The University of Westminster’s Environmental Society took part in this year’s Environmental Conference on 22 January alongside seven other UK universities.
The Environmental Conference is the largest and most prestigious student-run event of its kind, attracting the finest talent and speakers from around the globe. The event connects students from other UK universities with industry leaders though a day of presentation, Q&As and networking sessions.
In recent years, there has been an increase in the awareness of climate change and environmental sustainability. To act on climate change and explore environmental concerns, seven universities from the UK and one from Singapore came together to organise an environmental conference to raise awareness and discuss potential solutions to related issues.
Each virtual university-led session lasted for an hour, with Westminster’s being held by the Environmental Society. The group of students were engaged with the topic of food waste, and there were many questions around how they can take individual action. President Grace Lancto and vice-president Amy Hamblin had a member of the TooGoodToGo team speak to the attendees of the event about the food waste crisis, and what students can do to take action against it.
TooGoodToGo is an app which allows people to buy ‘Magic Bags’ of fresh food which hasn’t sold in time - that would usually go to waste at cafés, restaurants, hotels, shops and manufacturers - for a discounted price. The customer is not aware of what is in their bag until they arrive to pick it up.
Other sessions hosted by various universities taking part included ‘Climate Change in an Island-State Context’, ‘Intersectional Environmentalism’ and ‘Why Rebellion is Necessary’.
Grace Lancto, President of the Environmental Society, said: “It was a really great opportunity to be a part of the organising team for the 2022 Environmental Conference. The event had such a variety of environmental topics and because we had so many different universities organising it, the perspectives and discussions were very diverse. For the event, we worked with the Zoom event add-on and pro license which was a great learning experience. It provides a great foundation for organising more conferences in the future.”
Amy Hamblin, Vice-President of the Environmental Society, said: "Organising the 2022 Environmental Conference was an amazing experience and I could not have wished for a better way to start the year. It was wonderful to see the event come together and benefit from streaming online, allowing us to connect different parts of the world that could otherwise not have shared their ideas. The diversity of speakers, attendees and universities made every session truly insightful!"
Find out more about Westminster's Environmental Society.
