Student Engagement

AUBSU’s Green Team are a dedicated group of students passionate about making environmental change, both on campus and in the local community. Working closely with the Students’ Union, they’re responsible for loads of events on campus, like Go Green Week and monthly swap shops.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to join the Green Team! By being part of the team, you’ll help think up creative events to engage other students with green issues to lead to environmental campaigns and get to make a difference at AUB. The team is headed up by our Green Officer and meets regularly on campus to share ideas and action them.

Every March, AUBSU and the Green Team organise a whole week completely focused on raising awareness of green issues and what we can do to be more sustainable. Past events have included a zero-waste market, film screenings, wildflower planting, Fairtrade chocolate sampling, body-care workshops and trips to places like the Eden Project.

Keep an eye out for this year’s Go Green Week and how you can make small changes that have a big impact.

Did you know that there are approximately 5,000 items of litter found per mile of the beach, or that it takes 450 years for a plastic bottle to break down?

Well we do, and that's why our students regularly give up a couple of hours on a weekend afternoon to help tackle pollution on Bournemouth Beach. Organised by AUBSU and in partnership with Surfers Against Sewage, we help to remove bags full of rubbish from our beaches each year. We could not do it without dedicated volunteers!

Fairtrade Fortnight is a national campaign, running annually over February and March. We’re passionate about Fairtrade and ensuring that we support workers and local sustainability.

We want to share these values with our students and staff so regularly hold events focused on the importance of ethical purchasing, including events of Fairtrade Fortnight. Over the past few years, AUBSU has helped spread this message by getting students designing and dyeing Fairtrade tote bags and T-shirts, as well as baking brownies from 100% Fairtrade ingredients.

Over the past five years, we’ve committed to offsetting our carbon footprint by annually planting 1000 trees in the local area. Each year a group of students and staff are armed with spades and spend a day tree planting, come rain or shine! It is a great opportunity to get some fresh air, make a positive impact on the local environment and do something a bit different.

The Green Team have a Green Zine, full of informative content and student artwork, that they put together with the help of the Zine Society. It includes a whole range of green content, including homemade body-care recipes, tips for reducing your carbon footprint, information on recycling and waste and suggestions for where to shop in Bournemouth.

Check out the most recent zine.

If you would like to contribute to the next zine, contact the green team at green@aub.ac.uk – they’re always looking for new artwork, content and articles.

If you’d like to make a difference in the local community, there are loads of opportunities for you to get involved in. As well as events organised by AUBSU (like tree planting and beach cleans), there are many charities and not-for-profits looking for support too.

We’re committed to supporting students through the recognition and promotion of sustainably/ethical-focused design and thinking through diverse and impactful eco-friendly initiatives. Sustainable design awards create awareness for issues relating to sustainability, environment and 3R (reduce, recycle and reuse).

In 2018, for the first time, our Environment Committee introduced Sustainable Design awards to recognise work, which took a particularly interesting or innovative approach to matters of sustainability as part of final year projects. Course teams were invited to nominate possible candidates, and the judging panel also took account of other interesting work which it noted when reviewing the shows. The panel identified an overall winner, as well as projects which were highly commended.

This will now become a regular feature of the Committee’s work.

To find out more, about the Green Team and their initiatives, follow them on Facebook or get in touch by email.