Ecotherapy

Guest post by Emily Hill, KentCOG Coordinator. The Kent Community Oasis Garden (KentCOG) is a partnership growing and wellbeing project based at the University of Kent and run by East Kent Mind. Find out more at blogs.kent.ac.uk/kentcog

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Ecotherapy at home

Ecotherapy is essentially all about improving your mental and physical wellbeing by doing activities outdoors in nature, but what happens when your time outside is limited, or you can’t access green spaces easily?  In these difficult times, where social distancing and staying at home is becoming the new normal, let’s take a look at what can be done to top up our daily dose of green care.

At KentCOG even though volunteers are unable to get to the community garden at the moment to work in nature, every individual can still experience nature and the positive effects it has on wellbeing and physical health from home, and so can you.  Here’s how, with some of my favourite suggestions from Mind’s Making sense of ecotherapy resource, available online at www.mind.org.uk:

Bring nature into your home environment

  • Collect natural materials such as leaves, flowers, feathers, tree bark, seeds and anything else that you like to decorate your home and use in art projects.
  • Create a comfortable space to sit in in your home where you can look out over a view of the sky or a tree.
  • Grow plants on your windowsills. 
  • Take photos of your favourite places in nature and set them as your phone and computer backgrounds.
  • Try to do more everyday activity in front of a window so that you can see the sky (for example ironing clothes, chopping vegetables, brushing your teeth, drying dishes or daily exercises).
  • Download some recordings of your favourite natural sounds such as birdsong or waves.

Try horticulture at home

  • Create a growing space at home. If you don’t have a garden invest in a window box or plant pot and plant some salad leaves or herbs – even keeping a small container on your windowsill can help. 
  • If you have flower beds try planting some vegetables amongst the flowers. Many varieties of vegetables have attractive flowers for part of the year and might even add to your display.
  • Put your name down for an allotment or consider sharing one.
  • Join a local community food growing project if there is one in your area.
  • Go fruit picking in the countryside, or find out about urban food foraging and get some tasty food for free.  For example, in late summer and early autumn you might find lots of wild blackberry bushes growing in urban spaces, and some trees you walk by every day on your street might actually be apple or cherry.

Get close to animals

  • Go for walks in the countryside by rivers, fields and trees, and look out for wildlife. If you don’t live near open countryside, look out for urban wildlife in your local park, such as squirrels, fish, insects, ducks and other birds. 
  • Go birdwatching by yourself.
  • Hang a bird feeder outside one of your windows. If you have the space you could build a small roosting box on a tree or under a windowsill so that you can watch baby sparrows or blue tits when they leave the nest. The RSPB provides more information on feeding and sheltering birds.
  • Think about whether owning a pet would be the right thing for you. Many people find caring for a pet every day brings lots of benefits, but you need to be sure your home environment and personal circumstances would be the right thing for the animal as well as for you. If you don’t own your home, it’s also important to check if you’re allowed pets. 

Do your bit for the Environment

  • Go on a litter picking walk in the park or on the beach.
  • Plant something outside the front of your home so that everybody who walks by can enjoy it.
  • Plant flowers for the bees and berry bushes for the birds in your garden.
  • Build an animal habitat – put up a bird box, create a hedgehog house or create a pond if you have enough space. Even a small pond can offer a home to creatures, such as newts and pond skaters.

Do more activities outdoors

  • Build a ten minute walk into your day, see if you can plan the route so that you take in a park or river.
  • If you have a garden create a space in it that you enjoy sitting in, have a picnic with home grown produce.
  • Sit under a tree in silence for a while, lean back against it and feel it supporting you.
  • Give yourself a sensory outdoor workout – find things to look at, listen to, taste, smell and touch. For inspiration visit the Let Nature Feed Your Senses website (letnaturefeedyoursenses.org).

