The day - attended by over 150 students and students' union representatives - featured talks and workshops on a wide range of issues, all with a focus of adopting an interconnected approach to sustainability.
The event aimed to centre social justice in our work for a greener future, and featured workshops on effective community organising, intersectional environmentalism, and the climate crisis and refugees.
Here's a blog by Maryam Riscalla - Sustainability Officer at Wrexham Glyndwr Students' Union - about her experience at the Summit...
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Amazing, worthwhile, life-changing.
Some of the few things that the NUS Sustainability Summit 2017 at Coventry Students' Union was for me. Never have I been surrounded by such dedicated, passionate people. It was honestly such an uplifting and motivational experience.
I began my travels at 6am (dedication!). Rob Young, Vice President (Society & Citizenship) at NUS welcomed us into the Student Sustainability Summit with a powerful, green-powered speech. One of the key areas of his mastered speech was his explanation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - which aim to address global poverty, climate change, and inequality by 2030. Rob launched NUS' #SDGTeachIn, a week in February 2018 (19th - 23rd) for educators across UK universities and colleges to pledge to include the SDGs in their teaching and learning. This is needed to help us to unite and make the changes that are needed to make these goals possible. Keep a look out for changes to your teaching, learning and assessment this Febrary - and hopefully after that!
Rob also mentioned his aim of having all Students' Unions be 100% Fairtrade cotton by 2022. We must not just purchase products without giving any genuine thought about where these products come from, and who makes them. It is vital that we are considerate of others in various countries that provide us with the necessities that we often take for granted - and it is a moral obligation to make sure they are fairly treated.
My first workshop of the day was Tackling Coffee Cups on Campus, which was so relevant to an idea that my union is considering at the moment! I was already keen on ditching coffee cups on campus and this workshop about the negative impact of using single and non-recycled coffee cups really hit home. I will definitely be watching the film A Plastic Ocean, and encouraging others to do so. It was really inspiring hearing what other universities and unions are doing across the country about coffee cups. Well done to the students from Sheffield and Winchester for discussing the amazing coffee cup campaigns they currently have in place at their institutions - and good luck with the first ever Student Thrift Shop! Also, big praise to Rob once again for the #TheLastStraw campaign, which encourages students and their unions to pledge to stop using single-use plastic straws.
The next workshop I chose was Turning the Curriculum Green. Again, relevant to upcoming plans and changes at my union! This workshop highlighted the importance of sustainability in every course, and how NUS can support this - including through the resource: From Art to Zoo Management: embedding sustainability in UK higher and further education.
Discussions about the NUS Sustainability Skills Survey results, with over 13,000 respondents, showed that:
85% believe that sustainable development is something which universities and colleges should actively incorporate and promote and 70% would like to see this being taught in their university and college courses.
We heard from the courageous Esha Marwaha - who ran such an important (and successful) campaign against The Department of Education's plans to remove climate change from education for those under 14-years-old.
The final workshop and last part of the summit was Tackling Food Waste on Campus. It was great hearing about what other institutions are doing and the amazing idea of Food Drop by students at the University of Bath. Definitely took down some notes!
Catch you guys this time next year for the next Summit, yeah?