The results are in! Johan and I are CoGreen Officers of the MCR for Trinity Hall this academic year. We are both quite pleased and keen to act on our platform straight away.

My first action as Officer involved signing off on our college's application for Fairtrade Status. The process of applying for Fairtrade Status began in 2007. Two years ago, a group of students and staff in Trinity Hall formed to complete the requirements necessary for application. The Fairtrade Steering Group held meetings once per term; last week's meeting was the fourth meeting.

Whilst these logistics are not exciting to chat about, they must remain central to the conversation of sustainable development. Sustainable change doesn't happen overnight. Taking a stand on an issue with ethical underpinnings is burdensome, though necessary. Business as usual is easier in the short-term, especially when the impacts of our actions are felt remotely, or never felt by us at all.

In the case of fairly traded food goods, the latter is quite often a limiting factor towards progress. Drinking tea, eating chocolates, and snacking on biscuits is a seemingly trivial example of innocent consumerism in Cambridge that can actually be part of a larger, global system of corruption and social injustice. The tea leaves, cocoa beans, and cereals that make our high tea dates possible are commonly grown outside of the UK, beyond the walls of our understanding, under conditions we may never fully understand. It is from this position, knowing without seeing or experiencing first hand what went into our drinks and sweets, that our group at Trinity Hall fought valiantly for change.

I hope the Fairtrade Foundation will ultimately accept our application. We already have plans to promote fairly traded consumerism in college this term, and more heavily next term during Fairtrade Fortnight.

My goal as a member of the Fairtrade Steering Group at Trinity Hall is to understand how Fairtrade Certification compliments and/or conflicts with sustainability. Might there be differences? Similarities? Compromise? Trade-offs? Labeling issues?

For anyone keen to discuss the relationship between fairtrade practices and sustainable agricultural practices, as well as other related topics, including consumerism, modifying supply chains, and regulating global networks of information and resources, I welcome you to join me for a fairtrade high tea date in the Trinity Hall MCR.

All my best,
Trinity Hall CoGreen Officer
A.K.A.
AK, Allison Kindig
allison.kindig@gmail.com

Cambridge Change Challenge

Revitalizing Wide Lens Clear Focus was inspired by a recent project. Please fast forward with me from my last post in India (January 2015) to today (November 2015):

Vertical: Johan Henriksson, Postdoc at Karolinska Institute and European Bioinformatics Institute, PhD in Medical science, MSc in Mechanical Engineering/Mathematics, Qualification captured in photo: Highest distinction in Teaching Amateurs How to Dance; Horizontal: Allison Kindig, MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development, BSE in Industrial Engineering with cert. in Global Health

Hello & Greetings from Cambridge, UK!

I am one month into my MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development at the University of Cambridge and have been given a challenge: to commit to doing one thing that challenges me to put principles into practice this term. The second component of the challenge is to blog about it. My desired Change Challenge is to serve as CoGreen Officer of the MCR Committee for my college called Trinity Hall. 

Hustings for this year's committee took place two nights ago. And what a night it was! While mingling with fellow MCR members at dinner, an incumbent officer suggested I run for a position.

You know, why not? – Allison to herself.

So I gobbled down my dessert and headed over the MCR where the husting was already in progress. From the time I was nudged to run for a position at dinner to the moment I took center stage with the other candidate, Johan, whom I partnered up with for the Green Officer role was all of about 20 minutes.

How did it go? The vote is still out. Elections take place later this week. If elected, Johan and I are motivated to make business-as-usual at Trinity Hall more sustainable. We have plans, visions, dreams, and the following Manifesto:

Dear members of Trinity Hall –

      The theme for our candidacy as CoGreen Officers is “Us”. How can we all, through minor changes, achieve the most for our environment? We believe implementing the following action points would be a terrific start:

• Inform MCR members on the latest green events, policy, and news
• Have the college take stance on sustainability matters on their website
• Host an intercollegiate “green challenge” (i.e. vegan bake off with proceeds going towards something fantastically green!)
• Improve our rankings in the list of college “greenness”, and encourage others on the way
• Motivating and making it simpler for members to live more sustainably (e.g. better access to recycling, especially harder items like batteries)
• Green promise – encourage MCR members to commit to doing one thing this term to reduce their carbon footprint (or live more sustainably); these commitments can be posted in the MCR on a public promise board
• Look into the college’s “food”print – Can we, for example, encourage more vegetarian eating by increasing the quality of vegan dishes or making it a more natural choice? We will also look into food sourcing and waste

  Looking forward to a productive, green year together with you all!