VP Societies & Media Sophia Bolton tells you how you can voice your sustainability concerns so that we, as a Students' Union, can lobby the University to make environmental sustainability a key priority in their strategic plan.
In 2020 Royal Holloway’s ten year strategic plan is up for renewal. The strategic plan looks at every single aspect of the University, describing the future they’re working towards, the challenges faced and a steer for various groups and departments.
After declaring a Climate Emergency in 2019, one of the policies the Students’ Union adopted was “to lobby the College to declare a climate emergency and adopt the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals into its new Strategic Plan”.
Why am I telling you this?
Following this I have been working with the University to ensure that they will take environmental sustainability as seriously as the student body and that the environment is a key point in their new strategic plan.
How can you help?
Since tackling the climate emergency is key to the future of our generation, we need student voice to be at the very centre of their plans for the future. As a result, it would be great to get your input on the following questions.
- What priorities do you think the University should have in becoming more sustainable?
- How could student living on Royal Holloway campus be made more sustainable?
- How do you feel about your job prospects in an increasingly sustainable job market?
- Do you think the environment should feature in your education at Royal Holloway? And if so, how? Are there areas of your course which could or should be linked to environmental sustainability?
- Do you have any other comments or thoughts in relation to this topic?
Please email me at vpsocieties@su.rhul.ac.uk with your opinions on these question, don’t feel the need to answer them all if you don’t wish to!
I will be in Tommy’s Lounge on Tuesday 21 January from 13:00 – 16:00. This is a session for anyone to come by and talk further about the topic or have wider discussions about the questions raised. Please do pop by to let me know your thoughts!
The University is also hosting an interactive sustainability show, Thinking Bigly, on Wednesday 22 January. This theatre performance talk about sustainability will be held in the Windsor Auditorium from 2pm and you can register for free tickets here.
Sophia Bolton // Vice President Societies & Media