written by Christy McGillivray on July 22, 2010
How did four MSc students, two Transition Edinburgh University volunteers, and three Edinburgh University Staff find themselves spending three days in a small community in the Highlands looking for the stopcock to an old Victorian house?
The Big Green Makeover at Woodlands
I was standing in the hallway of the University’s Woodlands building last November and talking with Robbie Nicol, programme co-ordinator for the Outdoor Environment & Sustainabilty Education. We were talking about the upcoming assignment for our Concept Based Practice course. I wanted to evaluate a local environmental project with the aim of providing an example of how environmental philosophy could be directly put into practice. I wanted the act of writing my assignment to lead to some tangible improvements to the project I would be writing about.
Robbie took a look around the building we were standing in and asked, “Well, I’ve been trying to make improvements to Woodlands for years. You could write about the hidden curriculum of teaching in a facility like Woodlands, and you could describe how making energy efficiency upgrades to Woodlands would have pedagogical implications.” To cut through the academic jargon, Robbie was saying that sustainability courses taught in old energy inefficient buildings like Woodlands send contradictory messages to students, that this disconnect should be remedied by making the Woodlands facility as environmentally friendly as possible.
I thought to myself, “perfect!”
The project that unfolded over the following months turned into much more than just an assignment for an MSc course. In retrospect, it seems that putting environmental concepts into practice produces a variety of outcomes. . The most important lesson for me has been that an end product is not the goal of any community-based environmental endeavour. The Big Green Makeover at Woodlands will hopefully continue to provide inspiration and opportunity to students for years to come.
I chose to model the project based on the work of a student run volunteer program run by Transition Edinburgh University called the Big Green Makeover. Teaming up with Transition Edinburgh University proved to be the impetus needed to turn a theoretical academic idea into a practical reality. In particular, the enthusiastic support of Sion Lanini, David Somervell, and Pam McLean made it possible to get a car-load of Outdoor Education & Sustainability Education (OESE) and Outdoor Education (OE) MSc students and Big Green Makeover volunteers up to Kingussie for a three day getaway.
Our goals during the three days of the Big Green Makeover at Woodlands were to:
- Get to know each other! This was a great opportunity for TEU staff and volunteers to build a relationship with the OE and OESE MSc programs, helping further cement the work of TEU at the University of Edinburgh.
- Generate a comprehensive list of low-cost and medium-cost energy efficiency upgrades to the Woodlands facility, with the goal of improving the overall sustainability of the building.
- Meet with Woodlands staff to get a more complete picture of how the building is used, and to get input from the people that are most familiar with opportunities for improvement.
- Have Fun—the Big Green Makeover volunteers got the chance to use their skills at a beautiful location in the Highlands in the late spring. We made sure to schedule in extra time for a brief hill walk and tasty communal cooking sessions.
How was the experience? We started by taking time to familiarise ourselves with its infrastructure and the way it’s used by study groups and visitors. Sion Lanini of the Big Green Makeover project described how, “It was fantastic to meet students and staff that use the building and find out why they’re so fond of it”. With a clearer picture of the building’s peculiarities, we were soon getting excited about the potential for changes to the building. We made sure to document all these, while not forgetting to enjoy Kingussie’s surroundings with a afternoon walk on the second day.
As a result of the Big Green Makeover at Woodlands, the OE department purchased an energy monitor that they will use to monitor energy usage at the facility during study visits with students in the coming years. A list of upgrades was generated with estimated costs included, and that list has been sent to the building manager responsible in Estates and Buildings. We hope to get the low-cost improvements implemented by next year! The Big Green Makeover volunteers also identified one of the major impediments to better energy as the secret location of the building’s stop-cock. During the winter the heating was being kept on in the building even when it wasn’t occupied to keep the pipes from freezing and breaking. The stop-cock has since been located! Now that the water in the building can be turned off, lots of energy can be saved by turning off the heating when the building is not in use. Last but not least, one of the OE students that participated in the Big Green Makeover was inspired by the project with her own idea for an MSc thesis that she has since begun working on. Overall, it was a fantastic example of how collaborative group efforts can yield unexpected and lasting results.
Work remains to be done. We now need to follow up to make sure that at least the low-cost upgrades are implemented, and work with the OE and OESE programs in the future will require investment in the relationships between Transition Edinburgh University and the course coordinator. Most importantly, we can keep adding to the ways in which guests and students can make good environmental choices while staying at Woodlands, and we can work to keep building ties with the local community in Kingussie.
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