Ecotherapy improves mental health, physical health, develops social life, builds confidence, strengthens your connection with nature and helps you practise mindfulness.  There are many ways to get involved and more information and support available at mind.org.uk. You can also join in a weekly zoom meeting on Green Spaces KentCOG 2-3pm from my home and see many of these ideas being put into practice. Spaces are limited, to book email info@eastkentmind.org.uk.

Take care.

How to be Fashionable and Sustainable in University

This a second blog post from Tinu, one of the University’s Sustainable Development Goals Ambassadors. Find her first post by clicking on this link – How to be more sustainable in everyday life

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Shop at Thrift Stores

Thrifting has been here for generations and is getting widely popular! 

Tip: try thrift shopping in high-end neighbourhoods. sometimes you might find designer items that have been barley used. 

Borrow and Trade

On campus there are tons of people and someone always need something done for them! Use your skills if it means a tutor session for a pair of jeans or just borrowing your dorm mates top for a night out!

Fight impulse shopping 

With the popularity of online shopping, it is so easy to just click add to cart these days. However, it is best to avoid this! Fast fashion clothes are made in mass production at high speeds to keep up with trends at an affordable price. Then you are left with the quality being poor after a few washes…say no and invest in good quality clothes!!

Use Buy and Sell Apps 

In the world of technology humans are connected more than ever! Use apps like the Goat app to find shoes, and Depop or Poshmark for shopping! 

How to be More Eco Friendly In your Everyday Life!

This is the first blog post from one of the University’s new Sustainable Development Goals Ambassadors. The SDGs Ambassadors are students that are helping to spread the word about the SDGs to their peers and demonstrate how we can all be a part of this extraordinary movement to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.

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Hi! 

My name is Tinu and I became a University of Kent, Sustainable Development Goals Ambassador because, from childhood, I have been passionate about human and environmental rights issues and these passions have played out in every choice I have made. In Elementary school, I started an Environmental club and worked with Greenpeace Canada to enforce proper recycling of products. Since 2016 I have been a graphic designer for the Hope for Us Charity whose goal is to improve the H.E.S.I of African countries. H.E.S.I. which stands for Healthcare, Education, Sustainability and Advocacy against Social Injustices. My interests in these topics are even reflected in my previous educational studies, where I studied: International Business, World Issues and Environment with Resource Management. In my World Issues course, we dedicated part of the semester to focus on the United Nations SDG goals, allowing me to be quite familiar with the different goals. As well as in my Environment and Resource Management course, where we studied sustainable living. I am a strong believer that it is our responsibility as humans to take care of the planet and everything on it ☺

How to be More Eco Friendly In your Everyday Life!

Start Timing Your Showers

We all love to spend time in the shower as they can be relaxing and a great place to practice our vocal lessons. However extended showers can use up to 17.2 gallons of water! Make an effort to reduce your shower time by setting goals and timing yourself!

 Buy Products with less packaging and try to not buy things that come in Styrofoam or Plastic 

When you go the store try to see how many items you can buy that are package less or don’t use as much plastic! Try shopping at bulk stores. 

Pro tip: The healthier the food the less packaging it usually has. 

Environmentally Friendly Toothbrushes

What’s something we do every day? (at least I hope so) Brush your teeth! Toothbrushes are something that we all use however they are plastic 🙁 which ends up in our landfills. Invest in an electrical toothbrush or Bamboo. 

Metal and Paper Straws 

I’m sure you have heard “save the turtles” multiple times this year and that is because its true! Straws take 200 years to decompose and, in most places, cannot be recycled. Straws are also the 11th most found item in the ocean! (Ocean Conservancy 2018)

So, what to do? Use a metal Straw which you can get for cheap online in packs! or ask for paper straws when you order beverages. 

Reusable Water Bottles 

Instead of using plastic cups and water bottles keep a good quality BPA free water bottle with you! Quit buying bottled water. Instead, get a water bottle that you can refill.

 Pro Tip: Most restaurants and boutique drink shops will give you money off your drink if you bring your own cup 

Going Shopping? 

Say no thanks, to the cheap plastic bags they give you and bring your own bags or keep items in your cart without bagging them and put them directly into your car 

 Use E-tickets for movies, flights and other events instead of printing! 

