All things green and beautiful

Week one saw Go Green take over campus. Organised by Warwick’s People and Planet society, the event is a celebration of work on environmental issues and is the country’s largest student-run environmental campaign.

The events were spread over five days, and included a party in the piazza, during which students were given free drinks produced by a bike-powered smoothie maker. Copenhagen Day focused on the world conference that took place in December and Conservation Day included a photography competition and exhibition. Lifestyle Day presented a veggie workshop with free food, and finally Action Day, with workshops from the direct action groups Seeds for Change and Plane Stupid rounded off the week.

Asked about the highlights of the campaign, Francesca Doggart, People and Planet campaigns coordinator, talked about the photographic exhibition that took place on Wednesday. It was “brilliant” and was appreciated by both people close to People and Planet, “as well as by people from the outside”, who were not involved with Go Green Week. The exhibition was a new feature of the event.

Traditionally organised in the second half of term two, Go Green Week was moved to week one for organisational reasons. This was also due to the Copenhagen conference taking place only took place two weeks prior to the start of term, with Warwick’s People and Planet stressing it as a main topic throughout the week.

Those attending events had the chance to follow the story of Warwick students who travelled to Copenhagen by bike, train and ferry, and represented students both inside and outside the negotiations.

Taking part at the talks was Imagen Sackett, from Warwick Christian Aid, who talked about her experience in Kenya, in the context of extreme weather and climate change in a developing country. She expressed her disappointment with the Copenhagen conference. “You could just tell even before it happened that leaders would not reach a consensus,” she told the Boar.

The organisers also talked of their disappointment with the outcome of the conference, and hosted a day of talks and events on that topic.

A further highlight of the week was the Go Green Petition, which this year focused on the relationship between the university and the environment. Organisers urged the university to strengthen the link between climate action and university activity, by combining green issues with what students are taught.