PORTFOLIO 2019-2020
Making Real Change on Campus
SOCIETY AIMS & OBJECTIVES This society was set up in January 2016 as a forum for students to have their voice heard in regards to Environmental issues, which are turned into real actions and solutions on campus. Our main objectives are the following: • To promote sustainability • To raise awareness of environmental issues • To organize environmentally themed events and excursions • To help improve the quality of life for all staff and students on campus • To help maintain the university’s Green Flag Our aim is not just to be one of the best University of Limerick societies, but to be a national exemplar environmental society. We aim to break the typical negative perception associated with Environmental Societies (e.g. boring, not fun, unrelatable, intense debates, protests etc.) and intend on being much more fun, welcoming, relevant and engaging toward our fellow students and the campus community.
A Message From Our President Hello everyone! Lots of Love, Another year, another huge collection of work Christopher Asmus and achievements from this amazing group. Our society continues to strive to do our best in influencing real change. As we witness the consequences of climate change unfold across the planet, our collective effort is needed now more than ever. All in all, this portfolio shows everything that the Environmental Society was able to accomplish during the past year. And as president for the second year running, I am so proud of what we achieved. Icouldn’t have done it without all of the friends I’ve made along the way. These things were only possible because of the collective love we gave each other in trying to make the world a little bit better. We can all make positive change if we try.
ENERGY WASTE WATER BIODIVERSITY TRAVEL UL C&S LOGO
Developing a Culture UL Green Guides Our 2019 / 2020 year kicked off with our very own fully designed UL Green Guides. This project originated from one of our weekly society meetings back in April 2018 whereby members made the observation that there was no single source to find out about the various sustainable facilities on campus. A suggestion was made about creating a simple document that would overview the most important facilities on campus, and in turn would develop awareness and potentially might convince people to choose more sustainable lifestyle choices; ‘Helping you help the environment!’
Following much discussion among the society members, the most important topics/items that were chosen to be included in this pocket sized leaflet were the following: • Water Conservation, • Food Sharing, • Reusable Water Bottle and Coffee cup incentives, • Waste Segregation, • Smarter Travel and • Details on how to join the UL Environmental Society. The leaflet was developed by one of our society members and a member of the UL Green Campus Committee. The final leaflet design was agreed after approx. 35 revisions! The leaflet was printed on 100% Recyclable paper, and through
coordination with the UL Students Life and UL International Education Division, the leaflet was included in all new student welcome packs in September 2019 (3,500 new students), and in turn January 2020 (800 new students). Going forward, it is a resource that can be easily updated, and will be included in all start of semester welcome packs. They are also found at the main receptions to all buildings on campus. This project was nominated by UL C&S as the “Best Green Initiative” and represented UL at the BICS National Awards 2019.
Start of Semester (Sept.2019/Jan.2020) Recruitment Drives At the beginning of each important to stand out to help semester the UL Environmental attract potential members. The Society coordinates a high society uses a 2m x 600mm pop quality presence at the Clubs up banner to illustrate images of and Societies’ Recruitment all of the great events that the Drives. Over 35 different clubs UL Environmental Society entails and society stalls are normally to entice people over and sign up. present for each event so it is
Committee & are passionate about, and the Weekly Meetings relevant committee member will assist them. The Environmental Society committee consists of eight Weekly meetings are held on members: President, Treasurer, Monday evenings at 6pm. Our Vice-President, Secretary, PRO x society motto and aim is ‘Making 2, H&S Officer and Green Campus Real Change On Campus’. Our Liaison. While there are outlined society offers a platform for any committee member positions as individual person to be able to required by the C&S guidelines, propose an idea, and as a group this is certainly not an over ruling setup; all society members are encouraged to lead projects they
we encourage and help them to are more interested in making make it a reality. things and achieving more immediate results. Meetings An effort is made weekly to can vary from lectures, to facilitate those who wish to group discussions, to building discuss important topics that workshops. interest them, but also aim to do something hands on, which caters for members who
Smarter Travel City Center Cycle On the 28th of September, the Environmental Society organized a Bike Trip. Members of the society did a cycle from UL into Limerick city. This was a great way for society members to get to know each other while also getting some fun sustainable exercise.
