Signing Off

So as the academic year formally comes to a close with graduation week, it's time too to finally sign off on my year as Environment & Ethics Officer for the Aber Guild of Students, and pass on this blog to my successor, Jenny Mace (jnm5[at]aber.ac.uk). So future references to 'I' should be read in a different context, reflecting different priorities and interests. But a few concluding thoughts and observations here on what my year has been...

What progress has been made? This is a difficult one to judge, because while I know I've certainly been busy (as the long and tedious process of cleaning out my e-mail inbox demonstrates) on a personal level, actual forward movement for the university as a whole is a bit more mixed.

I've developed good relationships with management staff in the areas of both energy and waste, meaning that the lines of communication have been open and frequent and that I've been able to monitor the progress in these over the past year. The first meetings of dedicated groups for energy management and waste management have taken place over the past year, to consider directly and more effectively how these issues impact the university and what action can be undertaken. Some university staff have, naturally, been more cooperative and interested than others. There have been the requisite moments of frustration where things simply fall through the gaps, but also the quiet satisfaction of slow, but momentum-building progress. I guess it will always seem like the big breakthrough is going to come next year (when I'm no longer here, obviously) and part of me wishes that I will still be around to see it through! It goes without saying that I've lost track of the number of times that coursework comes second to firing off emails to students and staff on green issues.

I've made the Go Green campaign a priority, which has seen an 800-strong petition, a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor, quality local press coverage and getting the UCU staff union involved. A full-time dedicated member of staff to environmental management is still needed, as is a complete overhaul of UWA's environmental policy statement. But the issue is firmly on the VC's table, and students will continue to demand the changes that will set in wet cement (it'll take a while to dry, of course) an institutional commitment to sustainability.

I have happily seen People & Planet members take the Fairtrade university campaign many steps forward and have my greatest optimism in this regard for success in and Fairtrade status in the very near future. My one regret has been an inability to take up a proper campaign on the university's continued staff pension investment in BAE Systems (and other arms companies), all the more galling given the recent BBC/Guardian investigations into corrupt business practices and bribing foreign officials. I very much hope that staff members will finally get off their bums and want do something about their own contributions to a trade focusing on violence and destruction.

I was elected to serve as a Aber delegate to both NUS Wales and NUS UK annual conferences, and at both of them contributed to highlighting sustainability and environmental concerns that had largely been absent from the agenda. A personal interest in the NUS has grown out of these experiences and something that I hope to be able to continue at my next stop. The NUS is a massive organisation in its resources and reach, and must be absolutely involved in greening and 'ethicalizing' our universities, demonstrating our solidarity with students of all stripes, home and abroad, and engaging students in the political challenge of making the world a better place.

The year ended with UWA's 97th placing in the Green League, and while this year has seen the beginning of environmental-related activity at various levels, it is just a beginning and in relative terms highlights how many other institutions are much further down this road. Current momentum will see UWA move up next year - the question is, how much? It'll have to run simply to keep up.

It has been a pleasure offering my thoughts on this blog, and providing some kind of link between the Guild and 'regular' students, a connection that definitely needs deepening. Simply putting this information out there is an important step, a place on the internet to be caught up in Google searches and the passing student. My own interest in blogging has been stimulated by the process of running this blog, although I now realize that there are also plenty of things that I should have included throughout the year that simply slipped right through my mind. But at least it's a start.

This is very much a niche blog - not a full-on commentary about environmental and ethical issues, but neither a full-on litany of observations about the work of the Aber Guild of Students in general. A rough average of ten hits a day, I think, is fairly respectable. From that perspective, I'm well pleased with the 3,500 hits to the site over the past ten months and while I don't know what my successor has planned for this blog, I hope that there'll be many more to come. But do check out my new project - Nick Thinking Aloud - to exactly take on the role of a more general, but also personal, commentary on the events and experiences that shape my world.

Thank you for reading.