MyGlasgow News

Glasgow University Environmental Sustainability Team are a group of part time staff working to improve the environmental practice of the university, write Katie Arthur and Roisin Lyle-Collins.

As a University service within Estates and Buildings, GUEST works to support the university community catalysing the creation of the culture of sustainability here at Gilmorehill by hosting events, helping to update policy and communicating with staff students and local residents.

Started in 2011, GUEST is now in its third season, working with a new team aiming to improve their visibility on campus and therefore have more interaction with you.

Through its different branches GUEST continues to look at varied ways to incorporate a more institutionally environmental approach. On-going projects for this season include Sustainable Academia, aiming to create academic events in the Spring to discuss environmental issues, launch a GUEST moodle in order to improve accessibility to this information and promote space for these discussions on campus. This project will be approaching the Learning and Teaching Conference to highlight the importance of sustainability in the curriculum.

As well as this, GUEST continues to support the university's own community gardening space: Willowbank Garden. ‌Started by a small group of students, and now with the support of GUEST and many volunteers, the garden has grown into a flourishing area for students, staff and the local community to experiment growing their own organic vegetables, herbs and fruit. Furthermore, The Biodiversity Project keeps an emphasis on habitat creation and long-term biodiversity focusing on support of the Wildlife Garden Society as well as committing to projects like Sky Meadows and bee-keeping on campus.

The GUEST Recycling branch is focusing on communicating the new legislation and also aims to host practical re-use and swap workshops in the local community. Alongside this The Sustainable Food project focuses on increasing ethical food accessibility on campus and encouraging realistic lifestyle changes through events like ‘Meat-Free Monday’ and Cookery Classes to demonstrate healthy local eating which can save on waste.

The Sustainable Transport Initiative begins with a Mystery Cycle Tour for Welfare Week, working with the GU BicycleUsersGroup. Campaigning for better bicycle infrastructure on campus is one way GUEST hopes to make cycling a viable transport alternative. Last but not least, workshops will be run over the course of the year by GUEST’s Sustainable Energy branch, helping students reduce their energy consumption as well as their bills. There will also be education-facilitating workshops on energy impact awareness and auditing of the QMU Energy Usage and a Halls Energy Saving Competition.   GUEST works closely with the Green Champions Network who are a group of university staff currently working towards incorporating realistic and sustainable goals into the university. GCN is focusing on:

• making the new recycling legislation as prominent as possible to ensure an easy transition
• a plan for a new Combined Heat & Power system for the university to reduce waste carbon emissions
• the establishment of a WARPit trading system to maximise utility of the university stores alongside testing new printing logistics

GUEST was made possible through the initial support of the University Settlement, as well as Friends of the Earth Glasgow and is now funded by University Services and reports to the Carbon Management Committee. If you’d like more information, or to get involved, GUEST would love to hear from you!   For queries please contact: Roisin.Lyle-Collins@glasgow.ac.uk

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First published: 25 November 2013