Last Monday (4/11/19) I got the chance to attend the NUS Sustainability Summit 2019, hosted by Sheffield Students' Union. It was an incredible day and I got the opportunity to hear from Students' Unions and Third Sector Organisations about all the work they've been doing over the past year to make their Universities more sustainable.
The day opened with a speech from Zamzam, NUS President, who congratulated SU's from across the country in the work they'd done to lead the fight against the climate crisis and the work done to hold Universities to account. She also emphasised that the Climate Crisis was a Class Issue and a Race Issue, with the poorest being the most vulnerable to extreme weather events both in the UK and the Global South which is bearing the brunt of deaths caused directly by the Climate Crisis.
"INSPIRED BY MANCHESTER MET"
I was particularly inspired by the work from Manchester Met Union who achieved "Excellent" in their Green Impact Award and have ensured their Uni placed in the Top 3 on the People and Planet rankings for the past 5 years!
"SHEFFIELD SU WORKED WITH BUS COMPANIES TO REDUCE FARE'S TO £1"
Sheffield SU shared how they had launched a broad sweeping campaign to "Decolonise, Decarbonise and Democratise" their curriculum which was really interesting AND they'd worked with local bus companies (hello First Bus) to drop their student fare back to £1.
I also heard from figures representing Friends of the Earth, People and Planet, NUS Black Students' Campaign and even a Parliamentary Outreach Officer. All of whom talked about how we can go about taking part in National and Regional Campaigns leading the fight against the Climate Crisis.