Degrees Cooler: A greener campus coming soon!
25 Feb 2010
Pilot engagement project will enable staff to 'green' departments or teams
The University of Manchester has fought off tough competition to be selected to be a part of a flagship greener lifestyles programme.
Called Degrees Cooler – Greening universities and beyond through behaviour change, the project seeks to help 90,000 students and staff across 20 English universities measurably change their everyday behaviours for the sake of the environment.
The two year project will start immediately and is being run in conjunction with the National Union of Students (NUS), the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC), Student Switch Off and People & Planet. Funded by the Greener Living Fund and sponsored by Defra, Degrees Cooler will spend a total of £515,000 delivering greener lifestyle projects at the participating universities.
Fifteen departments at the University have signed up to a pilot staff engagement project, called Green Impact, which is being run by EAUC at 19 of the 20 universities participating in Degrees Cooler. The project enables staff to 'green' their departments or teams through a practical accreditation scheme. Piloted at the University of Bristol last year, the scheme led to measurably greener departments.
Professor Maynard Case, Associate Vice President for Compliance, Risk and Sustainability at the University, said "It is hoped that Degrees Cooler will reach out to all our staff and students over the next two years, engaging them to recycle more, use less energy, eat more sustainable local food and reduce non-essential flying’".
You can find information on the University of Bristol's pilot scheme online at:
For further information about Green Impact at The University of Manchester, please contact:
- Charlotte McHugh, Environmental Services, Directorate of Estates, on 50343 or at charlotte.mchugh@manchester.ac.uk