UCU Support for Go Green and Fairtrade

The lecturers' union, University and College Union (UCU) has passed a motion in support of the Aber Guild of Students and Aber People & Planet's campaigns to achieve Fairtrade University status, and get UWA to Go Green.

Yesterday, myself and the respective People & Planet campaign coordinators spoke for a few minutes about the campaigns to the AGM of the local branch of the UCU, where a motion had been submitted to declare its support for these two campaigns. There were no dissenting votes against the motion, which is another step forward in getting public awareness and pressure behind these two campaigns.

At a symbolic level, both Go Green and Fairtrade are now official policy of both the students' union and the lecturers' union, which is a major boost to our efforts. The university, at a senior management level at least, continues to be hesitant about both of these student-led campaigns in making strong commitments to both environmental improvement and increasing the presence of Fairtrade on campus.

But I do hope that this latest outcome is more than symbolic, and that we can take the opportunity to build closer links with teaching staff - they are, after all, the other half of the university and often here for the long-run. Getting increased staff support through the Fairtrade steering group, and possibly a similar arrangement for Go Green, would be a useful start.

At the ongoing UCU national conference, a motion about campus sustainability was also passed unanimously. The green agenda in educational institutions is one that cannot be ignored.