Biodiversity Birdhouse Workshops Continuing on from our previous successful workshops in recent years, we decided to run another Birdbox Building workshop. There can be a lot of time spent talking at the start of a semester trying to encourage new project ideas, and while some people like discussion, a lot of people prefer to do something hands on and get instant results. Our society can suffer from this compared to other societies, as we usually start off a semester looking for ideas and suggestions, which can seem disorganised to new students, meaning they might not return. Using simple tools and techniques, the birdbox builds is a great opportunity for new members
to make friends, share ideas Images of previous in a relaxed setting and also Birdhouses erected develop something meaningful. around the UL The template that the Birdboxes campus! are based on can be found on the Birdwatch Ireland website. These nest boxes cater for Blue Tits, Great Tits, Tree Sparrows and House Sparrows, with the main difference between each nest box simply being the size of the entrance hole to suit each bird type. While the same template was used for all Birdboxes, each one was personalised by their respective builder using a pyro pen to engrave images and notes on the sides of the boxes so that they would be distinguishable once put up. Ten new Birdboxes were built were built at this workshop and taken home by the members.
Waste Speak with your feet The “Speak with your feet” initiative got in contact with our society via Instagram. They were organizing a march to protest the EPA’s (Environmental Protection Agency)decisiontograntalicense to the Irish Cement to burn 90,000 tons of industrial waste and tires on the outskirts of Limerick City. We joined them on Saturday 5th of October along with members of the Student Life Team to make our voices heard. The march started at city hall on Merchants Quay, walked down Bridge St and came back on Henry St. There was a very impressive turnout.
Water & Waste UL Bottle Collector Campaign Following last years success of winning a National BICS Award for our ‘UL Bottle Collector Campaign’, UL committed to the installation of approx. 20 new water refill stations across campus, with an aim to install approx 30+ in total in the near the future when further funding is sourced. The map on the next page illustrates all the new locations, indicated in pink the map index. This map was developed by our society to illustrate all of the refill stations across campus. It is found on the UL website.
THOMAND PAVILLION QUIGLEY Analog Device Building: RESIDENCES 1. Level G, 1, 2 & 3 (By Lift) WATER REFILL VILLAGE 25 2. AD1-047 STATIONS Arena: 7 CAPPAVILLA 3. Level 1 (Top of staircase) Boat House: IRISH 9 G.E.M.S 4. Inside front door CSIS: WORLD 8 HEALTH SCIENCE 5. Level G, 1, 2 & 3 (Nearby lift) ACADEMY Foundation Building: 6. Cafe Allegro (ask for refill) BUILDING G.E.M.S.: 7. Level O (Beside Cube) DROMROE Health Science Building: VILLAGE 8. Level G (At entrance lobby) 4 12 21 Level 1 & 2 (By stairs) BOATHOUSE Irish World Academy: E.R.B. 9. Cafe Blas (Entrance to cafe) Kemmy Building: PESS 10. Cube Café (Ask for refill) 11. Level G, 1, 2 & 3 TIERNEY 32 FND BLD MAIN BUILDING 26 Languages Building: BUILDING 6 12. Level 0 (By staircase) 19 SCHRODINGER MUNSTER Library: BUILDING ACADEMY 13. Level GL, G, 1, 2 & 3 (Near lift) 20 14. LevelG,1,2&3 Lonsdale Building: 5 15 23 15. Level 1 (Common Room) 22 Main Building: C.S.I.S. 17 16 28 3 ARENA 16. B1 (Entrance to Red Raisins) BUILDING 17. B1 (Entrance to Red Raisins) 13 18 18. B1 (Red Raisins - near Subway) 31 30 19. DM (Eden) 29 SCHUMAN 12 20. EG-010 (By staircase) BUILDING Millstream Building: 27 21. River Café (ask for refill) 11 10 14 ANALOG MSSI Building: 24 SL COURTYARD DEVICES 22. Level G (Kitchenette) KEMMY LIBRARY BUILDING 23. Level 1 (At Staircase) BUILDING Level 2 (At Staircase) Paddocks: 24. Ask for refill Pavillion: 25. Level G (Outside changing rooms) Level 1 (Ask bar for refill) PESS: 26. Level G (Outside Public Showers) Scholars: 27. Ask bar for refill Schrodinger: 28. Level 1 & 2 (By main staircase) Schuman: 29. Level G (By lift) Students Centre: 30. Level G (Under staircase) Level 1 (Top of staircase) Stables: 31. Ask bar for refill Tierney Building: 32. Level 0 (Inside entrance lobby) *New Refill Stations Link to online map on UL Website
Just as a recap to summarise the UL Bottle Collector Campaign: In 2016 our Environmental Society designed and constructed a Plastic Bottle Collector unique to UL. This project originated from one of our first ever weekly society meetings whereby a new member (also new to the campus) made the observation that UL, and Ireland in general, has Designing the New Collector a very bad culture of buying bottled water in enormous quantities. This in turn meaning there is huge plastic waste being generated and thrown out.
