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Greenspace Festival 2024
On Monday 3rd June at Fountains Hall, Grey College, the Greenspace Team, with support from student volunteers, organised a celebration of all things sustainability at their annual Greenspace Festival.
This year, our Festival was even bigger! We welcomed a wide range of stallholders, speakers and partners from in environmental action, as well as student groups, vegan food vendor, the Student Union Sustainability Officer hustings and elections, the MyGreenspace Varsity Trophy announcement, vintage and formal clothing sale and more!
Sustainability Officer live election at Greenspace Festival 2024
Candidates for the Student Union’s newly created Sustainability Officer role presented their campaigns to attendees and live elections took place later that day at the Festival. The Sustainability Officer will be your lead student representative in the SU and University, working with student groups and volunteers to make positive changes to Durham’s biodiversity and sustainability.
For more information on the SU: su.elections@durham.ac.uk
My Greenspace Varsity Trophy winners 2024
Congratulations to St Chad’s college who were presented with the My Greenspace Varsity Trophy 2024. St Chad’s competed against all other DU colleges to log the most actions and earn the most points on the My Greenspace app. As well as this, St Chad reps have worked to reinvigorated key student groups including the St Chad’s Green group and the St Chad’s JCR. The award was presented to representatives from St Chad’s by Professor David Harper, who also spoke on the importance of further developing Durham’s sustainability programme.
This year, we hosted even more speakers who discussed a diverse range of topics. Tom and Abi from Eco Du, an independent student group campaigning for climate justice, discussed the small changes we can all make, such as switching banks, which add up and have a huge impact. Nikki Dravers, R-E-Fuse, and Natalie Smith, My Emissions, also stressed the importance of making ethical consumer choices. This has been put into practice by DU, with the collaboration of My Emissions, in the form of our new carbon emissions ratings on all catered student menus, helping to promote sustainability to all students through food consumption. Our newly appointed Biodiversity Manager, Ian Armstrong, set out his pans to further support biodiversity across our ever-growing estate.
As well as our speakers, we hosted a range of stallholders, from our external partners, such as the Low Carbon Economy Team at Durham County Council, to Durham Wildlife Trust and Wear River Trust, to our internal partners at the Volunteering Team. The Ugly Fruit Group, a student-led organisation, provided education on food waste while St Aidan’s Wardrobe sold vintage and formal clothing, enabling our students to be more sustainable.
Outside of Fountains Hall, Durham Constabulary carried out a bike marking/registration event and Recyke Y'Bike provided bike health checks, both activities offering staff and student bike users peace of mind and enabling them to make sustainable travel choices.
Sun of Seitan, vegan food specialists, provided delicious and ethical catering which was enjoyed by all!