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School of Geography

Geography gets Gold and Green Mary Hero Award for sustainability

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The School of Geography’s Green Mary team, Geography Greens, have received gold award today at the annual 'Green Mary Sustainability Awards'. They were the second-highest scoring team, having completed all the Bronze, Silver and Gold criteria in the Green Mary workbook.

Additionally, Edward Oliver, the School’s Cartographer and Website Manager, was awarded the ‘Green Mary Hero Award’. Ed has been involved in the sustainability programme since it was first initiated. Head of School, Professor Alison Blunt said: “This a significant achievement and is testament to Ed’s hard work and dedication in this field both in the School and at QMUL more widely.”

“Ed has done much of the work himself on behalf of the School and has consistently worked to raise the profile of sustainability issues in Geography and the university as a whole. Starting off in the first year working towards Bronze, he has steadily built a small then larger team base, which without him would not have achieved the Gold this year” said fellow Green Mary team member Helen McLurg.

The Geography Greens, led by Ed, have done a number of fundraising activities throughout the year and have raised more than £500 for various charities, including Breast Cancer Now, Young People’s Trust for the Environment, the Fairtrade Foundation, and more. They even twinned a toilet in Guatemala! Toilet twinning raises funds to enable people living in poor communities to have clean water, a basic toilet, and to learn about hygiene – a vital combination that helps end generational poverty.

In addition to the gold award, the team was also runners-up in a couple of special award categories for their toilet twinning and wormery-keeping activities.

Green Mary is QMUL’s sustainability engagement brand, incorporating Sustainability Day, the Green Mary staff workbook, the Green Mary student group, Green Mary Week and the annual Sustainability Awards. Each year between September and May staff across QMUL form teams and complete the Green Mary staff workbook - QMUL’s competitive sustainability accreditation scheme - of sustainability-themed criteria and activities. In June, their work is audited by trained student volunteers, and their hard work is celebrated during the Sustainability Awards in July.

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