By Ben Jamieson, BA Broadcast and Digital Journalism
The Sustainability Society is one of UWL’s newest and most exciting student groups, with a dedicated team of student volunteers eager to inspire environmental action. We spoke to Matteo Cacialli, the society’s Chairperson, about what the society hopes to achieve within UWL. Join the Sustainability Society today at UWLSU.COM.
Who are the Sustainability Society’s committee members, and what are their responsibilities?
Originally, the committee members were the only members. The most proactive people interested in creating this society joined together, and we divided the tasks. Adele, a Broadcast Journalism student, has been managing our social media (Instagram) so far. Then we have Arnau, a Business student, who has been dealing with partnerships and comms from other universities/organisations. Ilia, studying Law, was providing general help at the beginning and then started dealing with OIkos’s setup in UWL - more on that later. Ahana, a Nutrition student who joined the society later, became responsible for organising the events outside UWL-she’s our Events Manager. Finally Giuseppe and I, both Psychology students, are Vice-Chairperson and Chairperson respectively.
Why does UWL need a Sustainability Society?
Because Sustainability is not just 2022’s buzzword, it is a necessity. Although there are some constraints, all governments and companies around the world are aiming at implementing sustainability in their ethos. The Sustainability Society at UWL provides an opportunity to meet and bond with other people interested in it, as well as to expand the number of people interested; there are already environmental initiatives across UWL, but we need a student-based hub from where all those initiatives can be promoted.
Which environmental issues is the Sustainability Society most concerned about?
Well, there are so many that I think it is difficult to pinpoint anything specific. We can talk about plastic pollution, meat industries, fast fashion, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gases, the list is potentially endless. But what is the common feature of all those issues? I’d say extreme industrialisation, bad-education, and a spoilt life-style. The Sustainability Society is concerned about the common cause of all those issues, which is, in a word, our modern-world culture.
What has the Sustainability Society and Sustainability Network done within UWL?
The Network, born within the SU and set-up by the VP of Education Alessio, has been endorsing and promoting several initiatives across the university. It has conducted surveys across students, to infer sustainability attitudes & ideas, promoted volunteers-based initiatives with renowned environmental bodies such as Shape and UNAI, advocated for biodiversity, which is considered among the goals of renewing the memorial garden, and raised the awareness of our representative bodies by allocating dedicated interventions at the course rep training sessions.
Any initiative proposed by the Network has been promoted across the members of Society, looking for committed volunteers and other forms of participation. The committee was born in October, at the beginning of the academic year, and our initial efforts were aimed at expanding our pool of members and strengthening the bonds between the already-members. We started with a group of less than 10 people, now we communicate to 60+ students. First activities were social, we visited museums related to environmental issues and we organised informal meetings on campus to get to know each other. In the meantime, we produced awareness info slides and media content focused on Halloween and Christmas waste. We have also offered our assistance to organise the SU Halloween party, to help prevent wastage, but this year it was not possible; hopefully, the next.
What changes do the Sustainability Society believe all universities should implement?
Universities should do whatever they can - from an administrative point of view. For instance, they should source green energy providers, limit their wastage of heating and food, and reject investments from fossil-fuel related banks or companies. Apart from that, they should simply support their students that are interested and committed to sustainability, and let them guide the action; that is because any other top-down mandate on students’ lifestyle would not be effective. We believe that change has to come from the bottom-up.
For instance, would it make any good if the universities were to ban plastic packaging on campus? It would probably divide the students, and cause resentment and rebellion. However, if the students themselves are tackling this issue, for instance by stopping single-use plastic purchases, then the story is different.
There are some people who believe that “who’s on top” should be dealing with the climate crisis; nothing further from reality, as society is made of individuals and every one must be considerate about it, otherwise change will never happen, and, the very moment that “the people on top” would dictate certain behaviours. Those decisions would not be received appropriately and the final outcome would be counter-productive.
What does the Sustainability Society hope to achieve this year?
We want to keep creating this sense of community, strengthening the relationships already in place, and creating more of them; we want to become a voice heard in the whole campus. This is our foremost goal. You can launch as many initiatives as you want, but without a strong community behind them, they are not going to be effective. The most important thing for us is thus to establish recurrent dates such as monthly visits to museums and social gatherings, as those are the main ingredients in building a community. Besides that, our members worked on a proposal to encourage eat-in services and discourage take-away packaging from campus canteens. This would be achieved by a slight increase on the price of take-aways, and a slight decrease on the price of eat-in. This proposal is under scrutiny.
Regarding other initiatives and campaigns, we rely both on the Network and we will rely on Oikos. Indeed, any proposal aforementioned which was set-up or promoted by the Network, has been advertised as well among our society members, and in fact loads of volunteers have been recruited among them.
And now Oikos. As anticipated before, one of our earliest members got in contact with Oikos international - a non-profit organisation focused on sustainability which has established connections with many universities worldwide. Myself and other Society members are helping Ilia to set-up Oikos within UWL, to promote a more sophisticated approach to sustainability; in fact, Oikos will help us with materials and ideas to make even more students interested in sustainability, as well as providing professional guidance.
What are the benefits to joining the Sustainability Society?
You can meet like-minded people and be up-to-date on anything environment-related happening in UWL. Apart from that, there are no benefits. Maybe there are commitments; if you decide to join any initiative/campaign that is occurring, it is indeed a sacrifice. But what matters is the goal of such sacrifices; knowing that your efforts are being directed towards an ennobling cause… that is the true benefit.
What events does the Sustainability Society have planned for 2022?
Ideally we are planning a field trip each month, visiting museums and exhibitions which can expand our knowledge; education and awareness are paramount to tackling the climate crisis. From Oikos (which is classified as a different student society, but all members of Oikos are firstly members of the Sustainability Society) will come numerous initiatives. The first one will be focused on sustainability within businesses, and is thus targeted to the business school. UNAI will take place soon, also, and many of our members are excited to take part in an initiative promoted by the United Nations Academic Impact team. If you have any brilliant ideas - then it’s time to contact us and participate in this journey!
About the Writer: Ben Jamieson is an L6 Broadcast and Digital Journalism student at UWL, as well as the West London Wick's Chairperson and Head Editor. He is also UWLSU's School Rep for The London School of Film, Media, and Design, and former Head Editor/President of the MNGR. He is especially interested in Investigative Journalism. Ben is on LinkedIn.