As a student, there are many environmental campaigns to get involved with right here at the University of York. We’ve brought together a few of the options available to you and how to get started in supporting their campaigns!
This is a campaign to get the University of York to change its default search engine to Ecosia. Ecosia uses the profits from internet searches to plant trees where they are needed most. This is part of a global student-led campaign. As of writing, seven universities worldwide have switched to using Ecosia as their search engine to plant tens of thousands of trees combined. Let's be the eighth!
The planet and local communities aren’t the only ones benefiting from the positive work of Ecosia. Through their work to support biodiversity, Ecosia are able to create and maintain habitats for endangered animal species around the world! Still got questions? Visit Ecosia’s website at: Ecosia.org.
Become part of the community that uses Ecosia as their default search engine by using our link specific to the University of York! Anyone that downloads the Ecosia extension through this link will start to add to the University’s tree counter: https://ecosia.co/UniversityofYork. Sign the petition here, and follow the campaign on instagram at @yorkonecosia.
One Planet Week
One Planet Week runs every year at the University of York during Week 6 of Spring Term to celebrate sustainability, promote awareness and share knowledge with staff, students and the general public! Each year a One Planet Living Principal is chosen to provide the focus for social events, seminars and workshops run during the week, and you can help! Contact us (connecting-east@york.ac.uk) or your College Administrator and let them know that you want to help with the planning and promotion of One Planet Week events here at York!
Student Switch Off
Student Switch Off is an international campaign encouraging student action on climate change. Its focus is an energy saving, recycling and student engagement competition for those living in our colleges. There's individual competitions throughout the year and Colleges also compete for cash prizes to spend on student-related activity. Sign up at Fresher's Fair or join the Facebook Page and become a Student Switch Off ambassador! There are also paid recycling auditor roles available to help with the programme, giving students work experience and counting towards the York Award.
Regarding the College competitions, each year Student Switch Off runs an energy saving, recycling and student engagement competition for students living in our colleges. At the end of the year, colleges that save the most energy, recycle the most and have the highest student engagement wins cash to spend on student-related activity. Prizes typically include winning tubs of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream for the entire college! Find out more about how to get involved with Student Switch Off here.
Green Impact
Green Impact is an environmental accreditation programme that recognises and rewards staff members’ sustainable actions at work. Students can get involved by working as a Green Impact Auditor and receive IEMA approved training. You'll visit participating departments and review the actions they have implemented. There are also roles available as Green Impact Project Assistants, where you can take part in a day-long training course and then work with a staff Green Impact team over the course of the year.
Other Options
There are many, many more options available to you in terms of supporting sustainability here at the University of York, including volunteering for Green Charities and getting involved with student societies such as VegSoc and SCOOP. To find out more about these, visit here!
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