At the start of May, College held its first ever Sustainability Week, with 14 events held over five days.
All events went very well, however a particular highlight was the very enthusiastic reaction of the Lower College students to the break time events hosted by the Sustainability Committee. There were also two stimulating discussions about indigenous land right compensation by the Senior Debating Society and about the opportunities offered by choosing a green career by Forum 42, with a panel of Guild Members Polly Stebbings and Charis Evans, and CLC Commercial Manager Mrs Dwyer.
I personally very much enjoyed hosting a Mock Cop Conference for 50 UC4 and SFC1 (Year 12) students. This simulated real-life climate change negotiations. Although pupils did find it tough to decide on carbon reductions, the good news is that we did find a path to an agreement.
Other events included a “Design a Greener CLC” competition, a discussion of how to apply sustainability to one’s own life (both by the Environmental Society), and a showing of the documentary 2040.
The positive and hopeful message of this movie was maintained throughout the week. It was inspiring to hear in a talk given by Mr Richards, College's Chief Operating Officer, that we reduced our carbon footprint by 8.5% in 2022. There are also many plans to be implemented as part of College’s net zero strategy, including the possible installation of solar panels in the near future.
A considerable amount was also raised for College's Environmental Charity (DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal).
Sustainability Week took an enormous amount of organisation and hard work by a large number of students and staff, and I would like to thank them all very much for their contributions.
The image above is the winning entry from the Sustainability Week logo design competition by Amandine (SFC1). It has already become a very popular design, symbolising the beauty of the natural world which we are all trying to conserve.
Mr Spottiswoode, Teacher of Economics and Sustainability Advocate
