Environmental Audit Training Day (by Joseph Richardson, Landscape Architecture student)
This was an opportunity for any student at Leeds Beckett to
be trained to assess how environmentally sustainable various departments on
Leeds Beckett campuses are. This is part of a scheme known as the Green Impact
Scheme which many UK universities take part in. It aims at improving the
sustainability of a team through small actions. This scheme was awarded with
the United Nations International UNESCO- Japan Prize on Education for
Sustainable Development (ESD) 2016.
The day kicked off with coffee and croissants in the Library
where I met other volunteers, Brian, a member of the Leeds Beckett
Sustainability Team and Mark, the head of the team. We were shortly
joined by Rachel from NUS- National Union of Students who, from 9:30 began
training us in a way approved by IEMA, Institute of Environmental Management
and Assessment. This involved using a checklist of criteria to assess
hypothetical scenarios. The criteria are ways that the departments could be
more sustainable, for example; displaying posters near electricity plugs, paper
trays and sink taps encouraging users to be conscientious of waste. Another,
more complicated example could be signing up for the “Give It A Go” scheme
whereby staff would reduce greenhouse gases through organising car shares,
using public transport or even substituting car for bicycle. We also ran
through the process of the interview so how we would start an interview, by
saying in one way or another that the audit would be no more than an hour.
After, we were all allocated departments round Leeds Beckett campuses and I was
assigned CARES (Campus & Residential Services) in Headingley. By 1:00 in
the afternoon the training ended and we had a free lunch provided by the
Sustainability Team for which I was very grateful- cheers Brian.
Around 2:30 I arrived at “The Cottage” and was greeted with
warm smiles and a complimentary notepad of recycled paper produced by one of
the staff who has stacks of them! Of course I began by reassuring that I would
be no longer than an hour to Louise, a very friendly woman who then showed me
evidence to support claims that were presented on a spreadsheet on my laptop
from the memory stick provided by Rachel. The spreadsheet was a criteria form
that advanced in levels and awards, generally becoming harder and harder as one
went down the list. Many of the criteria on the list had already been achieved
and had been substantiated with such evidence as emails showing synchronisation
of stock orders to reduce journeys and thus reducing greenhouse gases or
evidence in the form of photos supporting claims that there are stickers on
computers that remind staff to turn their computers off at the end of the day.
I was very impressed by there efforts and was pleasantly surprised by how much
this department care for the environment. I learnt only the other day that this
department had in fact one Power Week which is a competition providing an
opportunity for teams to complete their toolkit and points are awarded for the
first 5 actions completed and on the engagement of staff. CARES won a hamper
for it. Well done CARES.
I really enjoyed the day as I knew it was going to be very
rewarding and educational, which it was. The fact that it was only one day made
it feel a slightly rushed and I did feel a bit ill-prepared when meeting the
department in Headingley but if the training had been an entire day and the
audit done on a different day then I think the prospect of signing up would
have been far less appealing to people. This day really made me feel a lot more
confident about entering professional environments and about greeting people in
a helpful and friendly but formal manner. Also, it has given me an insight into
sustainable procedures and how they can be applied to offices. I am very
grateful to Brian for providing me with this opportunity and look forward to
helping however I can in the future.
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