environment & ethics magazine
DESCRIPTION
An Oxford University Student Union magazine, looking at everyday issues from an environmental and ethical viewpoint.TRANSCRIPT
ENVIRONMENT AND
A NE
W OU
SU M
AGAZ
INE L
OOKI
NG A
T OUR
IMPA
CT O
N TH
E ENV
IRON
MENT
AND
ETHI
CS
ENVIRONMENT AND
ETHICS
ENVIR
ONME
NT&E
THICS
A
N O
XFO
RD U
NIV
ERSI
TY S
TUD
ENT
UN
ION
MAG
AZI
NE,
LO
OKI
NG
AT
EVER
YDAY
ISSU
ES F
ROM
AN
EN
VIRO
NM
ENTA
L A
ND
ETH
ICA
L VI
EWPO
INT
EDITOR IN CHIEFSARAH SANTHOSHAM
CREATIVE EDITOR MATTHEW ROBINSON
DEPUTY EDITORS FREYA BRADLEY
VIOLET BRANDVICKY CLAYTON
ILANA MASADLYDIA RAE
JAMES RAINEYYARA RODRIGUES-FOWLER
MAEVE SCULLION
ILLUSTRATIONS ALEXANDRA PULLEN
PHOTOGRAPHY MATTHEW ROBINSON
CONTRIBUTORSFREYA BRADLEYMOYA BURNSVICKY CLAYTON MICHAEL DAVIESCLAIRE FENNER BETH HANSON-JONES JENNA HOLDERALASTAIR MARSHABIGAIL MOTLEYEVE MCQUILLIANLYDIA RAEJAMES RAINEY MATTHEW ROBINSONROBERT SCHOONMAKER
PRINTERS OXUNI PRINT
WITH THANKS TOMAX RICHARDSONTHEO SUNDH
E&ECONTENTS
TRINITY TERM 2013 - OUSU PRESENTS ENVIRONMENT & ETHICS
FOO
DFA
IR TRAD
E / 8VEG
ETARIA
NISM
/ 10 FO
RAG
ING
/ 11IN
SECTS A
S FOO
D / 15
OXFO
RD M
ARKETS / 16
ENERG
YBRIG
HT ID
EAS / 18
TIPS TO SA
VE ENERG
Y / 19REC
YCLIN
G PLA
NT TO
UR / 20
ETHIC
AL FA
SHIO
N
SHO
OT / 22
UP-C
YCLIN
G / 26
ETHIC
AL SH
OPPIN
G / 28
MO
NEY
LIVING
WA
GE / 30
BIOD
IVERSITY G
REENIN
G SPIRES / 34
CO
LLEGE G
ARD
ENS / 36
BIOD
IVERSITY ARO
UN
D O
XFORD
/ 38 FEATU
RES C
LIMATE C
HA
NG
E SCIEN
CE / 40
CLIM
ATE CH
AN
GE U
NRA
VELLED / 41
INTERVIEW
S PRO
FILES / 42PETER SIN
GER / 46
GREEN
GRO
UPS IN
DEX / 48
PHOT
O/ Sp
lash
EDITORIAL
Every day we are faced with new research in-
forming us about the devastating effects of
climate change. Faced with such content, it is
easy to be overwhelmed and disengaged – the is-
sues are too complex, we’re not sure which sources
to trust, or perhaps we don’t think our individual ac-
tions can make a difference.
The truth, however, is that environmental and ethi-
cal issues needn’t be perceived as so complex, and
we don’t need degrees in Environmental Science to
understand what’s going on and how we can do our
part to mitigate the risks of climate change.
Environment & Ethics magazine stemmed from
an idea to challenge the doom-mongering way in
which literature on climate change is written, and
to make the issues facing us accessible, interest-
ing and relevant to students’ everyday lives. It is not
the intention of this magazine to tell you what you
should and shouldn’t do. Rather, we have provided
an approachable introduction to a range of topics
we regularly interact with – from food to fashion, en-
ergy to education – and have covered them from an
environmental and ethical standpoint. We’ve put to-
gether features on issues such as “can insects be our
new food source?”, taken a day trip to a recycling
plant and spent an afternoon with some College
gardeners to provide a more unusual and interest-
ing approach to the issues we come across so often.
Environmental and ethical work shouldn’t be op-
tional extras. As students, it’s up to us to engage in
the issues that will affect us all in the future. We hope
that your journey though these topics doesn’t end
with this magazine. Throughout, we have integrated
simple and practical steps you can take to make a
positive difference to the planet and its people. In
Oxford there are myriads of groups, both student
and community led, working on environmental and
ethical matters. If any of the issues covered have in-
spired you to take action and get involved, we’ve
profiled 18 local groups at the end to help you get
started!
Sarah Santhosham
Editor in Chief
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FAIR TRADE“Fair trade’s a nice idea, but I don’t really have the money to buy it, and whatever I choose isn’t really going to make a differ-ence - I can’t remember there being much in Tesco’s anyway.” A fair appraisal of what most Oxford students would say? Probably. A fair point? Absolutely not. We’ve all been there, with reps of every description ask-ing for our money, time, or even worse, that we give up stuff. When you’re busy, it is very difficult to care. But Fair trade is so much more than just a ‘nice idea’: if there’s just one good turn you do in your time at Oxford, changing your buying habits is a must. Here’s a brief explanation of why and how.Paying farmers a fair price for their produce is a sustainable way to empower the citizens of developing countries – by-passing the unfair trade rules imposed by the developed world. Fair trade is one of the only schemes to address the structural issues causing poverty and inequality in develop-ing nations. That’s a bit less patronising than doling out aid money, which bandages the problem but doesn’t change it. You have to do your shopping anyway – if fair trade is cheap and easy to get hold of, why not buy it? There are schemes in Oxford: oxcoop.com - which has an online or-dering system; or OxHub’s shop, open on Fridays, where prices are only 10-30 percent more than supermarket own brand (a matter of pennies). OxHub stock from a catalogue of over 482 Fairtrade products – everything from cereal to soap. Fairtrade@St Michaels, on Cornmarket, has beauti-ful gifts, clothes and crafts, as well as food. If you’re out for a coffee, google ‘Oxford fair trade map’ for a list of par-ticipating cafes: TSK, Greens and Art Cafe are favourites. Feeling more convinced? Ask your JCR to stock Fair-trade in their cafes, bars, and especially welfare teas (OxCoop do special deals) - then it’s not even your own money! Ask your E&E or charities rep. Sign up to receive OxHub’s weekly email which will tell you about fair trade events in Oxford – inspiration is key to keeping yourself on track when it comes to lifestyle decisions! Whatever you do, the important point is to get into the habit of consider-ing the effect your buying choices have on other people. So, if you want a way to make a difference, ‘give’ your money to spending a little more on food. This is something which will stick with you for life, and think how much cumulative difference, and influence, that could have.
EXPLAINEDTHE DEBATE
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
Fairtrade goods are expanding into all ar-eas of the global consumer market, and the sale of Fairtrade goods grew by 12 percent in 2011 – despite the economic downturn. It is clear that Western consum-ers are willing to pay the price to improve working conditions for farmers in devel-oping countries. But is fair trade actually doing all it can to help the world’s poor-est farmers? Is fair trade really that ‘fair’? The advantages of fair trade seem clear: it provides a higher, more stable price for farmers in the world’s developing regions. fairtrade boosts incomes, improves quality of life, and gives farmers the chance to in-vest in improving their own practices. The scheme allows farmers in the developing world to take advantage of, rather than lose out to, the global market. On top of this, fai trade protects workers’ rights by guarantee-ing minimum health and safety standards, freedom of association, collective bargain-ing and no discrimination or bonded labour. This provides a level of security for farm-ers often lacking in developing countries. There are further benefits, beyond the imme-diate financial ones. For Western consumers buying Fairtrade products, there is reassur-ance to be gained from knowing that the goods have been produced in a way that is
IS IT ALL THAT FAIR?
BETH HANSON-JONES is a fourth-year Chemist at St Hugh’s and was formerly the E&E Officer for OUSU
CLAIRE FENNER is a second-year Geog-rapher at Hertford and the founder of OxCo-op
8
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THE DEBATE
environmentally sustainable. 64 percent of consumers believe that Fairtrade has strict standards and 75 percent are familiar with the logo. Fairtrade has clearly had an impact on how consumers choose their products, con-tributing to ethical considerations in shopping. But there are also serious shortcomings to fair trade. Only five percent of the sale price makes it back to the farmers; even this five percent doesn’t always benefit the poorest. Fairtrade-certified cooperatives have to meet certain standards: this tends to mean that only richer farmers - who have skills, educa-tion and capital - benefit. In a recent article, Peter Griffiths, an economist and spokesper-son for the anti-Fairtrade movement, sug-gested that the majority of Fairtrade suppliers are in middle to higher income strata. More developed economies do seem to benefit most from fair trade: the three largest pro-ducers of fair trade coffee in 2011 were Peru, Columbia and Mexico. These Latin Ameri-can economies have a higher GDP per cap-ita, and a higher average wage rate, than most African nations. Fair trade, by fixing the buying price of produce, can incentiv-ize overproduction in a way that depresses the global market price and impoverishes poorer farmers not part of the scheme. Given this - is it really helping those most in need?
