Green Gown Awards 2018 - STUDENT - Lizzie Rhoades - Finalist

I have played a key role in actively raising awareness of sustainability on campus and encouraging students to take action on climate change throughout my four years as an undergraduate student at the University of Edinburgh.

I was the founder of Do Edinburgh, which set out to encourage members of student societies to make a difference and change their unsustainable behaviours. Over 500 individual students from across 41 student societies took part in the campaign in February 2018. Students made a total of 1,682 pledges and the actions that have been implemented so far have saved around 40 tonnes of CO2e, with the potential of increasing to 52 tonnes CO2e.

As an elected student representative, I actively worked on improving the volunteering experience of students, ensuring more of a focus on student wellbeing. I have also been a dedicated member of the Dirty Weekenders Conservation Society, encouraging further community outreach.

Top 3 learnings:

1. Providing small ways that people can get involved in sustainability empowers them to continue in the future.

2. Having a team with varied backgrounds is key to real success, as sustainability can’t be viewed from just one perspective.

3. Students are full of ideas that can make real differences, and they should be supported in all universities.