Tip: Apple phones have an app called Wallet where you can store e- tickets and cards 

Wash your clothes in cold water

Cold water uses less energy, which saves the planet and your water bill! 

 

The University of Kent is working to become a Hedgehog Friendly Campus!

Hedgehogs are declining rapidly in the UK, with populations dropping by up to 50% since 2000. Loss of habitat and exposure to many threats, such as road traffic, litter, poisoning from slug pellets and lack of food, are having a significant effect on this iconic mammal.

The University of Kent is working to help make its Canterbury campus a safer place for hedgehogs. Hedgehog Friendly Campus is a national accreditation scheme through NUS and funded by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. Through signing up to the Hedgehog Friendly Campus scheme, Kent aims to improve staff and student awareness about the decline of hedgehogs and hedgehog friendly behaviour, and look into how we can help our hedgehogs living on campus.

Our Hedgehog Friendly Campus working group is made up of staff and students from across the University. The group runs awareness campaigns, organises events, such as litter picks and hedgehog surveying, and promotes hedgehog friendly practices.

If you are interested in helping our campus hedgehogs, please get in touch with: sustainability@kent.ac.uk

If you see a hedgehog that looks injured, sick or out in the daytime, contact the British Hedgehog Preservation Society on 01584890801 and/or take it to your local vets – find more advice here.

https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/found-a-hedgehog/

Did you know hedgehogs are nocturnal? This photo was taken at night using clever filters to enhance the lighting conditions. If you ever see a hedgehog out during daylight it could be a sign of distress. Check out our online guides that can help you take the right course of action, if any is required. Hedgehog Preservation Society.

How the tiny home movement promotes sustainable living

Guest post from Gaetan Gabor – Gaetan Gabor is an outdoor and tiny home enthusiast who is passionate about sustainable living. He currently resides in the United States where he partakes in spreading the knowledge of alternative living styles during his free time.

As people realise the detrimental effects of our consumerist culture on the environment, interest in the tiny home movement has been growing considerably. Tiny house living is the perfect antithesis to the pervasive idea of “bigger is better.” It’s proof that the way we build our homes can make a huge difference in how we live and relate to the environment.

Tiny house living and the environment 

With an average measurement of just 400 square feet or less, the sheer size of a tiny house forces one to downsize. People who live in tiny houses typically own fewer possessions and spend less overall. This leads to a lower carbon footprint and it’s one of the many reasons that motivate people to explore tiny houses as a sustainable building option. 

Up until now, there wasn’t enough research to prove the correlation between downsizing to tiny houses and a reduced carbon footprint. That is, up until this research paper from a doctorate candidate from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University was released.

As part of the study, the author interviewed 80 subjects who had downsized from regular homes to tiny houses to see how the switch had reduced their ecological footprint. The end goal of the study was to provide measurable evidence of the environmental benefits of downsizing to a tiny house. 

The tiny house owners, who lived all across the U.S. were able to reduce their ecological footprint by up to 45%. This was based on various lifestyle factors that changed due to living in a tiny house. Below we explore just some of the ways in which the tiny home movement promotes sustainable living.

Building trends

If you look at new developments across the U.S. you’ll find that the common theme is “go big or go home.” From sky-high skyscrapers to massive mansions and estates that can take up thousands of square footage, newly-built U.S. homes are by far the largest in the world.

Concurrently, there has been a resurgence in minimalist living since the early 2000s saw a resurgence in the minimalist living trend. This is around the time when one of the most prominent tiny house construction companies was created, forever changing the way we think about space and home.

Ecological footprint 

In the aforementioned study, the researcher examined the individual environmental impact of downsizing based on participant accounts. They used a metric that shows us the effects of human behaviour on nature by first looking at the amount of land required to sustain present consumption levels. This means that the researcher considered each homeowner’s spatial footprint based on global hectares. She also included contributing factors like services, goods, food, transportation, and housing. In case you’re wondering, a single global hectare is equal to 2.5 acres on average.