Perhaps ‘something’ to help developing world farmers is better than nothing. Here, the counter-argument is that fair trade can result in an excessive focus on increasing wages (by relatively insignificant amounts) rather than much-needed focus on trans-forming local economies through agricul-tural investment and social change. Devel-opment charities such as Wordwrite have criticized fair trade on this count, pointing out that - rather than fundamentally altering the system that produces poverty - fair trade locks farmers into that system and does lit-tle to change their situation in the long term. What Fairtrade does do, is provide a use-ful branding tool for companies that may otherwise be engaged in unethical prac-tices. Consumers buying Fairtrade prod-ucts feel they are doing their bit to solve global poverty, when the actual impli-cations of fair trade are far from clear. Despite its popularity across the world, Fair-trade has arguably done little for the world’s poorest farmers. Nor has it fundamentally changed the situation of those it does benefit. While Fairtrade has contributed to a boom in ethical brands and brought the sourcing of products to the forefront of consumers’ minds, it seems that on the whole Fairtrade has not lived up to its own selling point - of being truly fair.
9
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IT’S A PERSONAL CHOICE; LET’S MAKE IT AN INFORMED ONE
It’s very easy to justify our own actions. Talking earlier this
week with friends who happen to be vegetarian, the general
consensus was that, though we all had initially one specific
reason for choosing vegetarianism, we realised that the longer
we adopted the eating habits, the more reasons we adopted too.
My ‘journey’ towards vegetarianism began with energy effi-
ciency. Remember those Year 7 biology lessons? Every time you
go up the feeding chain (from plants to animals, and animals to
humans) energy is lost, meaning that eating cattle which have
been feed on grain is far more energy-inefficient than eating
the grain ourselves. Energy efficiency may sound like an odd,
rather abstract and ideological reason to stop eating sausages
but the way I see it is that it has very real effects on lives of others.
Rising meat consumption around the world due to increasing
wealth has led to large scale deforestation to make way for
pastures to feed livestock. This has considerable environmen-
tal impacts including loss of biodiversity and the destruction
of habitats. Crucially, however, deforestation is a major con-
tributor to climate change: Indonesia and Brazil are now the
world’s third and fourth largest emitters of carbon dioxide not
because of industrial prosperity but due to the rate at which
forests are being burned for agriculture. As you may also know
(and have sniggered quietly at), cattle produce A LOT of meth-
ane, which has 20 times the impact on climate change when
compared with carbon dioxide. The effect of greenhouse gases
is already being seen in some of the world’s poorest countries.
I understand if biodiversity, energy efficiency, deforesta-
tion or animal rights sound very abstract, far away and ir-
relevant, but they have very real concrete consequences: you
can feed a lot more people on a vegetarian diet. The world
has enough food to feed everyone but yet a billion peo-
ple go to bed hungry every night. It requires on average six
pounds of grain to produce one pound of edible meat: five
extra pounds could go to feed humans on a vegetarian diet.
This is a very human-centric way of looking at it, but it’s my
way of looking at it. We can question whether we have the
right to use animals for our needs at all, and ask “why?” in-
stead of “Why not?” when we know that our actions cause
harm. These and a dozen other questions were considered
and answered. Though they were less central to my deci-
sion, I at least considered them: if one is born into some-
thing (including vegetarianism), it doesn’t mean that it’s
necessarily the best course of action. Ultimately, what one
eats is a personal choice: let’s make it an informed one.
VEGETARIANISM
VICKY CLAYTON is a second-year Human Scientist at New College where she is the Environment and Ethics rep
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Put concisely, foraging is collecting food or drink in-
gredients from the natural environment. More loosely,
it’s going outdoors into common natural environments
(e.g. hedgerows, meadows, footpaths, even carparks) to
responsibly gather small amounts of wild leaves, flowers
or fruit, for use in cooking.
WHY FORAGE? 1. It’s food for free (and there’s not even any rum-
maging in bins involved).
2. There are plenty of vibrant flavours that you just
won’t find in the shops.
3. Enjoyable exercise – a great excuse for a walk
outside.
4. It’s rather fun – once you’ve tried it a couple of
times, you’ll be hooked.
5. Your friends will love it too – who could say no to
an aromatic glass of rose lemonade?
Foraging perhaps used to be seen as a throwback
pastime belonging to a bygone rural age. However,
the opposite is true – many top chefs (such as Magnus
Nilssen at the renowned Faviken, one of the world’s
best restaurants) view wild ingredients and flavours as
indispensable to their dishes.
HOW TO FORAGE?Firstly, identify what you’re after – choose a particu-
lar plant you’d like to use, and keep an eye out for it.
There are several recipes on the next page that involve
common, easy-to-find wild ingredients. The internet is
a good resource, and there’s a plethora of cookbooks
that use wild ingredients in their dishes.
Secondly, establish where you’re likely to find it and
how to identify it. Correct identification is obviously of
utmost importance – however, as long as you follow
identification guidelines correctly you’ll have nothing to
worry about. If ever in doubt, don’t use it.
WHERE CAN I FORAGE?A garden, hedgerows along footpaths, and at sides
of fields are great places to start – but the best advice is
to keep your eyes open! You’d be surprised at the va-
riety and abundance of wild plants in mundane plac-
es. I live in a town, yet within five minutes walk I can
find a huge variety of edible leaves, fruit and flowers.
However, avoid areas immediately adjacent to busy
roads, and anywhere which may have been sprayed
with pesticides or weedkiller (e.g. formal gardens). In
addition, foraging is not necessarily permissible eve-
rywhere, so do check what’s allowed and what isn’t.
LEGALITY AND ETIQUETTEThe law dictates that one obtain permission from
the landowner before foraging. However, a common-
sense approach is required: if somewhere is very ob-
viously private property (a garden, a farm, etc.) then
absolutely do get permission first. The best foraging
areas are often footpaths or woods on public land.
Follow these points of etiquette:
• Never strip a plant of whatever it is you are pick-
ing – a rule of thumb is to take a maximum of one
third of the plant. If there is a group of plants, only
pick from every other plant.
• Never pull up plants.
• Don’t disturb obvious animal habitats, like birds’
nests.
• Only take what you need.
Foraging is not about being able to survive in the
wild – it’s about responsibly using small quantities of
wild ingredients to enhance cooking. There are simply
not enough plants around, for all of us to have a go at
being Ray Mears or Bear Grylls.
SAFETY
Always make sure you’re 100 percent confident that
you’ve correctly identified a plant before using it. If
in doubt, don’t use it. All the ingredients used in the
recipes which follow are easy to identify and have no
nasty lookalikes – but some aren’t so straightforward.
Plant height and appearance, leaf shape, fruit shape
or colour, flower shape or colour, and smell, can all be
used as indicators. An excellent pocket-sized identifica-
tion book is Food for Free which costs less than £5.
Remember to give all wild ingredients a wash before
you use them.
Naturally, some leaves and fruit will be tastier and
in better condition than others. A rule of thumb is: if it
doesn’t look tasty (e.g. a withered, browned, or with
speckled leaves), it won’t be.
WHAT IS FORAGING?
11
Wild ingredients: Hawthorn leaves, hawthorn blossom
Where to find? Woods, hedges, scrubland, meadows.
How to recognise? Leaves: deeply lobed and glossy
green on spiky branches. Flowers: white/pink
When to gather? April to May for the leaves (earlier
the better), April to June for the flowers.
Use the leaves and/or flowers in salads with other
spring greens. They also go well in a cheese sandwich.
Wild ingredient: Lavender flowers
Where to find? Gardens – be sure to ask permission and only use if
no pesticides or herbicides have been used on the flowers.
How to recognise? Tight clusters of purple flowers on long thin stems,
growing up to three feet high, but usually less. Easiest way to recognise
is to smell whether the flowers have the distinctive lavender scent.
When to gather? May-August
20 lavender heads
500ml (18fl oz) boiling water
150g (5½oz) sugar
1.2 litres (2 pints) cold water
5 ripe lemons
• Check there are no insects hiding in the flowers. Give them a
gentle shake to make sure.
• Put the flower heads into a saucepan and pour over the boiling
water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes.
• Turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.
• Strain the liquid through a sieve to remove the flower heads
• Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.
• Add the cold water.
• Squeeze the lemons directly into the pan – watch it turn pink!
– then strain again to get rid of any lemon seeds and pith
• Have a taste then, when serving dilute with water to your liking.
