Gardening, Mushrooms, and Climate Action: Sustainability in Rise this Autumn

Welcome to the Rise Autumn/Winter Sustainability newsletter outlining all the exciting sustainability opportunities coming up in the next few months. As a quick list these are:

• Climate FRESK workshop (16^th October)
• Do you want to become a Climate Ambassador? – Climate communication workshop (23^rd October)
• Carbon Literacy Session Assistant Workshop (Sign up by 28th October)
• Volunteer as part of the FungAll Mushroom Farming Community
• Woodland and Orchard gardening workshops:
  • Woodland workshop (20^th November)
  • Orchard workshop (30^th October)
  • Paid opportunity to facilitate gardening workshops
• Sustainable Development 2030 Simulation Board Game Session (6th November)
• Build a More Sustainable Manchester: Green Careers Challenge (7^th November)
• Volunteer with Ardwick Climate Action to support community greenspaces (8th October)

This semester we are exploring the theme of climate agency and how we can acknowledge and overcome our feelings of anxiety and disempowerment. For a start a team of students are running a Climate FRESK climate workshop for you to share your thoughts and feelings on the climate. A key part of taking climate action and feeling empowered is communicating with and educating others. Rise is working with the Carbon Literacy team to run a playful workshop to explore climate communication and share the opportunity to become a Climate Ambassador to guide young people in education on climate action.

If you’ve already started your climate action journey with Carbon Literacy you can join their Session Assistant Workshop and discover how you can help support the delivery of Carbon Literacy workshops and help educate and influence others to address the crisis. This includes the opportunity to apply for paid work through Jobs 4 Students, supporting the delivery of Carbon Literacy training within the University.

We are also exploring how we can apply our knowledge and expertise to build a more sustainable future with our 2030 SDG simulation game. Come along to this session to play the game and take part in a thought-provoking multi-player facilitated card game that simulates what the world could look like in 2030.

For a more hands-on experience, why not have a go at gardening with the Sustainability Team at the Woodland and Orchard workshops? You can even apply to get paid for helping run these workshops through Jobs4Students. Rise has also partnered with FungAll Community Interest Company to provide volunteering opportunities to get involved with the mushroom-growing community. You can help them out with their social media or even head down to the farm and learn how mushrooms are grown! If you would like to take part in enhancing urban greenspaces in the local community you can take part in Ardwick Climate Action’s volunteer day to support an amazing organisation in enhancing and preserving green spaces in Manchester

Finally, Rise and the Careers Service are partnering with the University of Manchester and Salford University to offer a Green Careers challenge day. This one-day event will see you working in teams across universities and subject areas on a challenge set out by sustainable employers to make Manchester a more sustainable city.

If you’re passionate about sustainability and want to contribute to running your own events and activities you can join the student Sustainability Society here!