Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash.

As a Masters in Environmental Sciences student, one of my interests is sustainability and the role we can play in promoting sustainability in everyday life including at college. This prompted me to contact Trinity’s Sustainability Manager, Jane Hackett, for the interview you will read below. 

 

1) To start, can you tell me what a sustainability manager is in your words? 

As the Sustainability Manager my role is to work alongside our Vice President for Biodiversity and Climate Action, Prof. Jane Stout to embed sustainability across everything we do at the university from education to research, operations and engagement. It is also to drive the development of university policy and implementation plans and deliver key sustainability projects involving a range of different institutional stakeholders within College. In reality, this means that I need to collaborate with a wide range of people who work throughout the university as well as engaging with students and our alumni. It is a very strategic role as it encompasses the whole university alongside our external partners and stakeholders. Put simply, the role is one that brings people together to work towards a common goal – the goal of a nature positive, climate neutral and net zero university as well as a healthy place to study, work and enjoy.

 

2) Can you explain what your goals are as the sustainability manager? 

My goal would be to reach our national targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions of 51% by 2030. It would also include reaching our aim of becoming a nature positive university, whereby we ensure that our actions do not have a negative impact upon our natural world but in fact support restoration and regeneration. This would mean that we support our students to learn about sustainability in a multitude of courses. It would mean using our research knowledge to focus on solutions to global problems. It would mean that we work with our operations team to reduce our use of resources, as well as working with our finance department to assess how best to invest our funds in the future. There is so much work already underway in Trinity that these goals are achievable if we all work together.

3) What is the most challenging aspect of the position? 

Trinity functions as a small city, so the challenge comes with its size and scale. It is a complex place with a multitude of functions, as well as a hugely diverse community spread across a large geographical area. This means that it is hard to know everything that is going on in the University with respect to sustainability, however I have had the pleasure of meeting many staff and students as well as visiting the majority of sites owned or affiliated to Trinity, so I am slowly getting to grips with it after six months. We are also undertaking an extensive consultation period which will feed into the development of the University’s Sustainability Strategy and Action Plan. This has been a great way to hear about all of the amazing work happening across the University as well as learning about what people want us to do and how they can help.

4) What is your favourite part of the position? 

So far, my favourite part of the role has been meeting the inspirational students and staff that are already working hard to progress sustainability in Trinity. I feel like I have learnt so much in such a short space of time about the people who make Trinity a great place to work and study, as well as finding out about how we can overcome the key challenges we face together.

5) What can students do to make your job easier? In other words, how can Trinity students help you? 

It would be great if students got involved in the Green Campus committee as this programme really focuses on partnership, collaboration and action. Trinity has been awarded a Green Flag since 2013 and that achievement is down to the collaboration between students and staff. I would also encourage students to get involved in college societies and add a sustainability dimension to the society that you are part of. That could mean getting involved in Green Week which is being held from 20nd – 24th of March, and we are really hoping that societies ‘lean in’ and get involved. I would be particularly interested in seeing a diverse range of events being planned from societies that traditionally don’t participate in Green Week. For example, maybe the Gaming Society can put on a talk about digital carbon or maybe the Comedy Society can do a few sketches? Think outside the box and get involved!

However, the most important thing that students can do is to keep pushing for sustainability to become an essential part of life in Trinity. We are working hard to make changes happen but will need support and we will try to keep you as informed as possible. If have any ideas, suggestions or want to get involved email me at sustainability@tcd.ie.

6) Ideally, if you could do anything to make Trinity more sustainable what would you do? 

I would appoint a Vice President for Biodiversity and Climate Action who has the remit of embedding sustainability across everything we do. However, our Provost Linda Doyle thought of that already!

7) In your opinion, how can Trinity campus as a whole be kinder to the climate? 

I think we need to be a whole lot kinder to nature in general and remember that we not only have a climate crisis, but a biodiversity crisis too. We need to start rethinking everything we do and how we do it, from the resources we use every day to the courses we are developing for future students. We all need to adjust our own personal behaviours to respond to these crises and that might mean changing our habits, learning more about sustainability, using our jobs as a way to effect change, collaborating with others, sharing ideas, as well as supporting those who may not have the capacity to get involved. I think Trinity is in a unique position to be a leader, not only in thought but in action, and that means that we as a community need to work together to put nature first.  We have some big challenges ahead, but we have the solutions at hand and can meet the challenges head on because of the imagination, knowledge, passion and dedication of the students and staff in Trinity. I am really excited to be playing my part in making these changes happen, here’s to 2030! 

 

Contact:

sustainability@tcd.ie

hacketja@tcd.ie