SALAD EXTRAS
LAVEN
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The following recipes feature wild ingredients
that are:
1. Very common and easy to find
2. Easily identifiable (with no nasty lookalikes)
3. Distinctly flavoursome, but not too zany for
most people’s palates
I have made all of these before myself, and can
wholeheartedly recommend them! Use the il-
lustrations and descriptions provided to be sure
you’ve got the right plant.
PHO
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arah
San
thos
ham
RECIPESALASTAIR MARSH is a fourth-year Materials Science student at Corpus Christi, previously serving as Environ-ment & Ethics Officer for OUSU
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• Makes 1.5 litres of lemonade
Wild ingredient: nettle leaves. Only use the youngest leaves at the
top of each stem.
Where to find? Footpaths, hedgebanks, fields.
How to recognise? Heart shaped, serrated green leaves – and a sting!
When to gather? Late February to early June.
About half a carrier bag full of young nettle leaves
50g butter
2 medium onions, chopped small
1 medium potato, peeled and chopped small
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbsp double cream – plus a little more cream to garnish
Salt and freshly ground black peppercorns, to season
• Wash the nettles in cold water. Be sure to remove any thick stalks.
• Melt the butter, and cook garlic, onion, potato and celery in a
large pan until they’re soft but not browned.
• Add the nettle leaves and stock to the pan and bring to the
boil (boiling water kills the stings).
• Cook for at least ten minutes (or until the nettles are soft).
• Season to your liking, then remove from the heat. Blend
once it’s cooled a little. Stir in the cream and then reheat
without letting it boil.
• Serve with crunchy bread, and a swirl of cream in each dish
to garnish. Serves six!
SLOE GIN
NETTLE SO
UP
Wild ingredient: Rosehips
Where to find? At the sides of playing fields and hedgerows.
How to recognise? Red, oblong fruit about an inch long or less. Rosehips
are the fruit of wild roses, which are recognisable by their pink or white
flowers, which tend to bloom in June and July.
When to gather? August to November.
• Wash the picked rosehips.
• Either dry them on newspaper in the sun – or if the sun’s not out,
put on trays in an oven with the door open on a very low heat until
dry. When dry, they will have shrivelled, and will feel crinkly.
• Blend the dried rosehips in a food processor for less than 20 seconds
– the pieces should be large enough not to pass through a sieve .
• Sieve them until as many of the fine hairs from inside the hips
have fallen through.
• Done! Store in a glass jar. Use 1 or 2 teaspoons for a pot of tea
– leave to infuse for at least 5 minutes.
ROSEHIP TEAPH
OTO
/ Eid
oloo
n
Wild ingredient: Sloes
Where to find? Woods, hedgerows.
How to recognise? A small, round, very dark blue berry.
The tree it grows upon, the blackthorn, has distinctive dark
spines on its branches and small, oval leaves.
When to gather? After the first frost of the year (the frost
softens their skins) – usually around late October.
450g sloes
225g caster sugar
1 litre pint gin
• Prick the skin of the sloes all over with a knife and
put in a large sterilised jar (to sterilise, pour in a little
boiling water and slosh around).
• Pour in the sugar and the gin, seal tightly and shake
well.
• Store in a cool, dark cupboard and shake every
other day for a week. Then shake once a week for
at least two months.
• When you’re ready to bottle, strain the sloe gin
through a sieve (or a sheet of muslin if you have it)
into a sterilised bottle.
PHO
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RECIPES
13
My foray into the world of eating insects – entomophagy
– started with ambitions of becoming a restoration
ecologist. The colossal forests which cloaked Britain
and Ireland following the retreat of glaciers around 10,000 years
ago, and the rich tapestry of grassland and fen which replaced it as
human influence increased, have been reduced to tiny fragments by
the spread of modern agriculture. In order to reduce the likelihood
of continued local extinctions in our remaining habitat patches, they
need to be joined up once more. So why does entomophagy come
into this you might wonder? It all comes down to meat snobbery.
Conventional meats pose serious threats to the future wellbe-
ing of humanity and the diversity of life on Earth. Not only is
the livestock sector the largest source of water pollution and soil
erosion, but a massive 30 per cent of the planet’s land surface is
dedicated to it - a percentage that is still increasing, and there-
fore driving deforestation and preventing ecosystem restoration.
In spite of this, conventional meat production is highly inefficient
- if crops were diverted from feeding cattle to nourishing people
directly, the protein value per kilo could be increased ten-fold.
Thankfully, not all meats are equally bad: rather than squan-
der ten kilos of feed to generate copious amounts of dung and
one measly kilogram of beef, I could invest in producing a nine
kilo army of six-legged land prawns. And a tasty army at that,
beloved by 80 percent of the world’s human population, but for
some accident of history rejected by Western Europeans, who
prefer delicacies such as bee vomit (honey) and I-can’t-believe-
it’s-not-horse burgers. It makes me sad that our culture permits
the consumption of a few species of mammal and bird, whilst
ignoring the almost 2,000 species of known edible insect.
If even a small proportion of curious people decided to taste
test the various hexapods on offer, and subsequently replaced
one portion of beef per week with a plate of delicious cicadas,
ants, or beetle grubs, a significant area of agricultural land could
be freed up, and allowed to transform. Perhaps a forest type
which once occurred on the pre-agricultural soils could be resur-
rected, preferably one with a suitably poetic name, like Fraxi-
nus excelsior-Acer campestre-Mercurialis perennis woodland. A
reduction in the required animal feed could also relax drivers of
deforestation elsewhere, particularly in the tropics.
With so much to be gained from expanding our meaty ho-
rizons, my insect eating experiment was launched just over a
year ago: mealworms, sourced from the local pet shop, were
fattened up on Rice Krispies whilst I searched for recipes. Then
they were frozen, flash fried, and dipped in sauce. For a first at-
tempt (by someone with no culinary skills whatsoever), they were
pretty good. Hopefully, more professional suppliers will top me
up in future, as adventurous foodies increase demand for our
most diverse meats.
MEAT SNOBBERY AND THE RISE OF INSECTS
JAMES RAINEY is a first-year Biologist at Balliol and OUSU E&E Chair
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FLOWER POTSWant to give a handmade present?Dos Family have some great ideas for handmade presents, like this one: save some old tin cans, give them a new life with some colour and add a plant!dosfamily.com
SCRUBBING GLASS MADE EASYReal Simple has some top tips for reusing all the aluminium foil we use for cooking. Scrub out the dish you used with the scrunched up ball of foil!realsimple.com/new-uses-for-old-things
NEED A USE FOR AN OLD SHIRT?Cut it to size, add a trim and voila! You have a shirt apron! This is from a Russian website: ht tp://www.l ive internet . ru/users/3173294/post145479436/
WANT TO DO SOMETHING ACTIVE?Oxford Conservation Volunteers is a voluntary organisation that car-ries out practical work conserving the wildlife and traditional land-scape of Oxford. They organise work parties every weekend. Sign up for one of their upcoming events!ocv.org.uk
NEED SOME MOTIVA-TIONAL GREEN WALL ART?Do The Green Thing is an en-vironmental charity that uses creativity to inspire people to be more sustainable. They have a range of posters designed to spur viewers to action.dothegreenthing.tumblr.com
BRIGHT IDEAS FOR REUS-ING LIGHTBULBS! Renew purpose is another great blog with creative ideas for giving a new lease of life for old domestic items. Their ideas for resuing lightbulbs are par-ticularly innovative, like these salt and pepper shakers (though please take care when hollowing out lightbulbs!) renewpurpose.com/blog
HATE FOOD WASTE? Need ideas for cooking with leftovers?Every year 7.2 mil-lion tonnes of food and drink is thrown away in England, most of which could have been eat-en. Love Food Hate Waste have launched an app for iPhone and Android, which allows you to keep track of food planning, cooking and making the most of leftovers. england.lovefoodhatewaste.com
No excuse! Green Upgrader is a handy website featuring fun and simple ways of leading a more green lifestyle. Create your very own “green wall” or herb gar-den using just a shoe organiser!greenupgrader.com
NO ROOM FOR PLANTS?
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SAVING ENERGY IN THE HOUSE
BATH
ROO
MKITCHEN LO
UNGE
LAUNDRY
AWAY FROM HOMERefreshing your wardrobe? Swap clothes with friends or donate old clothes to charities and buy new ones second hand. Not only does this save you money, it benefits others and you could find vintage items that are not on the high street.
For long journeys try to take the train rather than a plane. A London to Paris train journey results in 90 per cent less CO2 per passenger than the equivalent flight!
. Defrost frozen food in the fridge. Frozen food will help cool the fridge, reducing its electricity requirement
. Oven cooking a meal can use five times the energy of microwaving one. When baking, cook multiple portions of food at once. You’ve now created your own handy ready meals which you can later reheat in the microwave
. Wash clothes at 30oC rather than 40oC to use 40 per cent less energy and only use the washing machine when there’s a full load.