Following some discussion, our society agreed that the best way to try reduce and eliminate this plastic waste was to encourage the installation of water re-fill fountains/ stations in all buildings across campus, which at the time most buildings were lacking. However, the society did not have a budget for such a large project, or have much influence in general to inform such a large change to be made on campus. The decision was made to make a large visual piece which could be moved to various locations across campus. The aim was for the piece to collect plastic bottles and in turn illustrate the quantities of plastic waste being dumped daily, raising awareness and proving the issue exists.
Plastic Bottle Collector on New Collector fits in the Lift! dispItlawyaosutdseidseigtnhedULtoLibreartyhe size of a human, to be clearly visible and striking. The piece was designed to be made on a shoe string budget. The society constructed the piece over a few evenings using simple tools and construction techniques- screwing 2x1 timbers latts together and stapling on chicken wire. The piece has been rolled out across campus in various external and internal locations over the course of the past few years. A new improved model was designed and constructed in September 2018 in advance of the Green Campus re accreditation visit. The piece is now permanently on display in the main food hall on campus.
Green Campus Display - November 2019
Our society motto and aim is ‘Making Real Change On Campus’. Our society offers a platform for any individual person to be able to propose an idea, and as a group we encourage and help them to make it a reality. While this project started out as a David versus Goliath mission, it developed into something amazing, making real change in a fun, peaceful and emphatic way, not just on our campus, but it has inspired the start of real change on other campuses also.
Waste in the development of his Eco Straws business skills, in particular On Thursday the 14th of his work with the Irish team November, Brian O’Callaghan gave a very interesting talk to for the Special Olympics, both the Environmental Society and the Entrepreneurship doing everything from society in the InnoSpace Hub / ‘First Seven weeks’ Hub. His media organising to sound talk mostly revolved around his Ecostraws company and production management products. during the 2018 games. While starting off small with just eco-friendly straws, his business has now branched out to eco- friendly, plastic free, cutlery and coffee cups. He also talked about different volunteering work he had done and continues to do which has helped him
Smarter Travel Light Up Your Life Campaign In Autumn our Environmental society along with the UL Smarter Travel team manned the main entrances of the campus for the NTA’s ‘Light up your life Campaign’. Hundreds of LED Lights were handed out for free to passing cyclists over the course of a few evenings during the week.
Culture Change Meeting with the UL President Our society members Christopher and Lena organised to meet with UL president Professser Desmond Fitzgerald to discuss projets and ideas that would need help to implement. Topicsthatwere discussed included Meat FreeMondays, apermanent UL Happy Market Space and a Culture Change Project.
Green Campus Network Meeting During February 2020, a few members of the UL Environmental Society attended the Green Campus Network Meeting in Dublin. Different colleges and organizations made presentations on their own environmental initiatives.
Smarter Travel If you registered your bike with Bike Lock Campaign the Gardai we put your name into a raffle for a free bike lock that As part of a campaign to promote was provided by UL Smarter Travel. bike safety on campus we set up a stall that displayed how to correctly lock your bike using a bike lock which connects to a bike stand. This was illustrated using a portable bike stand where we had two sample bikes locked correctly. As part of this campaign we also promoted registering your bike with the Gardai to help them recover it if ever stolen.
Educational UL Silver Apples Crèche Visit We organised a visit to the on campus Crèche to do a mini sustainability workshop for kids. We talked to the kids about nature to help ignite their interest in all things environmental. We did this by singing a song about the seasons, asking them what they already knew about nature, and playing games.
Biodiversity All Ireland Pollinator plan One third of our bee species are threatened with extinction in Ireland. This is because we have drastically reduced the amount of food (flowers) and safe nesting sites in our landscapes. The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan relates to all of us, from farmers to local authorities, to schools, gardeners and businesses coming together to try to create an Ireland where pollinators are supported.
