Sustainability focus on health and gardening!
November 20, 2015
This week in Sustainability, Society and You included a focus on health. Dr Neil Chadborn and Dr Linda East introduced us to the health benefits of a low carbon economy as a positive selling point for sustainability. Positive health co-benefits include a shift to low carbon vehicles, to walking and cycling, resulting in both less …
How much do you want: lagom, or just enough?
November 9, 2015
Sarah Stubbings writes: Have you ever gone down to the breakfast buffet in a hotel, eagerly looking forward to a meal that someone else has cooked? You’re patiently queueing up when some greedy character in front piles all the best food onto their plate and there’s nothing left for you. How do you react? Next …
Get more out of your Halloween pumpkin!
October 29, 2015
At Halloween, we’re back to the topic of food waste. Apparently when buying your pumpkins you should be aware that there are two grades, ones that are grown simply for carving – the taste isn’t brilliant although they’re still edible – and culinary pumpkins. The latter may be smaller but you can use them in …
Coping with the carrier bag charge
October 19, 2015
How are shoppers coping after Monday 5th October when they started being asked to pay around 5p per single-use carrier bag in shops in England? Charges are already routine in Wales (since October 2011), Northern Ireland (since April 2013) and Scotland (since October 2014). The scheme is intended to protect the environment from the number …
#lovefoodhatewaste on World Food Day
October 16, 2015
I’ve recently been following the #lovefoodhatewaste hashtag on Twitter. With recent news reports on the amount of food wasted worldwide, and the conference “Fight Food Waste, Feed the Planet” at Expo Milan 2015 tackling the issue of food waste with the EU and the UN, it’s very topical. Today, 16th October, World Food Day, UN …
Sustainability, Society and You MOOC starts on 2nd November
October 13, 2015
At the end of September world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and committed to 17 Global Goals which aim to achieve three extraordinary things in all countries in the next 15 years. End extreme poverty. Fight inequality & injustice. Fix climate change. How do these …
Grow your own veg successfully!
June 9, 2014
One of the ways in which many of us try to live sustainably is by growing our own food. Personally, I can’t seem to grow anything worth eating, but Sarah Speight, course leader for the Sustainability, Society and You MOOC which runs again on FutureLearn from next Monday 16 June, has much more success! During …
Make time for the MOOC and avoid food waste!
January 4, 2014
Meal planning is a great way to avoid wasting food – and saves money and time too. Wondering what to cook for dinner can be a minor but irritating cause of stress all day. Having a plan means it’s easy to make a shopping list, cutting down shopping time and decisions as well as food …
Countdown #30: top tips for a sustainable lifestyle
December 30, 2013
I asked on Twitter: what tip would you give someone just starting to make their lifestyle more sustainable? @ginnyfranklin started us off with a transport tip: how about: reduce your car use @TomFranklin chipped in: get and use a bicycle – walk or cycle to the shops, then extra trips don’t matter – I use …
Advent calendar #25: Using your Christmas leftovers
December 25, 2013
Sarah Speight writes: we have just finished running the ‘NOOC’ – the Nottingham Open Online Course, ‘Perspectives on Sustainability’. This is an internal University of Nottingham version of the Futurelearn MOOC, ‘Sustainability, Society and You’ that starts on January 6th. Our students have been carrying out audits of their domestic waste. While most of them …