. Air dry clothes rather than using the tumble drier. Your delicate, heat-sensitive fabrics will thank you
. When showering, turn down water to half flow. For each five minutes of your usual shower time, you will save enough power to run a small hair drier for a few minutes, which might be all the time you need if you...
. Towel dry hair thoroughly to cut down hair drier time
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. Turn lights off when they are not needed. The power saved from one 60W light bulb could run a MacBook Pro
. Close your curtains at dusk to keep heat indoors
RECYCLING PLANT TOURWE TOOK A TOUR OF A RECYCLING PLANT AND SAW WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR RUBBISH
Before visiting the Milton Keynes Recycling Facility,
I hadn’t realised there were so many recycling
skeptics. According to my fellow minibus pas-
sengers, however, there are a lot of us who resist the
inconvenience of sorting our rubbish because we
believe that it all ends up as landfill anyway. Tours of
the Materials Recycling Facility – satisfyingly known as
a “merf” by the experts – are open to all groups and
are tailored to educate the public on what exactly hap-
pens to their cereal box. My companions had visited
other recycling facilities too – they regaled me with
tales of a huge stomach which spins food waste into
liquid gold (and methane) and the giant mechanical
diggers which graze on our garden waste.
Recycling from Oxford all initially goes to Enstone
Recycling Centre, and then a percentage of it moves
on to Milton Keynes. The recycling arrives on lor-
ries which are weighed on their way in and out on
a ‘weighbridge’. The lorries unload the recycling
onto the floor of the ‘tipping hall’, while glass bottles
and jars are taken off to the glass factory to be re-
melted into jars and bottles for another day. The ‘tip-
ping hall’ is essentially a mountain of recycling, kept
constantly moist to prevent fire, where a digger truck
loads it into the bag-splitter all day. The bag-splitter
is just the first of many machines which invoke mem-
ories of vintage Robot Wars: after the bags are split,
the recycling falls onto a conveyor belt which car-
ries it towards the ‘Ballistic Separator’ and the ‘Titech
Polysort’. First though, large items which would block
up the machines are removed in the pre-sort cabin
– human hands are essential to the sorting process.
Textiles are sent to be made into clothes or insulation
for cars and furniture. The ballistic separator sieves
the recycling into two groups, cans and plastics then
paper and cardboard, by shaking a set of moving
metal slits called screens. Round and heavy objects
roll off the screens, while flat light objects travel over
the top of them. Tiny objects fall through holes in
the screens.
The paper and cardboard ends up in the paper
cabin to be sorted by staff from a conveyor belt. Pa-
per is recycled for newspapers and magazines, card-
board is recycled into…cardboard. Cans and plastic
bottles continue the journey under a huge magnet,
and then through an eddy-current separator to en-
sure metal and plastic are not mixed. Cans could
become other cans or car parts, while aluminium foil
is given to a local charity, who use it to raise money
for their work with local teenagers. The Titech scans
plastic for its size and density as it travels at 2.71cm
per second, using powerful air jets to blow it into a
storage bunker. Workers in the plastic cabin check
that everything has been sorted correctly and pick
out coloured plastic bottles – unlike clear bottles,
many of the coloured ones become underground
water pipes!
Huge bunkers store the sorted recycling until it is
sent to the baling machines, where it is squashed
into big cubes and stacked in the yard to be quickly
sold on to factories. Anything that didn’t get properly
sorted is sent through the system again, and rubbish
which cannot be recycled (around seven percent of
non-recyclable rubbish is mistakenly put into recy-
cling bins) is sent to a power plant to create energy.
The process is extremely thorough: everything finds
a place; nothing is wasted. Huge creativity goes into
transforming the rubbish into new products – all over
the UK and in Belgium, Germany and Sweden. The
extra few seconds of sorting our waste ensures an
industry and prevents more hopeless landfill sites. It
really is worth it.
WE TOOK A TOUR OF A RECYCLING PLANT AND SAW WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR RUBBISH
FREYA BRADLEY is studying English and French at Wadham and is on the Oxford Living Wage Campaign Committee
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RECYCLING PLANT TOUR
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Up-cycling, the process of making what’s old new,
has become a trend in its own right, after high
street giants like Marks and Spencer launched
a new ‘Shwopping’ scheme to encourage the
continued use of unwanted cast-offs and to re-
duce the relentless production of the modern
consumerist world.
You don’t need to introduce radical struc-
tural and political changes to create true en-
vironmental change; just to induce a psycho-
logical change in our insatiable materialist
society. Much of the Western world is driven
by consumption and buying - clothes being
the ultimate indulgence and luxury for the
majority. But when these clothes are produced
in distant countries and continents, under
distinctly exploitative conditions, can we re-
ally justify our incessant buying? With many
sweatshop workers in South-East Asia earning
under $5 a day for 12 hours of work, we can-
not claim that this is something that we want
to endorse. This is exactly where up-cycling
plays its part.
When we spend hundreds of pounds in char-
ity and vintage shops filling our wardrobe with
clothes which are essentially the clothes of our
parent’s generation, you begin to wonder
whether there is any need to buy them at all.
Now is the time to dig out our parent’s old
clothes and make them our own; in a time
which cherishes mis-matched, ill-fitting fash-
ion, there really is nothing to worry about.
The boundaries of up-cycling are truly end-
less, as domestic and sartorial reinvention
overlap: old shirts can be used to create new
cushion covers, whilst old curtains can be
used as material to create home-made dress-
es. And it’s not as hard as you would think
- by simply cutting the sleeves off an old over-
sized shirt and adding a belt, you can simply
and quickly create a summer dress. So even
those with minimal sewing skills, or, indeed,
those lacking the determination to make new
clothes from scratch, up-cycling really can in-
volve minimal effort.
Equally, numerous shops now feature a swap
scheme, giving you the opportunity to bring in
old, quality clothes, in exchange for credit on
other clothes. This creates a form of sartorial
co-operative, and a fluid chain of clothing ex-
change where vintage shops no longer have
to rely on external producers, which helps to
create shops that are increasingly independ-
ent and self-standing. The shop is therefore
supplied by and made for shoppers. There
is more clarity in clothes production and no
hidden production methods, which has been
seen behind the commercialisation of vintage
clothes in national vintage shops, such as Be-
yond Retro. And whilst swap schemes still al-
low you to indulge in vintage consumerism,
your clothing is no longer finitely owned, re-
maining in circulation, and therefore reducing
production.
So whilst the prospect of making your own
clothes might seem too daunting, the simple
choice of where you shop is not. And with
some of the highest quality swap scheme vin-
tage shops located right by Notting Hill Gate
- an hour and a half on the Oxford Tube -
there’s really no excuse not to change your
consumerist habits. Simple changes to con-
sumer and social habits like this will have an
indelible impact on the fight to end exploita-
tion found at the very the core of the fashion
industry.
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MATTHEW ROBINSON is studying French and German at Somerville College and is creative editor of this maga-zine.
Ethical fashion, much like free
range organic food, may
seem like more of a luxury
than a sacrifice, reserved only
for those well enough off to cover up their
materialism with faux-environmentalism.
This simply doesn’t have to be the case!
Environmental fashion is not something to
shy away from and push onto the upper-
middle class, middle-age subsection of
the population; even those of us strapped
for cash can indulge our insatiable mate-
rialism in a slightly more environmentally
friendly way.
The obvious way to avoid mass produc-
tion and the exploitation of foreign labour
is to give in to our penchant for vintage
second-hand clothing; not only does this
reduce production, but it gives our clothes
a second lease of life, stopping them being
cast onto the rubbish heap and becoming
obsolete. Not to forget the price; whilst
iconic vintage hotspots like Brick lane and
Camden have seen prices soar to heights
parallel to the high-street, charity shops
remain a bargain, and whilst you may
have to sift slightly harder than in vintage
warehouses, gems are still to be found.
The trick is to head to the affluent areas
you’d normally avoid at all costs; go to
the King’s Road and Knightsbridge, swal-
low your pride and, rather than splashing
thousands on designer labels, delve into
the plethora charity shops on offer. The
clothes are donated by locals and sourced
from the surrounding area, so whilst
prices are still shockingly low, the quality
is incredibly high, allowing you to snap
up designer items at a fraction of the cost.
And in a time that celebrates past eras and
vintage style, this might be the key to your
new wardrobe.
It’s not only well-established charity shops
that offer unparalleled bargains, but also
the new craze of pop-up shops and pop-
up fashion markets which are appearing
all across East London. Found in base-
ments, unused warehouses and empty car
parks, they can sometimes be hard to find,
but they are nevertheless worth the effort.
