!

My biggest fear for the long-term future is that I'll come back in ten years and find that the entire campus has been concreted over. The new Interpol building and ongoing Visualisation project (the thing by Cledwyn) will have been completed within one calendar year of each other, the extension to the Film and TV building further slicing off the space between residences and academic buildings, converting the space between Ed Llwyd and Cledwyn into a gravel parking lot. There are three main empty existing spaces for new buildings - in front of Penbryn, in front of the Hugh Owen building, and next to Llandinam.

But back to the happy stuff. We begin to collect signatures on a petition, raise awareness among students with some crazy creative stunts, and start communicating with the VC on Tuesday. I really have no clue how long we'll need to put the pressure on to achieve our campaign aims. But as long as we get a good start, I'm confident that we'll be here for the long-run beyond the end of this academic year.

There are a whole host of reasons why the university should Go Green: being green saves money, being green offers a better image and reputation, being green gives back to the local community, and being green sets an example at a time of unparallelled awareness about our impact on this planet, especially in terms of climate change. I think, at least, at the most basic level, if you ask me why the university - our university - should Go Green, I'd like to ask you: why not?