On Thursday 16 June, we were delighted to be joined by a range of student groups, researchers, sustainable businesses and charities to celebrate the annual Greenspace Festival.
The day was a huge success, with a mix of students, staff and members of the local community represented among attendees. People got the chance to visit over 30 stalls, from sustainable food start-up Sustain Meals, the Ugly Fruit Group, to Climate Action North East.
The day concluded with a Carbon Management Workshop and a range of talks, covering everything from heat pump installations in social housing towers to how to kickstart your career in sustainability.
Alongside the Greenspace Festival, more brilliant activities to help the environment have been happening across Durham:
Building a wildflower habitat
A wildflower meadow trial is taking shape at the Botanic Garden, working with the Durham Wildlife Trust. Nine flower beds were created during October 2021 by members from the Wildlife Trust, staff from the Botanic Garden, Grounds Team, Department of Biosciences, Energy & Sustainability Team and several students.
Team prepping the ground for wildflower seeds. The rectangular beds were prepped using five different methods in October 2021
The trial aims to give everyone an insight into which wildflowers would be suitable for anyone to grow, no matter how big or small your garden. Why not take a trip to the Botanic Garden and see for yourself?
Wildflower Meadow trail in bloom in June 2022
Leaving Durham tidy
Students taking part in this year’s Green Move Out scheme
Throughout the Easter term student volunteers were delivering the Green Move Out purple bags for livers-out across Durham.
Livers-out have now filled over 600 bags with unwanted items which have been collected by the County Durham Furniture Help Scheme who sort, store, and donate to those in need across the county. Find out more about the Green Move Out here.
Learning from local business
Staff from the University’s Estates & Facilities Directorate visited the Lanchester Wines’ facility in Gateshead that uses a heat pump to recover heat from disused coal mines.
The company also generates its own green electricity from several wind turbines and solar photovoltaic panels.
The University’s visit comes as we develop our new Carbon Management Strategy that will involve increasing the amount of renewable energy generated on campus.
Coming up
- Green Move In Thrift Sale Event
- National Allotment Week 2022: take the national allotment week bug survey here!
- Cycle September
- Induction weeks: Are you organising an induction session and want to include information on Sustainability at Durham? Email greenspace.students@durham.ac.uk for more.
Find out more about what’s coming up this year on Facebook @DUGreenspace