They offer vintage clothing at a frac-
tion of the price and above all escape the
commercialisation of vintage second-hand
clothing that is increasingly seen across the
capital. Furthermore, your money supports
local market workers rather than being
sucked into the conglomerate empire, and
so you are supporting a local community
rather than greedy executives.
Most importantly, rather than being
mindlessly and apathetically sucked into
the national and international conglomer-
ates that we see so readily on our high-
streets, it’s worth while researching ethical
brands that offer modern clothing for af-
fordable costs, which, by virtue of our cur-
rent consumerist tendencies, don’t find a
place on our fashion streets. Brands such
as Indigo offer contemporary and de-
cidedly on trend fashion for competitive
prices, and so the stereotypical image of
ethical fashion as a mix of hessian and
sandals is far from the truth. And in this
light, there is very little excuse for not con-
templating a shift in your consumerism.
But if you can’t bring yourself to buy ethi-
cal fashion on the grounds of its aesthetic
and are drawn to the high-street conglom-
erates, you can at very least recycle your
old clothes; for every new item you buy,
there is undoubtedly one which you don’t
need. This way, whilst you may still be en-
dorsing global brands which undoubtedly
exploit foreign labour, you are still sup-
porting second hand charity shops which
promote a more environmentally friendly
form of consumerism.
ETHICAL FASHION ON A BUDGET
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The Living Wage, currently stand-ing at £7.45, is a rate calculated annually by the Centre for Re-
search in Social Policy as the pay level necessary for a worker to provide the essentials for their family. It’s calcu-lated by identifying what items peo-ple need for a minimum acceptable standard of living; these prices are checked at national chain stores, and then minimum costs for nine types of households are identified, with clever averaging and balancing factors, such as the age of children, so as to reach a single number. The campaign began in 2001 with London Citizens, and has been taken up by a myriad of employers from Amnesty International to Barclays, from KPMG to the Church of Eng-land. There is a campaign in the USA to fix the Federal Minimum Wage by indexing it to the local cost of hous-ing throughout the country. Closer to home, Oxford City Council is an ac-credited Living Wage employer. Many of our colleges have paid and are paying a living wage, and recently, after years of lobbying by the Oxford Living Wage Campaign, the University increased the pay of its lowest paid employees, guaranteeing all staff di-rectly employed by the University at least £7.45 per hour. Why have so many – including the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition – endorsed this move-ment? David Cameron called the Liv-ing Wage “an idea whose time has come”, while Ed Miliband credited the “necessary” campaign with “do-ing so much to change attitudes to our economy.” Firstly, there is the ethical argument: it is unjust that there are those who cannot afford to provide for their
family even though they are em-ployed. For single parents especially, there is often an impossible choice to be made between earning enough to support their children and being physically present when they get up, return from school, or go to sleep. A cleaner at the Social Science Library was happy to tell the Living Wage Campaign here in Oxford: “It is very difficult to see my son… Sometimes he leaves notes saying, ‘Mum, where are you?’” Low pay and poor hours can lead to the paradoxical and undesir-able situation where the family would be better provided for if a parent were not in work. This is an unfair position in which to place parents who want the dignity of working hard and pro-viding the best possible quality of life for their children. Being paid fairly for work is not only good ethics, its good business: 75 per cent of employees reported increases in work quality as a result of receiving the Living Wage. In Lon-don, more than 80 per cent of Living Wage employers believe that the Liv-ing Wage has enhanced the quality of the work of their staff, and Living Wage employers see large declines in absenteeism. Not only that, but there is an increased recruitment and reten-tion rate, good press as an ethical em-ployer and low turnover of contractors – the list of business benefits goes on. In a city like Oxford, where two huge universities employ such large staff, and many residents take on more than one minimum wage job to keep up with the high costs of living, it is particularly essential. A cleaner at the Radcliffe Science Library pointed out that, even on the Living Wage calcu-lated for the rest of the country, Ox-ford compares more to London in the cost of rent and utilities.
It is urgent that the University de-partments and colleges listen. The directly employed staff who have had their pay increased are a rela-tively small percentage of workers: most are provided by contractors, and so the chain of accountability for fair pay becomes difficult to navigate. This is where students can help, there is lobbying to be done at every level: colleges, departments, central University policy – those in charge need to be shown the social responsibility and the fiscal profitability of pay-ing a Living Wage and including employees in decisions about pay and benefits. If your college does not pay a Liv-ing Wage, or doesn’t listen to the needs of its staff, you have the op-portunity to work alongside scouts, cleaners, kitchen staff and porters to lobby for change. JCRs often have a lot more power than they realise, and successful living wage campaigns in many colleges – Bal-liol and Brasenose, for example – show that staff and students can engage in this common enterprise. If your college does pay a Living Wage, and its employees are hap-py with their pay and conditions, why not lobby for accreditation? This will ensure a lasting benefit for the college long after you are gone, an effect which is impos-sible, despite the transient nature of student life. This is not ideal-ism. Over 45,000 families have already been lifted out of work-ing poverty because of the Living Wage. It is warranted, it is practical and it is possible.
LIVING WAGEA VERY LOCAL ISSUE
FREYA BRADLEY is studying English and French at Wadham and is on the Oxford Living Wage Campaign Committee
31
GREENING SPIRES / EDUCAT iON FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability is often
pigeon-holed as a
special-interest –
only for people
who enjoy digging
organic vegetable
gardens, taking trips to recycling
centres, boycotting Starbucks, and
not washing. Part of this pigeon-
holing is down to a difference in
interests but, for the most part, I
believe it comes down to differ-
ences in underlying assumptions
and a miscommunication of what
these assumptions are. This mis-
communication is something that
Education for Sustainability seeks
to address.
Sustainability addresses con-
cerns about our current rate of
development. Currently, the
wants (rather than needs) of the
present are compromising the
ability of future generations to
meet their own needs. Living a
sustainable life is about think-
ing about how we behave in our
everyday lives (what we eat, how
we move, what we consume and
produce) so that we – and all fu-
ture generations – can continue
to live fulfilling and healthy lives.
It requires mass action: we need
to think big here. For that reason,
in 2005, UNESCO launched the
‘Decade for Education for Sus-
tainable Development’.
Education for Sustainabil-
ity (EfS) is a movement to put
thinking about sustainability on
the educational curricula for all
levels of learning – even higher
education. It seeks to develop
skills and encourages ‘critical
thinking’ among students and
the general population about
the so-called three pillars of
sustainability: environmental,
social and economic issues.
It is designed to equip us – as
“citizens of the future” – with the
ability to tackle the “global is-
sues of tomorrow.” It has been
widely integrated into the Scot-
tish curricula, and in England,
the University of Gloucestershire
is pioneering such curriculum
development. Even our very own
‘Teach Green’ project in Oxford
teaches primary school children
about environmental issues.
Proponents are keen to avoid
a didactic pedagogy of knowl-
edge transfer: simply telling
people hasn’t worked, so criti-
cal engagement is encouraged,
and the very fact that Education
for Sustainability is on the agen-
da for curriculum development
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illustrates a bias towards its im-
portance over other imagina-
ble university-wide schemes like
foreign language teaching for
all students. Whilst it is not nec-
essary for everyone to partake
in schemes such as language
learning, I believe it is particularly
important for everyone to engage
in working towards sustainability.
I think this can be done: the pre-
cautionary principle states that if
an action has a suspected risk of
causing harm to the public or the
environment in the absence of
consensus on that action, then
the burden of proof that the ac-
tion is not harmful falls on those
taking part. Whilst I am a lover of
languages, the same risk of harm
is not as apparent: the world will
not go to pot if I misremember
my French conjugations.
The aim of EfS is empower-
ment through critical thinking
and capacity-building to achieve
change. Critical thinking and
capacity-building are what uni-
versities do – and have done – for
hundreds of years. The aim of
achieving change assumes that
the current situation is inappro-
priate and also, I would argue,
assumes a certain outcome for
the change. Change is a means
to an end, not an end in itself.
Change could see people decid-
ing that the human species has
no real sustainable future and
deciding to go out with a bang
– End-of-the-World parties on
steroids. “Change” in the eyes
of Education for Sustainability,
it seems, would adopt a specific
type of change. The Scottish gov-
ernment’s review of the country’s
progress in 2010 outlined the
following vision: “it’s about en-
suring our children grow up to be
responsible citizens in a fair and
equitable society.’’ So yes, a spe-
cific type of change is envisaged.
I believe in empowering peo-
ple: there is, however, a “but.” I
think a danger lies in assuming
that, with similar experiences,
people will come around to your
way of thinking, and contribute
to your vision. If empowerment
is a means to an end then one
becomes too focused on the end
and doesn’t really listen. Part of
the value of empowering others
is that it challenges your thinking
and your values, forcing you to
revaluate your position. This is
scary for those of us set on saving
the world through sustainability
but so worth it.
