Sustainability news

The EAUC Annual Conference 2023: Conversations on Climate Solutions was held at the University of Bath at the end of June and several OU colleagues were in attendance. Kathleen Calder, Senior Learning Designer, LDS, and Franzi Florack, Senior Strategy Manager, Strategy Office have shared their experiences in this blog post.

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'.

The Open University's Dr Victoria Hands and Professor Stephen Peake recently co-authored an article for Climate Perspectives summer 2023 edition (pages 28 - 31).  Each edition of Climate Perspectives brings thought leadership-only articles from business leaders, academics and policy experts. You can read the article online or in the images below. 

In April 2023, The OU’s Matthew Cook, Professor of Innovation in STEM, held a Go Green session exploring the idea of consumers becoming less interested in product ownership and more interested in product use and the outcomes products achieve. Notable examples include city bike rental initiatives that satisfy the demand for urban transport, as well as garden and household maintenance tool-sharing schemes.  

Watch the full session below: 

In April 2023, Lewis Wilkinson from the Parks Trust joined a Go Green session to explain more about great crested newts and why they are a protected species. Many great crested newts call our Walton Hall campus home and Lewis explains how we can all help to create a biodiverse haven for newts and other creatures to thrive. Lewis also shared tips on how we can help protect the newts if we happen to find them in our green spaces.

Watch the recording of this session below:

by David Crews, Director IT Service & Support

Wild Isles: behind the scenes was the first large-scale hybrid OU/BBC co-pro event hosted by the OU. It took the collective expertise of the Faculty of STEM, Development Office, and the Broadcast and Partnership teams to make it such a resounding success.  

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.