Proposed by: Adam Mitchell and Grace McMeekin (Sustainability Officer)
Seconded by: Passed by Sustainability Board, discussed at Societies Board to positive feedback, Amelia Jones (Treasurer of Sustain@BL), Rosa Hughes (President of Sustain@BL), Mat Robathan (BLSA President), Tala Wael Musa Sammur (President of the Environmental Society)
What do you want?
Queen Mary’s Societies have undergone a welfare transformation over the last 3 years, which we all recognise has been for the better. Pivotal to welfare becoming a core institutional value has been the involvement of student societies directly in engaging the welfare of the student body.
The QMSU have declared a climate emergency and we similarly acknowledge that the climate crisis poses a great threat to the current and future well-being of students, and global humanity alike. Mirroring the strategy of the welfare transformation, we believe in a three-point action plan for sustainable QMSU societies. These include new committee responsibilities, a rolling sustainability plan for each society and SU training
- We want to create a new position within Society committees: “the sustainability officer”. This person can be an existing member of the committee or, if societies should choose a new role.
- Responsibilities of this role will consist of creating and overseeing a rolling 3-point sustainability action plan specific to the actions of their society, in addition to actively engaging with central QMSU sustainability updates/activities.
- The person assuming the responsibilities of sustainability officer will attend 2 one-hour trainings similar to the structure of other existing committee trainings. Delivery co-delivered by the SU’s sustainability coordinator, Green Mary, Sustain@BL and other active sustainability student groups. The two trainings envisaged are “Planetary Crises; The Facts” and “Climate Justice & Eco-Anxiety” (co-delivery with liberation and welfare reps).
During the first year of implementation, at minimum, the sustainability officer role with entailed sustainability action plan and trainings should be on voluntary basis for societies to choose, with scope for eventual broadening this to a mandatory role within each society.
Why do you want it?
Numerous reports from the UN and the IPCC predict climate refugees of between 25 million to 1 billion by 2050 (Pearce, 2020) (UN CCD, 2016) as a result of increased water insecurity, food shortages, inhospitable prolonged heat and links with increased civil unrest amongst many other factors - the takeaway figure is 200 million people. How? For example, research that exists today has shown that the Syrian conflict, with an estimated one million casualties and 13 million displaced over the last decade, was a conflict at least partially precipitated by the disproportionate effect of climate change in this climate sensitive region - changes to precipitation, temperature and crop yield have all been linked to the increased risk of such a conflict occurring (Wallace-Wells, 2019). Things have already become ugly when considering how ineffectively and inhumanely Europe has treated an estimated 1 million+ Syrian refugees over the last decade. Migration has been cited as a contributing factor to rising nationalism, racism, islamophobia and intolerance across Europe. Some fear that without a drastic change in attitude or system, we will live to see climate migrants and refugees potentially increased by a factor of 100 times over this previous decade by 2050 (Couldrey and Herson, 2008): we could well be facing a crueler and more violent future and, for its scale, a time without precedent.
The scope and breadth of devastating consequences that the climate and ecological crises are bringing is not just limited to food shortages and mass climate displacement within 30 years. Typically, mainstream institutions, ranging from the Bank of England to the IMF are now highlighting the most serious concerns. An IMF report from September 2019 acknowledges, “the risk of catastrophic and irreversible disaster is rising, implying potentially infinite costs of unmitigated climate change, including, in the extreme, human extinction.” (International Monetary Fund, 2019). The journey from 7.5 billion to 0 is beyond comprehension.
Following a precautionary principle, the student union has a responsibility for the welfare of all QM students, today and into the future. To not take dramatic steps to manage this risk of incredible severity would be totally disregarding that duty of care.
What impact will this have?
In creating this role, we aim to empower bottom-up, creative, and dynamic changemaking, with the decision-making power handed over to societies themselves for sustainable change. Through the introduction of new committee responsibilities, a rolling sustainability plan for each society and SU training we can begin to do this. Queen Mary would set an example as change-makers and innovators; not only in the sustainability/CO2 reduction benefits achieved, but, more importantly, as an institution that empowers students to embrace climate and social justice as core cultural values.