As of January 2020, after some grow which supports the lobbying from our society bees and insects. This map members, UL are now adopting outlines the designated this pollinator plan and will meadows and grassland therefore let designated areas areas around the UL campus. of meadows and grasslands Landscape Elements Trees, Woodlands and Shrub Planting Dry Meadowlands Meadows Amenity Grassland Sports Fields Water - pools/ponds Special Area of Conservation (includes islands, North and South bank of the river) Riparian Meadowlands
Guest Speaker spoke about Ireland needs to reduce emissions by at least 8% Cristoir King per year in order to play our part in meeting our climate goal and Cristoir King, a student from the how their group was trying to help University of Limerick studying achieve that. languages and was previously our society president came to talk to us about his experience of being a member of the extinction rebellion group. This group aims to encourage local government action. Cristoir
Waste paid. As The Stables was one ofour Society’s main sponsors Stables Reusable this semester they asked for our Cups help to make posters to promote the reusable cup scheme, which The Stables bar decided to adopt you can see examples of on the a more eco friendly coffee cup following pages. strategy and promote a reusable coffee cup instead of the standard disposable one. The cup can be kept for as long as you want and once returned they will give back the euro deposit which was intially
Did you know?.. Every day we dispose of 547,945 coffee cups! 143 metres when fully stacked UL Flagpoles / Limerick 38 meters Stop using Single use coffee cups! Simply sit down and Sip away!
Disposable vs Reusable Vs. What happens if you replace one disposable cup a day with a reusable mug for one year?
Field Trip Cloughjordan Eco Village Trip Cloughjordan is an eco-village designed to support biodiversity. The village was built in the middle in the heart of Ireland. An of Ireland to encourage people from all directions to visit and internationally recognised potentially consider moving and settling down. destination for learning about sustainable living, the village has 129 energy efficient houses, uses biomass-fuelled heating, and has been planned and
The houses were built far apart to support individual gardens. The local village was also involved in the growing and maintenance of an organic farm. The town has cafes that promote organic and homemade goods. Residents of the town also wore recycled and second had clothes which is something our society is always trying to promote.
Guest Speaker easy method as well! Liz then pointed out the other useful Liz Gabbett tools on the site, including an interactive map of Ireland, and a On Monday the 7th of October way to identify flowers. 2019, Liz Gabbett gave a very interesting talk to the Environmental society on the topic of ‘Citizen Science’ and how we could get involved in it. Liz gave us a brief but informative description of what Citizen science was and what it entailed. Liz described how simply taking pictures and counting the number of flowers you see on a walk and uploading them to database on a specific website contributes to Citizen science. She took us on a tour of the citizen science website, showing us how and where we could log our findings. It was a surprisingly
Bio Diveristy Bee Box Workshop Following on from Liz Gabbett’s presentation to our society on Citizen Science where she gave an overview on the importance of bee boxes and how they help supported the bee population on campus, the society organised a workshop to make new Bee Motels to be erected on campus. The Bee Motels were made using the Bird nest box template. But the one main difference is that the front timber panel is replaced with a number of bamboo shoots. These bamboo shoots encourage bees to nest and lay eggs. They are planned to be erected in strategic locations by the Buildings and Estates Department.
Activism Fridays for Future March Our society participated in a number of the global Friday’s For Future Climate strikes, made famous by sustainability activist, Greta Thunberg. We coordinated a number of different items as part of our effort to support this international campaign. Primarily we planned to hold marches on campus to raise awareness locally, and then to travel into Limerick City to join the main Limerick march which walked toward City Hall. In advance of the march we coordinated sign making workshops for our society members to
communicate individual climate messages that were important to each member. Our society coordinated the sign paints and brushes, and the blank signs and stakes were up-cycled offcuts sponsored by Signsplus, a local signage company. In an effort to attract as much attention as possible in advance of the global march, our society came up with a social media campaign strategy whereby two of our members, wrote, recorded, and produced a song called “Do it for your kids!”, a song themed around climate change; then the society members worked as a group to help make a music video for it. It was posted in advance of the march on the university social medias and gather a lot of views overall. You can see images from the filming of the video here on the right.
You can scan the QR Code to see the video! The following images illustrate one of our main marchs on UL campus and then on in to Limerick City.
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