My name is Roxy and I pledge to redefine the term sustainability if I become Sustainability Representative. As the most diverse Russel Group university located in heavily polluted East London, it’s important to centre the voices of the most impacted communities and work together, students, staff, local businesses and government and all East Londoners to put forward solutions to solving the impending climate crisis.?
I first began protesting at age 13 where I joined my local BLM protests against wrongful police deaths in NYC. This began my involvement in social justice campaigns up until today. Flash forward to my time at university, where I first looked into the social impacts of the climate crisis and immediately redirected my focus. It is no secret that the most vulnerable groups to systematic oppression and those located in the Global South have and will bear the brunt of the crisis.
Queen Mary’s students have a unique power. We are located in one of the most polluted boroughs in London, where children grow up with 10% smaller lungs than those raised elsewhere. As a community, you stood up to facts and signed a petition I circulated in 2019. We were 100 signatures short from reaching the minimum amount needed to get Tower Hamlets council to debate declaring a Climate Emergency.
I spent three hours a day for three days stood in Library Square and asked students to sign the petition. I collected more than 850 signatures in nine hours total and QMUL helped the motion become the most signed petition in Tower Hamlets’ history. The council heard our speakers, two primary school aged children who were studying about the carbon capturing affects of moss who both suffer from asthma caused by pollution. With 28-days to deliberate, the Council made a decision in under a week. Tower Hamlets became the first borough in London to declare a Climate Emergency.
This wouldn’t have been possible without QMUL students. Let’s use our power for the good.?
We must stand together to build our own definition of a sustainable future and demand change.
I plan on:
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Advocating to offer QMUL housing to charities looking to find temporary accommodation for groups at risk of homelessness.
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Running a website where people can submit and vote on ideas to make QMUL a more sustainable campus.
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Proposing that one of the student shops in the Mile End Campus should be changed to a zero-waste store using the framework put forward by The University of Sheffield.
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Inviting Experts and QMUL schools to host panel discussions, documentary screenings, debate and quiz nights with prizes and more that educate the campus and local residents about the realities the climate crisis.
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Running campaigns to highlight how students can get involved with local initiatives trying to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
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Raising awareness about and holding QMUL accountable for their Environmental Sustainability Action Plan.
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Educating students about their potential as online activists and digital strikers.
If you want to get involved in my campaign, endorse my campaign as a local organisation or group (Groups outside QMUL only, due to campaign rules!) and/or work together to make change if I’m elected, email me at?roxytravers4susrep@protonmail.com