Kia ora everyone, I’m your Environmental Officer. You may remember me from such positions as the Environmental Officer from the end of last year, and I’m happy to be continuing in the role for 2010.
So what’s crackin’ this year? I might as well ask you the same thing – which I will be over the coming weeks, especially if you are in one of the great green clubs we have at Vic. I thoroughly recommend getting involved with at least one of them if you are the slightest bit green-inclined as you will learn a lot and meet some great people too. Gecko is a great starting point – they meet weekly on Wednesdays at 12pm in Meeting Room 3.
As for me, I’m crackin’ on with environmental issues as they are relevant to students.
Firstly, I’m trying to warm your flat. It’s time to start thinking about how you will cope this winter. If your flat it uninsulated, now is the time to start convincing your landlord correct this. They can get a massive Government subsidy for insulation and clean heating if you’re a poor student, but queues at insulation installation places get very long once winter hits. There’s also plenty of cheap and easy things you can do yourself. To find out more about convincing your landlord and staying warm while saving money, go to vuwsa.org.nz/campaigns, and watch out for a future column in this fine magazine.
Secondly, I’m looking at what we can do at the University and within VUWSA to help improve what is quite a dire outlook for the environment and the prosperity for us and future generations. At VUWSA’s upcoming IGM I will be proposing an amendment to the VUWSA constitution. (IGM = Initial General Meeting for VUWSA’s members, aka us, date to be announced). At the moment VUWSA has eight main goals that guide our very existence (the constitution is at vuwsa.org.nz). I would like to insert a ninth goal of sustainability. That would mean VUWSA would strive to become a sustainable organisation, and promote the sustainability amongst students and the University. I’d love to see more environmental curriculum. Having sustainability as part of VUWSA’s core values is vital given its importance this century.
There are many other things happening this year, like Environment Week next trimester, so keep an eye out, get involved, and warm up your flat. For everything else, there’s environmental.officer@vuwsa.org.nz.
Zack Dorner
environmental.officer@vuwsa.org.nz