GREENING SPIRES / EDUCAT iON FOR SUSTAINABILITY
35
VICKY CLAYTON is a second-year Human Scientist at New College where she is the Environment and Ethics rep
People often assume that to encoun-
ter exciting and charismatic wildlife,
it is necessary to travel across the
world to far-flung exotic countries. How-
ever, the UK is home to some truly fantastic
wildlife, much of which can be found right
here in Oxford. In the rush and stress of
deadlines, tutorials and the gossip from
Wahoo last Friday night, it’s easy to forget
the wonderful species we live alongside,
and yet British wildlife truly needs our help.
Habitat fragmentation, introduced species
and climate change are just a few exam-
ples of the issues facing our native wildlife.
As students, we have the privilege of living
in colleges with beautiful grounds, and
these can easily be adapted to encourage
and support biodiversity around the city.
A key issue facing colleges in encour-
aging biodiversity is finding a balance
between the expected formality of an
Oxford college garden, and establish-
ing wilder areas to encourage wildlife.
Worcester and St Hugh’s have risen to
the challenge extremely successfully. Af-
ter spending two afternoons with Simon
Bagnall and Martin Brandom, the Head
Gardeners at Worcester and St Hugh’s
college respectively, it is inspirational to
see how changes in the management
of college grounds can create a positive
impact for wildlife.
Both colleges have focused on plant-
ing species of flowers that both look at-
tractive and encourage pollinators, such
as crocuses, snowdrops and anemones,
producing highly attractive flowerbeds
that are literally buzzing with activity. At
St Hugh’s college, planting rose beds
with species that require minimal spray-
ing has reduced the impact of pesticides
on surrounding flower beds. Wood chip-
pings from tree debris collected on site
are used on many flowerbeds, providing
both attractive and sustainable bedding
compost. This avoids the excessive use of
artificial fertiliser, which can lead to ac-
cumulations of nitrogen and phosphorus
in the soil that may damage plants and
seep into water sources.
At Worcester College, stumps of dead
trees are left in the ground, providing mi-
crohabitats for insects, woodlice, fungi,
lichens and mosses. Birds can use these
dead trees as food sources and nesting
sites, and woodpeckers are commonly
seen (and heard!) in the grounds. In-
deed, both colleges have installed bird
boxes, and sheltered log piles around
the site provide hiding-places for frogs,
toads, grass snakes and slow worms. St
Hugh’s even have hedgehog hiberna-
tion houses, and one is definitely inhab-
ited by a certain prickly resident named
Bono Jesus!
However, are the efforts at Worcester
BIODIVERSITY AT WORCE STER AND ST HUGH’S PHOT
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and St Hugh’s working, and can they be replicated
in other colleges?
The diversity of species seen in both college
grounds is staggering. Foxes, hedgehogs, grass
snakes, slow worms and amphibians have been
spotted at both sites. Worcester has become an
essential summer residence for goosanders,
a species of diving duck, as well as a home to
kingfishers, herons and owls.
Whilst not all colleges have access to such
large and open spaces, the littlest things, such
as putting up bird boxes, bat boxes or establish-
ing a small flowerbed of meadow flowers, can
make all the difference to encouraging wildlife.
Even college sports grounds could develop
wildflower borders, providing habitats for in-
vertebrates and reptiles, and foraging areas for
birds and mammals. There are so many ways in
which wildlife can be encouraged, and we, as
the residents of our colleges, have the power to
establish such schemes.
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Abigail Motley, from St Hilda’s College, is a first-year biologist and Events Organiser for the Conservation Society.
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BIODIVERSITY It’s not just within the city bounds that beautiful displays of wildlife can be found; wider Oxfordshire is home to a variety of habitats rich in biodiversity. Whether by bike, foot or bus, there are places eve-ryone can reach. Here are some suggestions for every season:
A walk amongst bluebells in wood-land is one of the true joys of spring. A great place to see this yearly phe-nomenon is the famous Wytham Woods. This ancient woodland was bequeathed to Oxford Uni-versity in 1942 and has since be-come one of the most researched woodlands in the world. Wytham is not just a research haven; it is criss-crossed with walking trails and open to visitors year-round. Before visiting you will need to obtain a free permit from www.wytham.ox.ac.uk. Once you have your permit in hand, Wytham is just a half hour cycle away across Port Meadow.
Summer is the perfect time to ven-ture a bit further afield. On the edge of the Chiltern Hills, about 20 miles from Oxford, sits Aston Rowant Na-tional Nature Reserve. This is a rem-nant of chalk grassland, a rich habi-tat type once spread widely across the country. Spend a sunny day here and you are likely to see swathes of butterflies, including the Chalkh-ill Blue, and Red Kites soaring on updrafts along the escarpment. Aston Rowant can be reached by taking the Stagecoach Ox-ford Tube service towards Lon-don and getting off at Lewknor Village. From here the reserve is a short signposted walk away.
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together in the reed beds on this wetland reserve.As dusk approaches birds
swoop in from all directions, gathering together in ever-growing swarms. They ro-tate and twist, rise and fall, in an hour long display most evenings during November. It is not just the visual spec-tacle, but the gentle sound of thousands of bird wings beating in unison which will take your breath away. This is an event you should see at least once in your lifetime.RSPB Otmoor is just a 15
minute drive north-east of Oxford. Directions can be found at: www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/o/otmoor/
BIODIVERSITY BEYOND OXFORD
Shotover Wildlife Reserve hugs the eastern edge of the city, just beyond Head-ington and Cowley. This beautiful and diverse re-serve is a must visit at any time of year, but in Autumn as the trees turn to vary-ing shades of amber the woodland really comes into its own. Take yourself up there on a crisp autumn afternoon to enjoy the stun-ning views across Oxford.Information about the re-serve and how to get there can be found at: www.shotover-wildlife.org.uk
When you haven’t seen sunlight for what feels like years and are drowning under a seemingly never-ending slog of assignments you need a spectacle of nature to snap you out of the winter blues. Luck-ily for Oxford residents one of nature’s most phe-nomenal spectacles oc-curs every winter right on our doorstep: the Starling murmurations at Otmoor. This is essentially a winter ballet as tens of thousands of Starlings flock to roost
W I N T E R
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Politicization of the romantic Gaia Theory – which proposes that life on earth creates ideal
conditions for further life, in order to explain the vast differences be-tween earth and other planets – led to a series of fringe movements that claimed the world was a single or-ganism called Gaia with motives and desires. Similarly it seems that politicization of computer simulations on climate change has caused them to be used as precise predictions, despite the fact that such simula-tions are flawed, and inaccurate even when predicting past data [1]. Presenting these results as evidence is scare-spinning and doom-mon-gering, say the critics, which exists to drum up support and funding so lazy climatologists can keep their job.
However strong motives also exist for denouncing climate change, and one must be equally careful in assuming that green-house gas emissions do not change the climate. The consen-sus is that greenhouse gases are different to other gases in the at-mosphere, and that putting more in will change the workings of the climate; all that the results show is that in an earth-like system changes will appear. The truth is that nobody knows what will hap-pen, though it seems inevitable that something will occur. What is more the creation of greenhouse gases is not reversible: once they are emitted they are not easily re-absorbed, and so we should be sure what the effects are before-hand. As Raymond Blanc states when talking about water-based chemistry: “Don’t put too much salt in the soup; remember you
can always put it in, but never take it out”. From this perspec-tive the anti-climate change posi-tion seems absurd, as if it expects Gaia will sort it all out, or per-haps has itself designed both us and modern industry anyway and that no harm will be done.
So here is the bottom line: the next time you read an article about climate change, read the source material as well, and if you cannot understand it, do not assume that it is correct. When discussing, “I heard” and “It is thought” mean nothing unless you say from whom or how, and you should expect the same from people presenting information to you. With the promise of cheap and secure energy and food, and industrial opportunity and pros-perity for the poor, the rewards are too large to ignore fossil fuels, but the risks are equally huge.
References[1] G. G. Anagnostopoulos, et al., Hydrological Sciences Journal 55:7, 1094-1110 (2010).TH
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THE TRUTH IS THAT NOBODY KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN, THOUGH IT SEEMS INEVITABLE THAT SOMETHING WILL OCCUR.
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But the Climate has always been
changing…
Exactly! From ice ages through to
super warm periods, from sopping wet to
being dryer than the cinnamon challenge,
the climate has been constantly changing for
millennia. All of this was caused by natural
phenomena such as, to name but a few,
the earth’s elliptical orbit, sulphur particles
from volcanic eruptions acting as coolants
in the atmosphere, the reflective qualities
(albedo) of the earth’s surface and so called
‘greenhouse gasses’ (GHGs) such as meth-
ane and carbon dioxide which act to warm
the atmosphere.
But why should we be worried about CO2
levels now?