The data shows that the average American household has a global footprint of 8.4 hectares which translates to 20.8 acres. The respondents in the study had an average ecological footprint of about 7.01 global hectares before they downsized. This equals a total of 17.3 hectares per year. After switching to tiny house life, the participants had a significantly reduced footprint of 3.87 global hectares which is 9.5 acres.

Eco-conscious lifestyles 

It seems as though downsizing also inspired the respondents to live an eco-friendly lifestyle characterised by recycling, conscious consumption and they produced less waste than before.  A majority of the participants also started growing their own food, buying local produce, driving fuel-efficient cars and cycling. Even tiny house owners who downsized for reasons other than ecological motives saw a dramatic shift in their environmental footprint. 

Reduced energy costs 

Living in a tiny house makes it easier to go “off-grid”. In fact, most tiny houses built today come with electricity, running water and flushing toilets while being completely independent of public amenities. Instead, these homes operate on solar panels, composting toilets, and biogas digesters, which lead to significantly reduced energy and service costs.

Conclusion 

There’s no denying that tiny house living can motivate people to live in ways that benefit the environment.  Tiny house owners typically show a lower overall footprint than the average person, and thanks to its small square footage, a tiny house doesn’t require a lot of possessions.  It’s also worth noting that it doesn’t take much to keep tiny houses cool in the summer or warm in the winter, making it easier to go “off-grid.”

These and other factors featured in the above-mentioned study provide a basis for understanding the environmental impact of the tiny house movement. Hopefully, more people can leverage it to improve building standards and drive home design trends. 

Cultures of Sustainability

New Modern Languages module SCL505 ‘Cultures of Sustainability’ has been inaugurated with an extra-curricular discussion about permaculture and the planting of an apple tree.

To mark the new module, permaculture expert Jo Barker held an informal discussion in the Kent Community Oasis Garden about the principles of permaculture, and the planting of a Red Falstaff heritage apple tree.

This was followed by a foraging walk, identifying the variety of hedgerow plants and ‘weeds’ that are edible and nutritious.

School Sustainability Champion and Module Convenor, William Rowlandson, who organised the session, commented: “It is important that we consider the scope of teaching beyond the confines of the seminar room and lecture theatre. Whilst this was an optional session and therefore not attended by all the group, it was a successful event, introducing the notion of the campus as a Living Lab and exploring the principles of permaculture and sustainability from the perspective of the Humanities. We hope to hold more similar events later in the semester and in subsequent years.”

Sustainability celebrations at Kent Community Oasis Garden

Last week, sustainability champions from across the University celebrated the first year anniversary of the FutureProof project at a garden party held at the Kent Community Oasis Garden.

FutureProof is the University of Kent’s response to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and provides a framework, challenging and supporting each University department to review their impacts against the SDGs and working to create positive change.

FutureProof, which launched in June 2018, aims to inspire individuals, departments and the whole University community to take action in ensuring that our estate, our curriculum and our students are ready for the future.

The Sustainability Champions are key to the project’s success as they act as catalysts for change in their departments and conduits for sustainability information across the University. As part of their role as champions they lead on their own projects and the celebration event was the sustainability’s team way of saying thank you to them for all their hard work.

The event highlighted case studies from the year, which can be read in full in the Futureproof report

Projects have included a tripling of recycling rates in Biosciences, education for sustainable development projects at the Business School and a wellbeing project at the Medway campus.

To celebrate, the sun came out for a delicious vegan BBQ prepared by chef Ben Elsbury (from Kent Hospitality), games with prizes to be won, and a refreshing mocktail bar with fresh herbs from the garden.

In its first year FutureProof has held 6 workshops at both the Canterbury and Medway campuses with an overall attendance across them of 124, recruited 65 sustainability champions from 43 different departments, and supported 20 sustainability projects from across the University.

