UCC Green Campus has had a particularly exciting Summer. In May, our Sustainability Summer School welcomed students and staff from the USA, Columbia, and El Salvador. In late Spring, we welcomed seven honey bee hives to the North Mall Campus.

As the month of July comes to a close, so too does the ‘Plastic Free July’ challenge which saw people attempting to reduce, or completely eliminate single-use plastics from their shopping lists the entire month of July.

Academic year 2017 /18 marked ten years since UCC students embarked on the Green Campus programme . Those ten years have seen many changes, both on our campus and globally . Our FTE of students has increased by approximately 2 ,000 , while our campus has grown to include many of its largest and most energy intensive buildings e . g . the Western Gateway building . Despite this, 2017 saw the university reach its Public Sector Energy Efficiency target of a 33 % reduction in consumption, three years ahead of schedule .

Welcome to UCC’s Green Campus Newsletter for Spring 2018. It has been another busy term for the Green Campus Committee. We have launched a new farmer’s market on campus, and continue to partner with staff and students across the university to run campaigns and events. UCC’s university wide module in Sustainability has had another successful run and UCC continues to lead the way in sustainability with the recent decision by the university to sign the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment.

UCC Green Campus Intern, Killian Kelly, on what the new EU-wide ban on neonicotinoid pesticides might mean for UCC’s newest residents.

From a distance, I assumed it was a seal. I’d seen one a few weeks back down by Grand Parade. Floating along, it then plunged its head under, hunching its back upward, and lifted its long pointed tail into the air behind it, before following the rest of its body beneath the water.  Staring at ripples left behind I reached for my phone. It didn’t take long until it popped back up with what appeared to be an eel between its paws – a solid favourite in the otter diet. What followed was an extremely impressive display of hunting skills by one of Cork’s resident otters.

UCC’s position as a globally leading “green” university has once again been recognised with a top ten position in the UI Green Metric World University Ranking.  Achieving an impressively creditable 9th out of a total of 619 universities worldwide, UCC’s position in the UI Green Metric represents a global ranking of sustainability activities across operations, research, education and engagement.  The result reflects both the commitment and action in UCC to advance sustainability across the entire university. In addition, UCC was again the top ranked Irish university for the 7th year in a row, endorsing our reputation as Ireland’s “green” university.

On the East Side of the Berlin wall, there once stood a symbolic green plant sprouting from a mural (seen above), accompanied by the words ‘Wachsen lassen’, meaning Let Grow. Today, in the plant’s absence, sits a display of single-use water bottles, fast food containers, disposable coffee cups and other plastics, reflecting an all too familiar scene.

“Meatless Monday” is a global movement aimed at encouraging everyone to eat meat-free one day a week.  44 countries worldwide take part in this campaign, and UCC is playing its part.  On Meatless Monday, the main restaurant will offer meatless meal options for students and staff that wish to take action to help our environment.

Welcome to the UCC Green Campus Newsletter for Christmas 2017. As the year draws to a close we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been a part of our Green Campus journey in 2017. This year has once again seen UCC make significant reductions in our energy usage and waste generation; this trend of continual improvement is at the heart of the Green Campus Programme.