These natural processes create a (rough-
ly) 100,000 year cycle in carbon concen-
tration in the atmosphere. We know this
from looking at trapped CO2 in ice air
bubbles, the composition of oxygen iso-
topes in ice, tree ring data and many other
methods. These natural cycles had atmos-
pheric CO2 concentrations ranging from
180-280 parts per million (ppm). Today,
we’re at 340ppm, surpassing anything the
planet has experienced before. By look-
ing at the isotope ratio of past and present
atmospheric carbon, the large amounts
of CO2 seen today are from burning fos-
sil fuels. This increase in CO2 (and meth-
ane, which is actually roughly 25 times
stronger than CO2 in acting as a GHG)
cannot be balanced out using natural pro-
cesses. Plants can ‘capture’ CO2 but we’ve
massively reduced these natural ‘lungs’
through deforestation.
But a warming of 2°C or so would actually
be quite nice…
2°C melts ice; seas rise; warmer seas
have a reduced capacity to store CO2
which actually means more is released
into the atmosphere; oceanic currents that
are partly governed by the law that cooler
liquids and denser liquids sink are messed
up by changing temperatures and an in-
flux of melted fresh water ice (thermohaline
circulation), which then also changes wind
patterns and weather systems. So a warm-
er atmosphere, even by an amount that
seems so small, doesn’t necessarily mean
a warmer UK Some countries will get hotter
and dryer, but the UK will likely be colder
and wetter and more miserably British. We
might even have some deathly heat waves
to complain about.
But I’ve heard Antarctica is actually gain-
ing ice…
It is and that’s because ice melts from
underneath from warmer seas, not from
on top. The seas under East Antarctica are
cooler and help form ice. But the seas un-
der West Antarctica, and those circulating
around the Arctic, are much warmer and
are melting ice a lot quicker than it can be
formed. So even though there is ice form-
ing in East Antarctica, the melt rates in
other places drown it out.
But the science isn’t certain...
Greater accuracy and precision doesn’t
mean greater certainty. A great scientist
will be able to give the probability of the
‘impossible’ occurring. Just because they
cannot be 100 percent certain that the
probable will occur (by factoring in that
‘impossible’ factor), doesn’t mean the
quality of their science diminishes. If any-
thing, it enhances it. Science’s foundation
is built upon questioning. So the fact that
97 percent of the world’s climate scientists
agree that the recent increase in global
average mean temperature is due to an-
thropogenic activities should be of at least
some value. What they’re not certain about
is exactly what future warming path we’re
heading down. They can give us their best
guess and their best guess is not pretty.
CLIM
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IS INVO
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THE CREATIVE CO
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UN
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OF CLIM
ATE SCIENCE TO
TH
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OXFORD CAMPAIGNERS
THE QUESTIONS WE ASKED
1. What inspired you to get involved with community action?2. If you could solve one environmental /ethical problem what would it be?3. Which book would you recommend for people who want to learn more?4. How can students make a difference?5. Which is your favourite environmen-tal charity / social enterprise / venture?
MAKING THE CITY GREENER
WE’VE PROFILED FIGURES FROM THE UNIVERSITY AND THE LOCAL COMMU-NITY TO SEE WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO MAKE OUR TOWN GREENER
WHAT IS OXFORD DOING?
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1. I wanted to do a job that made a differ-ence and I was really passionate about en-vironmental issues like pollution. Working in the environmental sector seemed an obvious choice – tricky problems with lots of different solutions and plenty of working with people.
2. I’d like to see us all swapping and shar-ing more. I think initiatives like Freecycle and the University Swap Shop are amazing but we need to step it up a gear and get sharing more.
3. ‘Silent Spring’ by Rachel Carson but aside from books, I would also rec-ommend watching ‘The Story of Stuff’
4. Student should arm themselves with in-formation about the things they’re passion-ate about - that is, if they want to persuade the University to do something, check they’re not doing it already. Find out what other or-ganisations and universities are doing it and look for ways that their idea might work. We always happy to talk to students about their ideas – email [email protected]
5. I think Sustrans are brilliant. Transport has a huge impact on our carbon emissions so Sus-trans promote lower carbon transport choices like cycling and walking which are not only healthy for individuals but they make our com-munities more sustainable. Their vision is that four out of five local journeys will be made by walking, cycling or public transport by 2020.
1. We live on a planet that is more than ca-pable of providing every person with a worth-while and happy life, but instead we see both startling inequality and short sightedness. I am a strong believer in grass roots com-munity action; the only way to enact change is to stand up and make your voice heard.
2. If I could only solve one thing I would make global trade and business more transparent. I really think that if consum-ers actually knew how the products they bought were being produced they would think seriously about buying them again.
3. The book that inspired me was ‘The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future’ by Elizabeth C. Economy.
4. Yes, definitely! There are loads of groups around Oxford such as OxGrow, Environment & Ethics, the Ox Co-op, The Living Wage Campaign and many more to try out. Just pop along to one of their meetings, from my experience they are always really friendly and welcoming.
5. The Inga Foundation is a small but grow-ing foundation dedicated to stopping the process of slash and burn by working with local farming communities. Watch ‘Up In Smoke’ if you want to know more about it.
JAMES FISHER
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OUSU ENVIRONMENT AND ETHICS OFFICER
HARRIET WATERS HEAD OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY, OXFORD UNVIERSITY
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1. Doing lots of volunteer-ing with various projects got me really interested in the idea of mutual benefit. Acting on simi-larities, rather than differ-ences, is my inspiration for community action.2. Consumption – the fab-ricated need to have all of this stuff simply because it’s what we “should” want.
3. ‘The Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ by Paulo Friere, beautifully lays out a differ-ent way of collaborating and creating with others.4. Students can make a difference by realising that they don’t have to make a tangible difference right now. Read, learn, discuss, form your own opinions so that when the oppor-
tunities come along, you can truly express yourself in your response rather than doing what you think is expected of you. If you do that then you will al-ways make a difference.5. People & Planet give young people the space and support to form their own opinions on potentially terrifying global issues.
1. I have always had a passion for the environ-ment and green issues, and I wanted to work in a job where I felt like I could make a difference. 2. Global warming and the issues associated. 3. ‘How bad are Ba-nanas? The Carbon
footprint of everything’ by Mike Berners-Lee4. Students can spread the word on waste and recy-cling issues, ensuring oth-ers think about what waste, if any, can be reduced, re-used or recycled. They can also volunteer within local communities to support the many environmentally-con-
scious charities in Oxford.5. Emmaus, a charity op-erating in Oxford, relies on donations of furniture and household items. It’s a great example of a charity diverts items that might have gone to landfill into support-ing homeless people as they rebuild their lives.
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1. Joining Food Justice was an obvious and easy way to make a difference. As soon as I did my first shift volunteering with the Ox-ford Food Bank, I realised the scale of food wasted in Oxford and the number of charities in Oxford that ben-efited from the Bank, it was clear that Food Justice’s ac-tivities are worthwhile and in many ways necessary.
2. The problem of the over-packaging of consumer goods and food.3. Tristram Stuart has writ-ten a couple of high profile ones (and also has a good TED talk).4. Whether you cook your-self or eat in hall, wasting less is an easy way to make a difference. Small choices like eating more locally pro-duced food, less meat, and
foods with less packaging can all add up to a signifi-cant difference.5. The Oxford Food Bank – ran entirely by volunteers from the Oxford community – have a very simple and effective system for turning waste into a really valuable resource for local charitable organisations. The benefits are vast both environmen-tally and socially.
1. I wanted to provide a proactive solution for peo-ple who want to live a life with as little negative impact on other people as possible, but don’t know how, and also give people who’ve never considered their buy-ing choices a wake-up call: that what they buy might ex-ploit someone else.
2. If humans didn’t want more stuff all the time, that would solve a lot of the world’s problems.3. ‘A Life Stripped Bare’ by Leo Hickman. It follows a witty Guardian journalist trying to “live ethically” for a year.4. Students can think about environmental choices in their everyday habits which if
you change now will last for a lifetime. It requires a bit of research, some solidar-ity with like-minded people, and a lot of commitment! 5. Tearfund’s Rhythms web-site gives you little environ-mental/social justice actions to do (e.g. give up meat for a day). Though based in Christian teaching, the ac-tions are accessible to any-one of any/no faith.
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PETER SINGER: THE PROFILE
Michael: Let’s start by
looking at your choic-
es; why do you choose
to donate to the Oxfam group?
P eter: I began giving to Ox-
fam when I was a graduate
student here in Oxford. I
was impressed with the work they
were doing towards poverty alle-
viation and how they were going
about it, so it seemed like a good
place to start. This was before
organisations such as GiveWell
emerged, who subject charities
to more rigorous impact evalu-
ation. Such groups calculate the
efficiency of a charity, often by
looking at the effect of each dol-
lar donated with reference to a
measure such as quality-adjusted
life years [QALYs], i.e. how many
years of healthy life each dollar
donated to the charity can pro-
duce. The Against Malaria Foun-
dation [AMF] comes out as one of
the most cost-effective charities ac-
cording to such a measure and so
I now split my donations between
the AMF and the Oxfam group.
