1. Finding carrots: Engaging others in sustainability Charlotte Bonner - Communities Program Manager Jamie Agombar - Head of Sustainability AASHE Conference 2014: Student Summit

2. What are we going to cover? Communications ResearchFunding Programmes

3. Ground rules

4. Introductions Find someone you don’t know Introduce yourselves: who you are and where you come from Key question: what first got you interested in sustainability?

5. 600 FE and HE SUs 7m students Societies, course reps, trustees Who are we? - NUS 600 students’ unions 7 million students (2.3m in HE) 4,700 SU staff; 500 sabbatical officers 230 NUS staff

6. What is NUS? NUS was founded in 1922. In 1973 NUS was the first national body to pass policy in favour of LGBT rights, elected its first women president in 1977 and its first black president in 1978. NUS works to promote, defend and extend the rights of students and helps develop and champion strong students’ unions. 3 core values of; Equality, Democracy and Collectivism guide NUS’ work

8. What we do today Campaign, lobbying and research on issues that affect students Access to and quality of education, welfare, liberation Develop and champion strong students’ unions HR, finance, strategic support, activities coordination, digital platforms, sustainability programmes

12. 9,010 actions completed this year, 5,566 (61%) as a result of GI

13. Green Impact Excellence Credit union Community environmental audits Greening the curriculum Community action Biodiversity and schools Computer recycling Chilli Jam

14. Green Impact Universities and Colleges 62 Universities and Colleges 1,205 teams reaching 53,950 members of staff 48,834 actions completed this year, 32,000 (65%) a result of Green Impact MacEwan University in Canada Video

15. Green Impact in the Community 115 off-campus organizations 12,467 actions completed this year, 6,974 (56%) as a result of GI

16. Total GI action actions

17. Student involvement in GI 809 students Project Assistants and auditors

19. Student Switch Off Targets students in dorms Behaviour discontinuity theory Energy-saving competition Eco Power Rangers: films, quizzes Encourages simple changes Video

20. Student Switch Off 2013-14 54 universities 150,000 students in rooms 28k students (17%) engaged 5.9% reduction; 1,159 tCO2 Schools pilot prepared SAVES = Lithuania, Greece, Sweden, Cyprus

21. The opportunity

29. Students’ Green Fund £5m pilot fund from HEFCE for student-led sustainability projects to be run by students’ unions in partnership with their parent institutions Four key themes: Student engagement Partnership Impact Legacy

31. WHOLE EARTH? www.nus.org.uk/wholeearth

32. Reclaiming the Curriculum UMSU Post-Crash Economics Society

34. Understanding your audience Who is your audience? What motivates them? What barriers are there to change?

35. Different attitudes to sustainability

36. Different motivations and interest

37. Engaging others 1.Match the groups of people with the types of motivation that may appeal to them 2.Add your own ideas 3.How could you encourage them to engage with sustainability? What could you say or do to gain their support?

38. Sell the Sizzle The Sausage vs. The Sizzle Focus on the positives and make it FUN!

39. How to Start a Movement Video

40. The four Es

41. The Fun Theory http://www.youtube.com/w atch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

42. Positive Everyone is passionate about something, keep it personal Focus on here & now, tangible not abstract concerns Diversity works - target multiple audiences using multiple ‘voices’ Negative ‘Environmentalist’ rhetoric and imagery is a big switch-off Gambling frames underplay risks for some and over-emotive for others Appeals to ‘concerned majority’ seen as exclusive and untruthful And... Don’t be concerned about ‘alienating’ core audience who respond + to almost any frame & get need to broaden support Media seen as ‘negative influence’ by all (‘poisonous’ by some)

44. Why do we need funding?

45. We need to understand the system: The system Everyone is asking for more money Goals of the university and key staff Budget cycles – planning in Sept? Proving our worth Qualitative and quantitative assessment Different dimensions of the university and beyond Sustainability ambitions Our ambitions Formal process: budget estimations and plans Compelling story, improving the model Ambitions of the student body

46. Types of funding University endorsement e.g. Green Offices, society funds Self funded e.g. Student Switch Off and Green Impact Grant/seed funding e.g. research pots, government funds Green Funds e.g. USF, University of Alaska Fairbanks

48. Why do we need to research?

49. NUS HEA surveys: student interest in sustainability

50. Two thirds feel concerned about climate change in general – with one fifth feeling very concerned Concern over climate change in general Q35. How concerned, if at all, are you about climate change? (base 943)

52. Evaluating impact: quality of assessment

53. Measuring behaviour change Surveys – before/after Hard data –Energy usage –Waste figures –Procurement data –Travel surveys Anecdotal evidence of change Focus groups Interviews BUT Take care when claiming savings – do you know where these come from? Take care when people are self-reporting Don’t underestimate time and effort needed

55. Dimensions of sustainability in HE

56. Types of project Strategy Sustainability reports Mission and visioning Roadmaps Policies Programmes Projects that are repeated each year Student Switch Off Living labs programmes Projects One-offs Business cases Proposals Analysis reports Events Film evenings Networking meetings BBQs Swapshops

57. Criteria for good projects Students, staff and faculty Education, research, operations and community Internal and external partners and initiatives

58. Programme expectation

59. Programme reality

60. Exercise goals 1.Exchange and share good project ideas 2.Collect all the knowledge in the room 3.Develop a set of projects to implement

61. The exercise 1.Mind map What are the benefits of engaging this element with sustainability? What are the opportunities and potential outcomes? 2. Develop ideas What could be/is already being done to integrate sustainability with this field? 3. Sum up Describe your projects in one-liners 4. Shopping tour

62. What are we going to do? 1.Ideas harvest 2.Local action 3.Expanding existing programmes 4.Keep us informed!

63. Recommended reading and viewing Futerra –The Greenwash Guide –The Rules of the Game –Selling the Sizzle: The New Climate Message Parkin, S. 2010. The Positive Deviant. Earthscan Ltd Whitmarsh,L., O’Neill, S. and Lorenzoni, I. 2011. Engaging the public with climate change: Behaviour change and communication. Earthscan Goldstein, N., Martin, S.J. and Cialdini, R.B. 2007. Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion. Profile Books Retallack, S. Lawrence, T. and Lockwood, M. 2007. Positive Energy: Harnessing People Power to Prevent Climate Change. Institute for Public Policy Research. London. Daniel Pinks. The Power of Motivation. Derek Sivers. How to start a movement.

64. More contact… www.nus.org.uk/greener Jamie Agombar Head of Sustainability (NUS UK) jamie.agombar@nus.org.uk Charlotte Bonner @BonnerCharlotte Communities Programme Manager (NUS UK) charlotte.bonner@nus.org.uk