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In celebration of International Earth Day, our latest podcast episode discusses all things sustainability at CLC. Nigel Richards (CLC’s Chief Operating Officer), and SFC students Abigail (part of the Cheltenham Education Partnership’s Sustainability Group) and Penelope (leader of CLC’s Sustainability Committee) share some of College’s most successful sustainability initiatives and chat about why caring for the environment should be a responsibility for everyone.
At College, we have a huge community of staff and students who have a passion for sustainability and the wider community impact. From the Sustainability Prefects, to the Sustainability Committee, the Cheltenham Education Partnership Sustainability Group and more, everyone at College has a desire to make positive environmental changes.
“In the Sustainability Committee we’ve introduced the Hydroponics Programme which we’ve been working on for about a year. Last term we finished our prototype and this term we are working on completing our first working model… Hydroponics is basically a really sustainable way that we can grow fruits and vegetables on site, and it means that transportation emissions are completely cut out and water is reused. It’s a really sustainable way of growing things that are very water intensive.” - Penelope
We have been delighted to have been a part of a fascinating and pioneering College-wide partnership with Acutro - a data-led company that monitors building performance for energy optimisation, and who prioritise sustainability.
“About three and a half years ago we started working with Acutro. What we hadn’t realised at the time was just how pioneering the work was going to be. We ended up being the first site that some absolutely groundbreaking technology was going to be used on… The technology that Acutro had developed had sensors and data that was being drawn in from building management systems and sensors around the estate and all of those data points were feeding into an AI engine, and effectively our estate was providing the machine learning that helped enhance the capabilities of that AI technology.
As we went through the first couple of years, the machine learning got to a stage where the AI interface was making recommendations to us as to what changes do we need to make in a particular building at a particular time of day… They’ve since been able to deploy that technology in lots of different environments around the country – most noticeably, the Crown Estate.”
“The ability to actually show digitally on screens around College real time energy consumption, and what’s happening across the estate – that brings it to life.” - Mr Richards
At CLC, we make it our mission to empower young people to want to make a positive impact on the world. There are many environmental challenges facing young people today, including fast fashion and plastic waste, but we believe young people can drive change for a sustainable future.
“I think the most important group in our population now are actually the young people, because they’re the ones that are going to be growing up in this world when we pass it on to them. Us as young people, we also have the influence to influence schools or social media, and our families and communities. It’s actually really important for us to take a responsibility into learning about sustainability and also doing something about it – even if it’s something small.” - Abigail
Small acts like turning the lights off, reducing food waste and not being pulled in to fast fashion are all simple, easy and immediate ways that we can positively impact the world, and collectively, make a huge difference.
“Starting small is really important because it’s approachable and easy. For me, I wasn’t quite sure where to get involved. I’m a ballet dancer and so I saw that there was a lot of waste, so I just introduced a recycling bin into the studio so it meant that dancers in the CLC community could drop off their tights and leotards whenever they were done with them. It was an easy way to increase sustainability in an area where I was already really involved.” - Penelope
We believe it’s vital to educate young people on sustainability, so we can help encourage our students to make sustainable choices in their day to day life, and recognise the impact they have on the world and environment around them.
“Educating young people on the real impact of their actions would make sustainability for them become more of a habit and not a chore. Sustainability should be part of school culture as it already is [at CLC], not more of an extra effort that people have to put in.” - Abigail
Being an educational institution and boarding school can make prioritising sustainability a challenge at times, and this isn’t something we ignore. We are always trying to improve where we can, even in a tough economic climate.
“In difficult financial times. how do you find the money to do the things that we should be doing? It’s always a trade off… There’s a danger that sustainability or doing the right thing falls further down the agenda.
It feels really poignant when BP have just come out and announced that they’re actually reversing their policy and they’re going to extract more fossil fuels.... So you take that backdrop and actually to me it just reinforces as a school we need to be doing even more, otherwise what possible chance do we have to influence the way that the world is going in the future. So there’s a financial challenge, but I think it’s a time to show really strong leadership and to show the commitment to ourselves as individuals but also to the pupils.” - Mr Richards
CLC is lucky to be situated in an area that cares about starting sustainable initiatives and changes, and is passionate about working together as a community.
“Cheltenham and the Borough Council here have a Climate Emergency Action Plan. They have something called ‘Pathway to Net Zero’ by 2030. They’re real advocates for change and supporting sustainability.” - Mr Richards
“Our CEP Programme is funded by the Cheltenham Council so it already shows how young people can work with local authorities.” - Abigail
Through our Strategic Aims, CLC is committed to building a sustainable future for our pupils and staff. Small and large projects form part of this journey and recent initiatives have included:
Photo-Voltaic panels and electric car charging points at the HFC.
Diverting 2.4 tonnes from landfill through furniture recycling.
Continued to reduce our CO2 emissions - a reduction of 205 tCO2 per year (2020/1 - 2022/3), equivalent to 7,995 trees.
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