Hi everybody, I’m Margot and I just finished my tenure as Environments Rep for the Brasenose "JCR" (student committee). My goal is to promote sustainable practices and environmental awareness among students and staff – and for the month of November, this takes the form of Planet Pledge. This is a competition between Oxford colleges to see who can get the most people to promise to reduce their impact on the environment for a month (or longer!). This was vamped up since last year, as pledging not only focuses on becoming more vegetarian/vegan, but also on reducing any other form of negative environmental impact: this includes flying, driving, single-use plastic, fast-fashion and animal cruelty. This campaign has a wide breath of pledges to choose from which allows each person to take action at their own pace.
Brasenose is especially proud of Planet Pledge, as this makes for our second consecutive win! This time, we were in a race to beat Hertford college who was right on our tail for most of the month. Many undergraduates, graduates and staff members took part, breaking the 250 record we had previously set last year by more than 50 pledges!
This incredible feat was only made possible by the wonderful atmosphere that exists in Brasenose. The College makes it very easy to keep up with your pledge, offering cheap and delicious vegetarian and vegan food every day in our hall and café. And, of course, our win is a testament to the amazing community Brasenose forms every year.
But if this isn’t enough sustainable action for you, worry not – Veggie pledge isn’t the only way to get involved! We take part in other competitions like Student Switch Off and Green Impact, each promoting different aspects of a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. These also include prizes, such as the £250 reward for winning Student Switch Off that we put towards our summer term Garden Party last year. Just to show that it really pays off to be more eco-friendly!
By Margot Greenen (Biology 3rd Year student)