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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!

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.

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.

Sustainability has always been based off of equity. Equity for the planet and people. Without social equality and justice we cannot have environmental sustainability.

The sustainability/environmental movement must be more vocal against systemic racial violence, injustice and inequalities, committing to listen, learn and take action. It is also a time to reflect on issues within the sustainability community.

We know that those most affected by climate change are the poorest and tend to be from the Global South and black and minority ethnic communities, so why does the environmentalist movement lack diversity?

These conversations can be uncomfortable, but we should feel uncomfortable about the current situation. As people who care about the world we live in, we should be actively engaging with this issues and seeking to dismantle the systems that have led to such injustice and inequality for our fellow humans and the environment we rely on.

To mark Black History Month we wanted to share the voices of black environmentalists and celebrate their work. In all the work we do we will continue to seek out more representative voices and sources to provide a fuller picture of delivering sustainability globally.

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson – marine biologist and conservation strategists, founder of Ocean Collectiv and is an adjunct professor at New York University

“Here is an incomplete list of things I left unfinished last week because America’s boiling racism and militarization are deadly for black people: a policy memo to members of Congress on accelerating offshore wind energy development in U.S. waters; the introduction to my book on climate solutions; a presentation for a powerful corporation on how technology can advance ocean-climate solutions; a grant proposal to fund a network of women climate leaders; a fact check of a big-budget film script about ocean-climate themes, planting vegetables with my mother in our climate victory garden.”
Read Ayana’s piece for the Washington Post on how racism is derailing environmental action here – https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/06/03/im-black-climate-scientist-racism-derails-our-efforts-save-planet/

Dr Robert Bullard – described as the father of environmental justice, he is a Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environment Policy at Texas Southern University.

“America is segregated and so is pollution. Race and class still matter and map closely with pollution, unequal protection, and vulnerability.  Today, zip code is still the most potent predictor of an individual’s health and well-being.  Individuals who physically live on the “wrong side of the tracks” are subjected to elevated environmental health threats and more than their fair share of preventable diseases. Still, too many people and communities have the “wrong complexion for protection.” Reducing environmental, health, economic and racial disparities is a major priority of the Environmental Justice Movement.”

Leah Namugerwa – 15 year old climate change activist and Fridays for Future striker

“Today I was moving door to door distributing food I found these children very tired with jerrycans full of water on their heads. They walk two kms to fetch water. They barely have food. I followed them to their home and donated 15kgs of maize flour. They were happy.”
Read more about Leah here https://therising.co/2020/01/02/leah-namugerwa-climate-activism/ and follow her on twitter @NamugerwaLeah

Wangari Maathai  (1940 – 2011) – author of “Unbowed” Professor Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her contributions to sustainable development and peace. She founded the Green Belt Movement in Kenya.

“Education, if it means anything, should not take people away from the land, but instill in them even more respect for it, because educated people are in a position to understand what is being lost. The future of the planet concerns all of us, and all of us should do what we can to protect it. As I told the foresters, and the women, you don’t need a diploma to plant a tree.”
Find out more about Wangari’s work and legacy here: https://www.greenbeltmovement.org/wangari-maathai

Zakiya McKenzie – PhD candidate with the Leverhulme Trust-supported Caribbean Literary Heritage project at the University of Exeter researching Black British journalism in the post-war period. Zakiya is a writer and storyteller and was the 2019 writer-in-residence for Forestry England during its centenary year. In Bristol, she was 2017 Black and Green Ambassador

Oladosu Adenike – Ecofeminist and leading Nigerian Climate Activist who heads the “ILeadClimate” movement for peace, security and equality in Africa

“In Africa, climate change is no longer a threat but a reality. Invariably climate change is now a global reality. I’m not only worried about the future but the present because any action we take will bind us all. The hope therein is that the climate movement has the face of young people because the youth are tomorrow’s adults. Remarkably, women and girls are at the forefront of the fight for climate justice.”

Read more from her speech during Ecocide, a performance art event in Stuttgart, Germany here: https://www.environewsnigeria.com/climate-change-nowhere-is-safe-if-africa-isnt-adenike-oladosu-warns/

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.  

Guest article from School of Anthropology and Conservation student Katie Hargrave-Smith

What’s happening with the Hedgehogs?

The hedgehog, or the Western European Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) to be specific, is a national treasure for us in Britain. We have few wild charismatic mammals as we hunted many to extinction, or caused mass habitat loss. The hedgehog is Britain’s only spiny mammal, and once upon a time people were almost guaranteed to see a hedgehog in their garden in summer. Unfortunately, the hedgehog population has declined by up to 50% since 2000, and are now vulnerable to extinction.

