At University of Bath, our approach to sustainability and climate action involves empowering students to actively engage in creating solutions. This is essential to ensuring actions are fair and inclusive, and it fosters innovative thinking, prepares future leaders to address global challenges, and ensures a more resilient and sustainable future for all.

In line with this idea, and supporting the fact that we know students want to engage with student-led events, this year a group of enthusiastic School of Management Master's students led the way in the planning and execution of Green Week 2024. The student committee were given creative freedom to design, coordinate and manage the events specifically tailored to their student peers. Read on to hear first hand from the committee about their experiences and insights from this project.

Green Week 2024

Green Week was a transformative experience for us students. We started as a group of strangers brought together by a shared passion for sustainability, and by the end, we had built friendships, honed skills, and created lasting memories. Our mission was to engage as many people as possible in conversations about sustainability and climate change while making the experience interactive and enjoyable. We did not want this narrative to end after Green Week, we stayed ambitious to find ways that showcase how personal actions go beyond our events and can shape the future.

Laying the groundwork

We began with brainstorming sessions and analysed the previous years' data, noting what worked well and identifying areas for improvement. One of our focus areas this year was to raise participation. To achieve this, we designed a mix of events, striking a balance between education and engagement.

Our favourite events

After careful planning, we organised a series of events aimed at maximising student involvement. Some of our favourites include:

Stall on the Parade: Green Week kicked off with a spin-the-wheel event where students could take a quiz on the Sustainable Development Goals or pledge to adopt sustainable habits. With over 70 participants, this event set the tone for the week. We also organised a prize draw featuring a student sustainability starter pack, congratulations to the winner Thamid Miah.

Sustainability Quiz: Held on Tuesday, the quiz featured questions crafted by our Sustainability and Management students. The mix of easy and challenging questions, complemented by visuals, made it interactive and enjoyable. Free pizza served as a perfect motivator, leading to 39 sign-ups and 23 active participants. Unexpected walk-ins added to the event’s success.

Smoothie Bike: On Wednesday, students pedalled a bike-powered blender to make delicious smoothies. A leaderboard tracked the fastest times and the quickest peddlers received gift vouchers, well done to Aissata Ba and Jack Bandy. Alongside this, we partnered with the STV to host a pre-loved bottle fishing activity, repurposing unclaimed bottles to promote reusable over single-use plastics.

Careers in Sustainability: Friday’s event, in collaboration with the University Careers Team, featured four Bath alumni from diverse academic backgrounds. They shared insights into their sustainability-focused careers and offered tips on building a future in this field.

Nature Walk: On the Friday afternoon, this event was led by Andy, the University’s Landscape Manager, and offered a unique glimpse into biodiversity on campus.

Additional activities

Throughout the week, we hosted a photography competition, encouraging students to visually represent what sustainability meant to them, winner Abhijit Jena captured the beauty of nature and what will be lost in climate change. We collaborated with further stakeholders to include extra events into Green Week, this included a decentralised energy webinar, a Dr Bike session which runs repeatedly throughout the year, an inspiring ActNowFilm screening with Bath's Institute for Policy Research (IPR) and a fully-booked Climate Literacy course. It is great that many of these events will continue to run throughout the year at our University, including another Climate Literacy course on Thursday 30 January 2025.

Challenges and learnings

Despite the week’s overall success, we faced challenges. For example, the pre-loved clothes sale that we planned in collaboration with a local charity had to be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Some events saw lower turnout, perhaps due to limited marketing or communication barriers and weather considerations. These experiences taught us resilience, adaptability, and the importance of thorough planning.

Reflections

Green Week was a deeply enriching journey, offering first hand experience in planning and executing events with meaningful impact. It taught us invaluable transferable skills in communication, teamwork, and event management while strengthening our passion for sustainability. This week wasn’t just about raising awareness; it was about fostering a sense of community and inspiring action!

Green Week student committee: Vinayak Navaneethan, Sanjana Aswani, Poonam Gautam Hanwate, Tamara Malazonia, Pushpak Kolhe, Aditi Patil