Discover what our Environment and Sustainability Working Group has achieved in the past two years

A recipe for action

Over the past two years, the OU Students Association’s Environment and Sustainability Working Group has taken significant action to embed sustainability in the Association’s work.

We have:

• Introduced a Sustainability Representative on the Student Leadership Team – meet Jethro.
• Gained Responsible Futures Accreditation in partnership with The Open University.
• Adopted the Association’s first Environmental Sustainability Policy.
• Welcomed hundreds of students to sustainability-focused events.
• Embedded sustainability in all Association staff inductions and appraisals.
• Updated our Travel and Subsistence Policy to include environmental considerations.

So how have we achieved this when there is limited resource in terms of time and money?

Here are the ingredients:

1. Student voice
2. Shared purpose
3. Autonomy
4. Collaboration  

1. Student voice

The first, and most important ingredient, has been to listen, involve and engage with students. They are the reason the University and the Association exist. The student volunteers on our working group have led, inspired, motivated and held us to account.

2. Shared purpose

Next, we gathered the right people around a shared purpose. The group all understand that we are living in a climate emergency, and the time for action is now. Completing the Carbon Literacy Training consolidated this common understanding, and is open to all staff and students. We also have a balance of skills across the group, and we play to those skills – some are analytical, some great planners, others are wonderful presenters and writers: we put people in the right places.

3. Autonomy

Vital in this recipe has been the Working Group having the power and authority to make things happen. This autonomy was bestowed on us from the Association’s Trustees, Student Leaders and Chief Executive. We were empowered to get the job done, we made a plan and we got on with the work.

4. Collaboration

Taking action would not have been possible without the final step in the recipe, collaboration – both between staff and student volunteers within the Association, and with colleagues across the University. We have been encouraged and supported through high-quality training; students have been given a platform in key meetings; and colleagues have generously shared their time to talk with, and more importantly listen to, students at events and in meetings.
 

We’re proud of where we’ve got to so far, but we’re just getting started, and we want you to join us on this journey towards a more sustainable, fair and just world. To find out more about Sustainability at the OU, contact sustainability@open.ac.uk or join the Environmental Sustainability Society.

Now is the time for action, and with so much change happening around us, it is the perfect opportunity to include sustainability in everything we do.

Join the Environmental Sustainability Society