Lifestyle

The Festive Season is a magical time of the year. The lights and decorations, the food, and of course spending time with friends and family. But while we all enjoy the festivities that season brings, the environment is not. The increased energy usage, waste, and consumption during can create a significant carbon footprint.

There are things we can all do to reduce our impact on the planet during the festivities. Here are few tips and hints to think about:

Season’s Greetings

Learning about the climate and ecological crisis can be very disturbing and overwhelming. We may feel a variety of different emotions often grouped under the umbrella label of eco-anxiety. But what is eco-anxiety and how can we learn to live meaningfully with the reality of the crisis without falling apart?

Sustainable Fashion: Fashion Fixing and Mending - Getting started with  Ismay Mummery. OU Research Student, Ismay, shares her findings from her garment mending research study and will offer ways to get more out of your wardrobe and get inspired to alter and fix garments rather than getting rid of them. 

So, what’s the problem with plastic? Have you ever wondered how it gets into the ocean? Where it goes? What it does? And most importantly, what you can do? Lucy Deans answers all of these questions and more with an aim to increase our plastic pollution literacy while building on tips to reduce your own plastic consumption.

Watch the recorded presentations from The Open University’s Black History Month event in October 2022 here.

Joined by Jen Gale from Sustainable(ish), Go Green discusses the Sustainable(ish) ideas around progress over perfection when incorporating sustainable actions into our everyday lives, and some of the things we can do to change our homes and lifestyles, as well as call for systematic change.

Watch the full video here:

Sisters Against Plastic (Mary and Theresa) are ‘normal people’ who noticed just how much plastic they were using. Shocked and concerned, they went on a yearlong ‘plastic diet’, tackling the everyday (and obscure) plastics in their lives. Now experts in plastic pitfalls and top tips for reducing plastic consumption, the Sisters Against Plastic inspire people to give cutting down on plastic a go and try more environmentally friendly alternatives. In this session they show us their easy swaps around the home and how you can start making these changes to go on a 'plastic diet'.

by David Crews, Director IT Service & Support

We spoke to Dr Kevin Collins, Senior Lecturer in Environment & Systems at The Open University, about the ongoing issue with water quality, and the Government’s recent move to ban ‘plastic’ wet wipes:

We all know that plastic in our rivers and our oceans is a bad idea. The Government has recently announced its intention to ban wet wipes as part of a wider strategy to help improve our rivers, coasts and seas.

In October 2020, The Open Universities Go Green network was joined by Ann Storr, Founder of the Storr Cupboard. Ann spent an hour with OU colleagues, inspiring them to use everything in their fridges and freezers and reuse their leftovers.