For more information about FutureProof please visit www.kent.ac.uk/sustainability or email sustainability@kent.ac.uk

The Zero-Waste Retail Revolution

Guest Post and infographic by The Cleaning Services Group

What Are Zero-Waste Stores?

A zero-waste store is designed in such a way as to comply with the principles of the zero-waste movement. It achieves this by eliminating as much waste as possible either through lowering the amount of waste produced or by changing how waste is managed.

Zero-waste typically feature bulk-style bins and dispensers. Customers bring their own containers and can select the exact quantities they need. This helps to cut down on unnecessary packaging while also preventing food waste.

The Rise of Zero-Waste Stores Around the World

Over the past few years, the zero-waste movement has become a worldwide phenomenon. According to the Bepakt Index, there are now around 150 packaging-free markets around the world. We are also now beginning to see some major players in the supermarket world, such as Waitrose and Lidl, launch their own waste reduction initiatives.

Zero-Waste: A Response to Customer Demand

On average, England generates 177 million tonnes of waste every year. The rising popularity of zero-waste stores indicate a growing customer interest in eco-friendly alternatives that help to cut down on this number.

The 2015 Nielson Global Corporate Sustainability Report shows that 73% of consumers would switch brands if there was something similar on the market that supports a good cause. Taking a more eco-friendly approach that emphasises sustainability has also been associated with greater transaction spends and increased brand loyalty.

Learn More About the Zero-Waste Retail Revolution

The below infographic from the team at The Cleaning Services Group investigates how these “zero-waste” stores aim to make consumers be more mindful of the environmental impact of their shopping habits. The graphic outlines the many business benefits of going zero-waste and also offers some practical tips to help retailers get started on their own zero-waste journey today.

It is time to talk about what we put down the loo…

With flushed plastics making up 8.5% of beach litter in the UK and a 400% rise in the number of wet wipes found on our coastlines and river beds, it really is time we stop treating the toilet as a bin.

Research carried out by the Marine Conservation Society during their 2017 Great British Beach Clean identified the shocking figures that despite filters in our sewage system 8.5% of the litter they collected were items that had been flushed. The fear is this number is rising with increasing sewer blockages and over 14 wet wipes being found per 100 metres of coastline.

The most common items found after being flushed are known as the Dirty Dozen by the campaign ‘Think before you flush’:

In the same way that when we place items in the bin we don’t often think about what happens to them next, we are turning a blind eye as to where our rubbish ends up after we flush it down the loo. Whilst the toilet may seem like a convenient way of getting rid of certain rubbish, these items do not just disappear and can cause a number of problems for our sewers and our environment.

1: Clogging up our sewers

Market research by the Absorbant Hygiene Products Manufacturers Association (AHPMA) found that we use 4.3 billion disposable sanitary products every year in the UK. This vast number is not surprising considering there are 15 million women of menstrual age, however it is estimated that a shocking 700,000 panty liners, 2.5 million tampons and 1.4 million sanitary towels are flushed down the toilet every single day.  It is estimated that blocked drains and sewers cost the UK around £88 million a year and is an issue we face here on campus.

The Estates Department has seen a recent increase in drain and sewer blockages causing maintenance and flooding issues across campus.

Turing sewage drain – blocked with wet wipes

But I thought wet wipes were flushable?!

Despite some products still being labelled as flushable unless they have the ‘Fine To Flush’ logo they should not go into the toilet. Water UK have stated that wet wipes labelled flushable do not break down and are behind 93% of blockages in UK sewers.  In order to gain the approved logo the wet wipes will need to pass strict tests. Manufacturers can have their wipes tested by WRc, Swindon-based independent technical experts who developed the specifications for flushability standards in conjunction with Water UK.

2: An ocean full of plastic

Everyone has seen the recent push to tackling the global scale of plastic entering our oceans however, whilst much of the focus has been on plastic bags, straws and packaging there has not been as much of a spotlight on the plastic entering our seas through the toilet.

Conventional menstrual pads contain around the same amount of plastic as four carrier bags, and depending on where it ends up as waste, it could have a longer life-span than the person who uses it! (City to Sea).