This is largely due to human action. As we continue to change how we use land , we encroach on hedgehog habitat, and by walling our gardens have removed vital remaining habitat from them. They also create nests at ground level, so are vulnerable to grounds management. Furthermore, the defence mechanism of hedgehogs is to curl up into a ball, as their spines fend off predators trying to eat them. However, this defence mechanism is not so effective against humans, as cars often don’t think to drive slowly on roads where hedgehogs could be, or to check bonfires where the hogs might be nesting. And finally, there is not enough consideration given to hedgehogs when people decide to put out slug repellent or rat killer, and hedgehogs are often the unfortunate victim.

What can you do to help?

There are a number of things that everyone can do to help hedgehogs; some simply take seconds, while others require a small amount of effort (but it’s worth it to help protect this wonderful creature!) We have used ideas from both the British Hedgehog Preservation society and Hedgehog Street. Here are 10 things you can do, in order of ease:

1)      The Big Hedgehog Map

If you ever see a hedgehog, even if it has sadly died, it is incredibly important, and easy, to log it to the Big Hedgehog Map. This allows conservationists to follow hedgehog populations. It also helps highlight areas for action, such as on a road where hedgehogs are often being killed, a sign can be put up to warn people to drive carefully at night and be aware of hedgehogs. The map also allows you to backlog sightings, so if you saw a hedgehog a year ago and remember where, you can log it!

2)      Don’t litter

Although this one goes without saying, sometimes it is important to say it. Hedgehogs can easily get caught in litter and can also use it in their nests thinking its foliage. Why not make a point to pick up litter when you go out, and tell your friends/family why? Spreading awareness is always helpful.

3)      Check before you mow or strim

Always make a point to check for hedgehogs before you mow the lawn or do any strimming. If it’s not you who does these activities, make sure to mention it if you know someone else is about to.

4)      Make sure bonfires are hog-safe

Hedgehogs see logs stacked up and think of it as an ideal nesting spot, unaware of the danger of bonfires. As hedgehogs curl up when threatened, they sadly do not escape the flames. If you or someone you know is building a bonfire, make sure they know to either build it the day of the bonfire, or to move it the day of, as hedgehogs find nests at night. If you know that a public bonfire night is being organised (such as the annual Bonfire Night), why not contact the organisers to make sure they are being hedgehog safe?

5)      Stop using chemicals

Worms, beetles and other invertebrates make a tasty meal for hedgehogs, and repellents, insecticides and pesticides are all toxic for hedgehogs. These chemicals shouldn’t be necessary in a well-managed garden, but if you feel you have to use them, why not search for a hog-safe repellent? Such alternatives could include using coffee grounds, wool pellets, or slug tape (and there are more!)

6)      Put out food and water

Why not put out some food and water for hedgehogs to enjoy? They eat hedgehog food (the brands Spikes and Brambles are the only Hedgehog Friendly Campus approved brands), and meaty cat and dog food. Putting out a water dish is especially important for hedgehogs during dry spells. However, please don’t put out your pumpkin this halloween, it’s bad for hedgehogs!

7)      Call for help if you see a hedgehog during the day

Hedgehogs are nocturnal, so if you see one during the day it is probably unwell. If it seems like it is going somewhere with intention, or it is carrying leaves in it’s mouth for its nest, it could be okay, but if unsure call a local rescue service for advice.

8)      Create a wild corner

If you have a garden, why not allow a corner to grow naturally? They love brambles, hawthorn, wildflowers,  and nettles! This will create a great habitat for hedgehogs, from nesting areas and foliage, as well as lots of prey for them to eat! You can add branches to create structure.

9)      Make your pond hedgehog safe

Hedgehogs can swim! However, they cannot climb out of steep verges, so unless your pond has a bank, why not add a ramp to allow hedgehogs to climb out so that they don’t drown? You can add a ramp using wood, rocks or chicken mesh. Also, make sure that the water levels stay topped up.

10) Link up your garden

Making sure there is a hedgehog sized hole in your fence allows the hedgehog to roam between gardens. A 13x13cm (5×5”) hole will allow a hedgehog through, but not most pets. Make sure you speak to your neighbours if you share the fence and use this as an opportunity to share what you know about hedgehogs! You might inspire them to make other holes in their fences and make their garden more hedgehog friendly.

What we are doing to make our campus hedgehog friendly

The University of Kent became part of the Hedgehog Friendly Campus scheme in 2019, and members of the university recently undertook a survey to find out if there are hedgehogs present on campus. Ten tunnels were strategically placed around campus in which any small animals could walk through, over a strip of non-toxic ink and leave footprints on the other side.

As well as this, the university carries out regular litter picks around campus, including the woods on the site, and the Landscape and Grounds management team have had sessions to educate them on what to do if they find an injured hedgehog, how to check for them if they are about to strim and what risks there may be on campus for resident hedgehogs. Thanks to these efforts, the University of Kent has been awarded the Bronze award by the Hedgehog Friendly Campus Scheme and is looking to work towards the silver award.

If you’d like to get involved, please email Emily Mason from the Sustainability Team at sustainability@kent.ac.uk