Go Green Universities Action Guide
- Step 1 - Meet, discuss and plan
- Step 2 - How green is your uni?
- Step 3 - Launching the campaign
- Step 5 - Holding a Green League Award Ceremony
- Step 4 - Keeping the pressure on
- How your University might respond
- Case study - Nottingham's Campaign
- Sample Campaign Timeline
- How to get your campaign noticed
- Sample letter to the VC
- Ask Richard: Go Green advice page
Launch the campaign
The reason this is split into 3A and 3B is because you need to launch the campaign publicly just days after sending the report to the University decision makers. See the sample campaign timeline.
3A. Send the ‘Going Green’ report to your University decision makers
People & Planet has produced a report called Going Green, for you to give to University decision makers. One of the great things about this campaign is that the campaign target is right on your campus - your University’s Vice Chancellor, Principal or Director! Going Green sets out:
- the 4 key factors that the University needs to adopt to Go Green
- case studies of universities that practice high environmental performance
- practical guidance for going green
Send the report with a covering letter to your Vice Chancellor, Principal or Director. We have provided an example letter you can use as a base for your letter.
Send the letter from the P&P group, plus the Students’ Union Environment Officer if there is one. We suggest you send it to the Vice Chancellor/Principal/Director, and the University Environment Officer if there is one, or Estates Manager.
Finally, keep a copy of the report for your group - it’s packed full of the info you need to know your stuff.
3B. Launch the campaign publicly
Sign the petition and wear the ribbon! These are the 2 key actions that you need to get loads of students to take. Why? Because it’s clear that universities aren’t going green of their own accord, and it’s up to us to make them!
Your letter will probably be the first time that the VC/Principal/Director has heard about the campaign so you need to make them take notice! A few days after you have sent your letter to the University decision makers, launch the campaign publicly.
Action #1: Get students to sign the petition!
In the Action Pack there are 30 Go Green leaf petitions. You can get students to sign these groovy new leaf petitions and send them to your VC/Principal/Director. Each leaf has space for ten signatures and you can use them to make eye-catching displays which your VC will find hard to ignore.
Action #2: Get students to wear a Go Green ribbon!
Why not make your own Go Green ribbons with a reel of ribbon and some safety pins. It’s quick, cheap and easy and they are a great way for students and staff to show their support for the campaign.
You need to get as many students as possible to take these 2 actions to show the Vice Chancellor/Principal/Director that there is real pressure on him or her to make the university go green. The key to winning this campaign will be piling on the pressure.
Below are a couple of ideas for making your campaign launch a success but for more ideas see ‘How to get your campaign noticed’.
Action #3 :Organise a Go Green Week or Environmental Awareness Day
This can be a great way to build awareness of the campaign throughout the university. Loads of P&P groups have teamed up with their Student Unions to organise awareness raising events with speakers, green and ethical markets, stalls, concerts, debates and Go Green stunts. For tips and ideas on holding your own event why not check out what Warwick P&P got up to in Go Green Week 2006.
Action #4: Use the student media
Using your student newspaper or radio station is also a very effective way of getting your campaign message out to students and staff at the university. You should be able to get some really good pictures and articles on the campaign in to the student paper and stories on the radio. Imperial College students recently produced a 4-page spread featuring an eye-catching Green Page 3 and practical pointers for students wanting to be ‘greener’ themselves. For top tips on using the media and a sample press release see the P&P groups guide.
Don’t forget to send your photos and news into us as well so we can share them with the network. Email: gogreen@peopleandplanet.org
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