Wet wipes also contain hidden plastic that is often not listed in the ingredients. The material that forms many of our wet wipes is likely to be a woven blend of natural and synthetics fibres with the synthetic ones often being polypropylene polyester or polyethlene

As wet wiped break down in our oceans the microplastic fibres remain and they can be ingested by everything from zooplankton which make up the base of the food chain in the oceans, all the way up to seabirds, fish, turtles and whales (Marine Conservation Society.), with research showing that they can adversely affect the growth and reproduction of our marine species. Microplastics have also been found to have enter the human food chain.

What can I do?

First and foremost, remember, the toilet is not a bin. Only the three Ps should go down the loo and they are poo, pee and paper.

Secondly, try and refrain from using wet wipes if you can. Seek out alternatives and look out for the Fine to Flush logo.

Thirdly, if you use menstrual products please check out the ‘Plastic free Period’ campaign to learn about alternative products that could help reduce the amount of plastic you use each month as well as saving some money!

International Women’s Day 2019: Whose job is it to save the world?

Blog post by Emily Mason. Sustainability Coordinator at the University of Kent. 

On this International Women’s Day I wanted to just write a short note on something that has been intriguing me for a while now and perhaps start a conversation with others in the sector to see if they experience the same.

I have been working in sustainability within Higher Education (HE) for just over 8 years now and I have noticed something that is perplexing me. Whenever I recruit student volunteers onto a sustainability project or internships, or when teaching sustainability modules, the people that show up are predominantly women. Thinking back across all the projects I have run it is a very rare occasion that men make up more than 25% of the room.

This doesn’t go unnoticed. The students themselves often ask me if this is normal to which I answer yes. But when they ask why, I cannot answer them, as I do not actually know. I often ask the students why they think this is the case and I have heard a wide variety of responses but the one that is most common is:

“Caring roles are often associated with women, so why should caring for the planet be any different.”

There have been lots of variations on this of course but this particular student’s words have stuck in my head. I ask students how they feel about this and many including the men express frustration that 1: caring roles across society are undervalued 2: that any role/job is gendered 3: and that the sustainability movement in HE should not be left up to women to sort out.

A few of the male students have expressed that many of the projects within sustainability are collaborative and that they have to check their ego at the door and try not to assume a leadership role, and sometimes this can be a little difficult, but also rewarding.

Now these anecdotal experiences do not a reason make and despite trying to find some research on this I have come up empty. However, when chatting with those who do a similar role to me at other Universities I have found that I am not the only one experiencing this. If anyone does know of any good research or insights on this then please send it my way!

Last year Green Business reported on gender in the sustainability industry and despite the clear wealth of talented women who are becoming professionals in sustainability there was an alarming discovery:

“In sustainability roles, women are earning less than men. According to the latest CR Sustainability survey from recruitment consultants Acre, published in 2016, the global average salary for corporate responsibility professionals stood at £67,408 for men, compared to £55,148 for women. This is despite there being a 51:49 gender split in the industry in favour of women. In the UK, average corporate responsibility salaries are £63,180 for men and £52,170 for women. While there are signs that the sector’s gender salary gap is narrowing, it is still most definitely there.

And it’s not just in the business world that this pattern of gender inequality plays out. At the UN negotiations in Bonn last year, almost half of attendees were women but under 30 per cent of government delegations were led by women. Here too, women are not equally represented at the top of the ladder.”

So whilst the gender ratio seems to even out in industry the gender pay gap rears its ugly head. It seems the future focused industry of sustainability is not immune to backward thinking.

I recommend reading the whole article which gives some valuable insights into why this is the case in our industry as well as many others.

So whose job is it to save the world? Obviously it is all of ours (in particular the 100 companies that are responsible for 71% of global carbon emissions) but I am yet to get to the bottom of why within HE it is female students that are leading charge of sustainability. Whatever the reason, I hope that by the time some of them are sustainability professionals and leaders, they are being paid the same as their male counterparts.