Sustainability advocates: 10 ways you can help us achieve our sustainability goals

Student gardening - Liverpool Guild

Welcome to #TeamLivUniwe’ve developed a range of opportunities to help you become one of our sustainability advocates and to help us achieve our sustainability goals.

  1. Visit our Sustainability Student Hub

Visit our amazing Sustainability Student Hub to find resources on sustainability related:

  • Societies
  • Volunteering
  • career development opportunities
  • COP28 activities
  • lifestyle choices
  • social networks
  1. Complete our free Sustainability in Action module

Our award winning Sustainability in Action module has been created by students for students.

The online course introduces you to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGS), and upon successful completion of a series of short assessments, you will receive HEAR accreditationsomething valued by employers and will appear on your final degree certificate.

  1. Become a Volunteer Network Leader

If you are interested in becoming a Volunteer Network Leader, register your interest via the form on the Student Sustainability Hub on Canvas. Click through to the ‘About the Student Sustainability Network’ section.

  1. Sustainability Week

Each year we host Sustainability Week – a week of free events and activities for students and staff. These include recycling workshops, zero waste food making, swap shops, film screenings, cycle maintenance, falconry displays and guided tours of the Energy Centre, sustainable labs, the MIF and the Spine Building.

See what we got up to during Sustainability Week 2023 and look out for updates on the next Sustainability Week due to take place in Spring 2024.

  1. Weekly gardening sessions

Sowing the Seeds of Sustainability is a Sustainability Fund awarded project primarily based around initiatives to grow food at the University. Around campus you may have seen some of their biodiversity planters. These ‘Bioscope NatureArks’ and wild pod planters, containing wet and dry habitats provide support for wildlife including bees and hedgehogs.

Students can join the Sowing the Seeds of Sustainability project team and the Guild of Students as a volunteer for weekly gardening sessions every Wednesday at the brand-new food growing space next to the Oliver Lodge Building.

It is a great opportunity to get involved and experience planting, harvesting and general maintenance of the campus gardens and reduce the University’s carbon footprint. Follow @sowingtheseedslivuni on Instagram for updates on food growing and other nature-based activities.

  1. Get cycling

Students can hire a bike from the Guild for a full academic year for just £60 or one semester for £40. Bikes can be securely stored in the free cycle pods across campus. The University and the Guild work closely with Peloton, a local bike co-op to offer bike maintenance sessions, beginners’ bike events, city bike tours and Joy Ride bike events. Download the MyLiverpool app or visit the Welcome 2023 webpages for ride schedule.

  1. Help the University become even more hedgehog friendly

The Hedgehog friendly campus scheme is a national initiative across several universities to raise awareness for the plight of hedgehogs and formulate practical steps to improve their habitats across a variety of campuses. Visit the webpages for tips on how you can get involved with the work taking place on campus and check out the collection of great activities.

  1. Sign up as a Guild Schools Volunteer

Guild Schools allows University of Liverpool students to deliver workshops to Primary and Secondary school pupils, through Science in Schools, Sustainability in Schools & Societies in Schools. Running across Merseyside throughout the academic year, Guild Schools is an excellent opportunity for both students and pupils to develop skills, share knowledge, and experience something new. What’s more, it’s completely free for both the student volunteers and the schools to take part in Guild Schools sessions. Sign up as a Guild Schools Volunteer here, or sign up as a society here.

  1. Write an article for the Sustainable Liverpool blog

Sustainable Liverpool is the University’s sustainability blog; highlighting how we are working to make the University more sustainable.  We bring you the latest news and celebrate the ingenuity of staff, students, and partners, so if you would like to contribute to the newsletter by sharing your sustainability related events, projects, or activities, we would love to hear from you. Please complete this online form or email sustainability@liverpool.ac.uk.

  1. Sustainability Toolkit

We have developed a bespoke Sustainability Toolkit with top tips on the simple ways you can reduce your own carbon footprint and things you can do to lead a more sustainable lifestyle.

Our sustainable campus 

The University is actively taking steps to look at its impact on climate change and wider sustainable development. As a signatory of the SDG Accord, we have pledged to put the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the heart of all of our activities across research, teaching and campus operations. We have developed an ambitious Sustainability Strategy and new Climate plan, setting out our ambitions, principles, and commitments in relation to addressing the climate crisis and outlining how we are going to move forward in developing our pathway to achieving net zero by 2035.

Find out more

If you want to know more about our work, please email sustainability@liverpool.ac.uk