Director of National Switch Off joins Warwick for Live TV brainstorm

Neill Jennings, Director of National Switch Off campaign, will be joining SIBE’s Monday Live TV show discussion – entitled “Switch ON to Switch OFF” – at 8pm on Monday 20 February.

As one of the inaugural events of this year’s Go Green Week, Jennings will participate in a brainstorming session aiming to radically rethink the Warwick Switch Off campaign.

Benjamin Hodges explained that: “The National Switch Off campaign is important in making students aware of environmental issues. It shows us just how easy it is to make a positive environment changes in our own day-to-day life.”

Just 1,000 out of over 22,000 students at Warwick are currently signed up to the Switch Off campaign. Naomi Watts said that: “one of the main difficulties [for Go Green Week] this year has been student participation”. Helen Gould, Womens Campaigns Officer, stated that “having a good strategy in getting young people involved is vital in ensuring [environmental] damage does not continue”. “But”, said Watts, “it is great to hear that SIBE are finding new and exciting approaches to reach out to the student community both on campus and off”.

The interactive TV discussion, in which Environmental Officer Nick Hillard and Go Green Week organiser Lewis Smith will participate, will lead to further working groups involving students and the University energy team collaborating on changes to the Switch Off competition that could be gradually introduced over the coming terms. “I would love to see the campaign extended to off-campus accommodation if possible so that everyone could take part”, said Hodges, “More varied prizes would also be good incentives for us all to start making changes! If they could further involve clubs and societies as well I am sure that would help too!” Currently, only campus students can participate in Switch Off and prizes are limited to free ice cream and parties.

Co-Founder of the unibubble website, Stefan Van Der Fluit, said “Unfortunately I do not believe that the Switch Off campaign is that well known amongst the Warwick student population. By having the broadcast and discussion I do think that it will help as people will be able to actively partake rather than just spectate”.

Director of SIBE, Sholi Loewenthal, points out that ultimately the discussion asks the ‘big question’: “What can 22,000+ students achieve if we all work together?”

SIBE uses a chat room, displayed parallel to the broadcast on sibe.co.uk, to allow students to actively participate in studio discussions. “We’ve hosted discussions in the past that have been quite heated” explains Monday Live Producer Kristina Donauskyte, “but our real focus is on how the combination of TV and online interaction can result in real practical outcomes”.