The Green Impact Awards were hosted by the Vice Chancellor in the newly refurbished Meadow suite during lunch time on Friday 26th April. The awards celebrate environmental achievement throughout the year, in particular rewarding progress through the online Green Impact workbook. During the 2012/13 academic year, it has been calculated that the project has saved the University over £45,000 and 217 tCO2e.
This year, the event was attended by over 50 members of staff representing 19 teams. The entrants this year provided a wide representation of the University population, including the Students’ Union, academic departments, administrative teams and the entire Greenland’s Campus. 2012/13 also saw the largest gold cohort ever, with 7 teams picking up the top accolade.
The awards would not have been possible without the support of the student population. This year, over 50 student auditors were successfully recruited and trained as part of the project. This resulted in each of them passing an IEMA (Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment) recognized course and developing their logical, interpersonal and investigative skills. We hope that this experience will inspire students to pursue environmental careers, or at least bear in mind these important issues during their professional lives.
We now look forward to the next round of Green Impacts, during the 2013/14 academic year. Plans are already afoot to revise the workbook and recruit further teams. The goal is to have more people involved in the awards than not at the University of Reading!
For pictures of the event, please visit our Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/85448860@N03/sets/72157633377412839/
For more information on Green Impact Awards: goo.gl/G3Tb5
