Environment & Ethics (YUSU)

C & R

Phoebe Cullingworth & Isobel Edwards

Environment & Ethics Officer

Blog

Sustainable Volunteering Opportunity

Posted 28/10/2011.

We wanted to share with you an ethical volunteering opportunity for this Easter and Summer as we have been thinking about the importance of long-term sustainability and a low impact on the environment when volunteering abroad.

I’m here to make sure that it’s as easy as possible to live an environmentally and socially sustainable student life. I believe that an environmental and ethical consciousness shouldn’t be a burden and that becoming more aware of the world around us is part of what being at university is about.

York may sometimes seem like an isolated bubble, but our actions at university and the decisions we make can have far reaching consequences. Do we buy merchandise from suppliers that use sweat shops or those which are socially responsible? Should the money we pay to the university in fees fund arms sales to Saudi Arabia or companies with more peaceful interests? I’m here to try and answer these questions.

Of course, one of the ways in which our actions affect the world is through our relationship with the environment. Scientists across the world agree that human activity is having a detrimental effect on the climate and we’ve all got to take responsibility for our own impact. We can offer advice and support to students as well as campaigning for wider changes from student organisations, the university and local and national government.