Michael: Why not make
all your donations to
the AMF if they’re the
most cost-effective charity? Is there
more to the value of a charity than
QALYs?A
Peter: I don’t think it’s a
question of QALYs or not.
I’m quite happy to say that
the test of a charity should be
how many QALYs it produces.
The question is: what do you do
with charities where you can’t
measure the number of QALYs
produced? Organisations such
as GiveWell don’t recommend
Oxfam. The broad scope and
nature of their work means that
it’s very difficult to evaluate them
and, in any case, they recom-
mend more specialised charities.
Though it’s important to go with
the evidence, this attitude might
be a bit too stringent and there’s
reason to believe that the work
Oxfam does produces a high
number of QALYs, even though
this is difficult to evaluate. Take,
for instance, Oxfam’s advocacy
work. They’ve recently been suc-
cessful in lobbying the US gov-
ernment to change its Food Aid
policy, but how do we measure
Oxfam’s specific impact? It’s
hard, but I think we need to look
at organisations such as Oxfam
which address the causes as well
as the symptoms of poverty. I like
what Oxfam are doing and so
continue to donate to them in
addition to the AMF.
Michael: You propose a
form of preference util-
itarianism – the idea
that the right action is that which
satisfies the most preferences.
You weight the preferences of all
sentient beings (not just humans)
according to the intensity of their
preferences and the degree to
which they exhibit the “essential
characteristics of personhood”,
such as self-consciousness, ra-
tionality and autonomy.
You conclude, on this view,
that killing a baby is less morally
deficient than killing an adult
because they don’t exhibit such
characteristics. But this has wor-
rying implications for arguments
for environmental activism.
Such arguments centre on the
well-being (or rights or prefer-
ences) of future generations. But
these potential people have no
preferences or person-like char-
acteristics as of yet. This “non-
identity problem” is an issue if
you want your ethics to justify
environmental activism, isn’t it?
PETER SINGER is one of the world’s most influential philoso-phers and writes extensively on the subject of practical eth-ics for both philosophers and the general public. Here he joins two PPEists in a discussion about the moral philoso-phy behind choices in environmental and ethical activism.
46
PETER SINGER: THE PROFILE
Peter: That’s a nice point. It’s
quite reasonable to suppose
that I am a preference utili-
tarian as I have been for most of
my career. Now, however, I’m less
confident that that’s right and may
be shifting towards classic, hedon-
istic utilitarianism (the idea that the
right action maximises pleasure and
minimises pain), though I haven’t yet
written about it.
This is one of the areas where
hedonistic utilitarianism trumps
preference utilitarianism, as it’s not
clear how preference utilitarianism
can respond to these objections.
There’s also the problem of volun-
tary extinction; what if the human
race decided as a whole that it no
longer wanted to continue? Lots
of preferences would be satisfied,
but the utility of future generations
would not be realised. which is
another rationale for embracing it
over preference utilitarianism.
Michael: This will be
something to think
about for those who
are already convinced that they
should care about ethical and envi-
ronmental activism. But how would
you convince someone that they
should care at all?
Peter: Imagine a scenario where
you see a child drowning.
The vast majority of people
would accept that the right thing to
do would be to help the child, even
though it might ruin your clothes. We
should help someone avoid great
suffering if doing so only slightly in-
conveniences us, right? Poverty al-
leviation (or indeed environmental
activism etc.) is about stopping hor-
rible suffering over buying or doing
something you don’t really need to.
I don’t have much to say to those
who don’t think they should help
the drowning child, but I find very
few people are of this ilk. Essen-
tially, if you think you should save
the drowning child, it follows that
you think you should ease other
suffering through activism and
philanthropy.
MICHAEL DAVIES is a second-year PPEist at Somerville, former RAG Vice-Pres-ident and the current OUSU Community Outreach and Charities Officer
EVE McQUILLIAN is a second-year PPEist at Somerville and President of Oxford University Amnesty International
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180,0000 Hours
80,000 Hours aims to help people have a career that makes a difference in an effective way by providing careers advice, sharing re-search and maintaining a global community of mem-bers who want to make the world a better place. Within Oxford, they organ-ise events to promote their ideas and research and host inspiring speakers.
18Environment & Ethics
OUSU’s E&E Campaign is the focus of environmental action amongst students and lobbies the University for environmental and eth-ical changes. Recent suc-cesses include establishing the Recycling with Honours campaign and prevent-ing the University’s logo from appearing on un-ethically sourced clothing.
2Abundance
Abundance works to pre-vent needless food waste and promote awareness of the abundant urban harvest available in Oxford. They organise foraging trips, run skill-sharing workshops and share recipes.
3Broken Spoke Bike
This co-op was founded to strengthen the culture of cycling in Oxford-shire by teaching peo-ple to become proficient in bicycle maintenance and cycling. They run classes, organise group cycle maintenance ses-sions and provide activi-ties for vulnerable mem-bers of the community.
. . .
. FEELING INSPIRED? AN INDEX OF GREEN GROUPS IN OXFORD
4CWW Cooperative
Trustcwwcooperative@yahoo.
co.uk
The CWW Co-op is a social enterprise to manage not-for-profit social, community, en-vironmental, educa-tional projects for the benefit of the commu-nity. They run a com-munity bus for groups in Oxfordshire and have stalls at local markets.
.
17Food Justice
Food Justice coordi-nates volunteers for the Oxford Food Bank, col-lect food for the Com-munity Emergency Food Bank and raise aware-ness of food waste.
16Geology for Global
GfGD aims to encour-age young geoscientists to use their knowledge of the Earth to fight poverty and improve lives. Their activities include termly seminars, careers advice, involvement in GfGD’s national campaigns and organising internships with charities and NGOs.
15Green Broom
Green Broom is a South Oxfordshire sustain-ability project, which stewards a beautiful open meadow. They co-ordinate volunteers to create a place where people can enjoy the wildlife and learn about living sustainably by en-gaging in their projects.
. .14
Hogacrehogacrecommon@gmail.
com
Hogacre is an 11 acre site in Oxford and a resource for people who want to act locally to reduce Ox-ford’s carbon footprint. It features field, woodland and aquatic habitats and hosts low carbon commu-nity activities and events.
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9Oxford Living Wage
With recent success lob-bying the University to pay a Living Wage to its staff, OUSU’s campaign focuses on lobbying Col-leges to pay their staff an amount they can afford to live on, currently £7.45 per hour. The campaign works with a number of locally based groups and organises events to raise the profile of poverty pay.
.FEELING INSPIRED? AN INDEX OF GREEN GROUPS IN OXFORD
13Oxford Microfinance
Initiativecontact@
oxfordmicrofinance.org
This student-run consul-tancy provides free ser-vices to microfinance in-stitutions, by organizing teams of students to work on projects. They also arrange speaker events on microfinance and the developing world.
12Oxford Students for
AnimalsOxfordStudentsForAnimals
@groupspaces.com
Oxford Students for Animals run a numbers of campaigns on ani-mal issues. In addition they lobby for greater meal options for veg-etarians and vegans across the Colleges.
11Teach Green
Teach Green aims to raise awareness of lo-cal and global environ-mental issues by host-ing weekly sessions at Oxford primary schools. Run by volunteers, they teach environmentally focused lessons featur-ing discussions, games and hands-on activities.
10ThinkClimate
ThinkClimate is a stu-dent-run ‘think-and-do’ tank focusing on climate change and the intergen-erational equity issues surrounding it. They con-duct research on these issues and lobby deci-sion-makers to take ac-tion on climate change.
5Just Love
Just Love seeks to en-gage the Christian com-munity in social jus-tice issues. Their four projects are homeless outreach, campaign-ing against human traf-ficking, fighting global poverty and encouraging leading a life that is con-scious of social justice.
6Orinoco the Oxford-
shire [email protected]
Orinoco is a local char-ity that collects and re-uses good quality, com-mercial waste materials from businesses across Oxfordshire. The charity promotes re-use, art and creative play through ed-ucation and direct action.
7OxCo-op
The Oxford Co-op com-munally bulk-buys more socially and environ-mentally sustainable food. They run an online shop for students and a weekly pop up shop. Their activities also in-clude thinking about where food has come from and its impact, through film screen-ings and discussions.
8OxGrow
OxGrow is a crea-tive edible laboratory where volunteers ex-periment with organic, climate-friendly grow-ing techniques. Their aims include increasing knowledge and skills of food-growing by pro-viding a space where members of the com-munity see different ways of growing food.
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