Victoria University: Today we visited Victoria University and spoke to two of the staff on sustainability. Andrew Wilks spoke to us about the different factors and challenges that the university took into consideration when attempting to be sustainable. One of the main challenges was finding ways to have keep students engaged in keeping sustainable habits around the school. The café, “The Lab” on campus encourages students to bring their own mugs or they can borrow one. Wilks also talked about how it important it was to have people in higher positions support sustainable habits on campus.
Then we heard from Stephen Harris about the school’s revitalization projects. I was very impressed with all the research and observations that went with the yearly tree planting. The volunteers plant different native plants and shrubbery in a designated area. They they keep track about what combinations of plants grow best. They also keep track of all the invasive pests that could harm the plants and shrubbery.
Rhonda Thompson spoke to us about the University’s big Living Pā project. Construction on this addition to the school has already started and is scheduled to be finished in December of next year. The space will serve as a meeting house for all but will also be a place for Māori people to gather. Rhonda talked about how she hopes the new space will attract more Māori people to the school. Not only will the building itself be sustainable, but it will also be a place for others to learn about sustainability.
Finally we were able to sit in on a seminar with Professor Christian Schott. We talked about the 17 SDG’s and their advantages and critiques. The way he broke it down was very helpful and insightful. We learned that not all of the 17 SDG’s were necessary and it can be problematic for countries to prioritize certain ones. But, many of the SDG’s also impact one another and working on one may lead to the positive development of another.
