March 23, 2024, by Ryan Neal
The Sustainability Challenge – Day Five
The Sustainability Challenge – part of Sustainability Action Week – sees us invite some of our senior leaders to spend the week living as sustainably as possible. It gives them the opportunity to reflect on their experience and share their thoughts with our community. This year our chancellor, Baroness Lola Young, has taken on the challenge alongside the Students’ Union’s Community Officer, Poppy Read-Pitt. Read on to find out how Poppy got on in the final day of the challenge – if you’re just joining us, you can catch up on days one, two, three and four.
Day five – travel and clothing
Much to the continued shame and disappointment of my parents, I can’t drive, so public transport is my usual way of getting around. This week however, I decided to cut out public transport as much as possible and walk everywhere.
Walking to and from work was nice (although it meant I had to get up 30 minutes earlier every morning…), but this was really put to the test on Wednesday, where I had some events to go to in the evening. On some Wednesdays I volunteer at a community kitchen in the forest, which I would normally get the tram to, but instead this week it was a temperate 40-minute walk where I got the chance to listen to a lot of new music, which I wouldn’t have had time to do on my shorter public transport journey. Also, I got to see a lovely sunset on my walk back which I would have missed had I been home sooner.
Where the real challenge began was when it came to convincing my housemates to walk from Lenton to Hockley for a collaging event. The collaging event was also quite eco-friendly as it used only scrap paper and old magazines, demonstrating that crafting and hobbies don’t need to involve you buying a load of new materials and can instead come from reusing old items. Walking back from the event was no problem; after a few drinks people are suddenly very happy to do a 50-minute walk. Who knew!?
Where my love affair with walking ended, however, was when my housemates and I went to a clothes swap at NTUSU. No amounts of pints could have convinced us to haul our bags of old clothes up Derby Road and into town, so the bus made a brief comeback. The clothes swap was a great way to recycle old clothing that you no longer wear and to refresh your wardrobe without having to spend lots of money or buy any brand-new clothing. Good for the planet and your wallet!
That’s it for this year! We hope you’ve enjoyed following Lola and Poppy’s progress. If you have any further ideas for living sustainably, comment below.
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