It’s finally happened – my commute is actually cheaper on public transport than by car!

Andrew Briggs, Fire Safety Manager & Environment Adviser at the University of Kent, writes about the benefits of a commute via public transport.

Buses at the Keynes bus stop, with daffodils in the foreground.

I live near Dover. Today the fuel cost for using my car (a very economical one) calculates to a sobering £6.25. That includes a couple of extra miles to avoid clogging up the centre of Canterbury in the afternoon rush hour. The Stagecoach Dayrider ticket is £7.30 but they have a great deal on their app for 10 flexible tickets, bringing the bus fare down to £4.97. And that figure for using my car doesn’t include other mileage-dependent costs like servicing, tyres, extra depreciation and those unpredictable repair bills from time to time.

I’ve been waiting for better deals on public transport for many years, and sometimes pushed our Sustainability and Transport teams on this, but now the incentive is there – and by a large margin! Of course this is partly due to spiralling fuel costs recently, and bus fares are likely to go up too, but I doubt the cost comparison will reverse itself.

And as well as the obvious big-picture win for sustainability, there are other benefits. I’ll admit that a lengthy period without a car recently and having to use the bus has opened my eyes. Sure, my journey takes an extra 25 minutes at each end of the day, but I haven’t missed them. On the contrary – without the constantly attentive and at times wearing task of driving through traffic, I’ve found the bus ride a great space in which to relax, where my mind can idle and decompress. Or conversely, sometimes it’s been a welcome ‘time out’ for more expansive thinking about work or other issues, which I’ve found really helpful. Whatever’s needed on a given day. I’ve found it an unexpected and significant boost to my wellbeing.

So – what’s not to like? I can still use my car occasionally for work in future, but only if I really need to – why throw money away? I’d urge anyone to try switching too!

Climate Action Week Round-up

The last week has been full of exciting activities as a part of Climate Action Week in the run-up to COP26, the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties. The Sustainability Team have hosted a number of events at the University and it was fantastic to see so many people getting involved and voicing their opinions.

The week began with an online session hosted by Sustainability Coordinator Emily Mason, called ‘SDG and a Cup of Tea: Climate Action – a COP26 Discussion’, where staff came together to discuss the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There was a particular focus on Goal 13, Climate Action, and we discussed the ways that staff can directly support rapid carbon reduction at the University and beyond. Together, we discussed key sustainability topics and came up with lots of new exciting suggestions and ideas.

On Tuesday, we celebrated the launch of the University of Kent’s Sustainability Strategy. The online launch was introduced by Professor Richard Reece, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience, and then Dr Catherine Morris, Environmental Adviser, presented the main four themes that run through the strategy. This was followed by a panel discussion on the future of Sustainability at Kent, chaired by Dr Anthony Manning, Dean for Internationalisation, allowing us to discuss how the strategy will be implemented across the University. This provided the opportunity to share different views and opinions, and to discuss a variety of important topics. We are looking forward to continuing these important conversations, so please contact the Sustainability Team at: sustainability@kent.ac.uk if you want to talk further.

Dr William Rowlandson, Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies, took us on a Sustainability Tour following the SDG trail around the Canterbury campus on Wednesday. The sun was shining as we walked around our beautiful campus, discussing topics such as sustainable innovation, campus biodiversity, and responsible consumption. Our tour ended with an introduction to the Kent Community Oasis Garden (Kent COG) from Emily Mason where we talked about SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals, learnt about the work that volunteers are doing in the garden, and signed up to become volunteers ourselves!

Sustainability Tour

COP26@Kent: Co-create your campus of the future, held at the Gulbenkian yesterday, brought the many different areas of sustainability together allowing us the opportunity to talk about the challenges and successes of sustainability at Kent. The areas that were represented included: Waste and Procurement, Energy and Buildings, Curriculum and Research, Sustainable Food, Biodiversity and Grounds, Transport (including representatives from Stagecoach and Bird), and Student Action (including representatives from the SAC Sustainability Working Group, and the ECS Society). The Sustainability Ideas Factory was also launched, giving students the chance to win up to £500 by submitting their best ideas about how we can make the University of Kent more sustainable. We received lots of input from staff, students, and the public at the Gulbenkian on Thursday and we are looking forward to implementing your ideas and working together to make change across the different areas of sustainability within the University.

Group of people at the Co-create your sustainable campus event

We want to thank everyone that took part in Climate Action Week this year, and also those that made holding these exciting events possible. With the new Sustainability Strategy published, we are looking forward to connecting and collaborating with others to make the Sustainable University of the Future that we aspire to create a reality.

The Sustainability Team welcomes new member, Bella.

Hi everyone! My name is Bella, and I am an Environmental Social Science student at the University of Kent. I have recently joined the University Sustainability Team to carry out a work placement as part of my undergraduate degree, and I am very excited to get involved with the amazing work that the Sustainability Team are doing. I really wanted to do a year in professional practice to get experience of working in a professional environment, to learn more about my own interests and potential career paths, and to put the skills that I have learnt throughout my degree so far into practice.  

My main interests are community conservation and learning about how we can act to mitigate the climate and ecological crisis. I am looking forward to working on a variety of projects with the Sustainability team that I hope will help to improve biodiversity and bring our local community together to make positive change. This term I will mostly be working on the Hedgehog Friendly Campus project and with the Kent Community Oasis Garden (KentCOG), where volunteers can come to spend time in nature, garden, and grow food.  

The Hedgehog Friendly Campus project is particularly exciting for me as I have been lucky enough to have regular hedgehog visitors in our garden at home during the lockdown, and so I am passionate about raising awareness of the dangers that hedgehogs are currently facing. In the past decade we have lost over a half of rural hedgehogs and a third from towns and cities, largely due to habitat loss and fragmentation. This forces hedgehogs to move into more urban areas where they may not be able to find enough food and water and are threatened by poison or traffic. The University of Kent has already been awarded the Silver Hedgehog Friendly Campus status as a result of efforts to make the campus a safer place for hedgehogs to live, and this year we will be working towards achieving the Gold Hedgehog Friendly Campus status! 

I also enjoy learning about the impact that the climate crisis is having on our mental health and, with the Wellbeing subgroup from the SAC Sustainability Working Group, set up a series of Climate Cafés to create a space where we can safely express our feelings about climate change. We are hoping to run more of these online events so please get in touch if you are interested. In my free time, I enjoy travelling, spending time in nature (especially at the beach with my dog), meeting up with my friends and family, and watching Marvel movies whilst I crochet!  

If you have any questions about the projects that I will be helping with, or want to get involved, please feel free to contact me via email: is348@kent.ac.uk.