Environment and Ethics Campaigning

The LSE is renowned for its progressive student activism, from the infamous protests in 1968 as a response to the appointment of a Director associated with the racist state of Rhodesia to its modern reputation for having the most politically active Student Union (SU) in the UK. Over the past few years, the LSESU has developed a new reputation – for its work on green campaigns and issues of social justice.

The SUs Environmental and Ethical campaigns are overseen by the Environment and Ethics Officer, Aled Dilwyn Fisher. Contact Aled on su.environment@lse.ac.uk to get involved or offer any comments or suggestions.

Ecology and Sustainability

In 2007, People and Planet released the first Green University League Tables – and found LSE to be the greenest university in London. LSE received a 2:1 – “Good But Must Do Better” – and green campaigning is now an integral part of the SU’s activism. This was reflected in the SU gaining a Bronze Award in the NUS Sound Impact Award on sustainability.

Student campaigning led by the People and Planet Society led the school to employ a Sustainability Officer, Victoria Hands, who now works full-time to make LSE greener. The LSE SU has adopted many tenets of the People and Planet Go Green Campaign, and has a constructive relationship with the school on which it cooperates on many new initiatives, such as recycling, energy efficiency, water fountains and many more.

The LSE SU has policy to support the nationwide Students for Climate Justice Campaign, which supports the Contraction and Convergence Model for an international scheme for global carbon emissions reductions. The LSE SU will be working with campaigns like Eco-Uni to continue to provide radical alternatives to ecological destruction, not just tokenistic environmental mesasures. More >>>

Environment Week and Climate Change Action Week

In Week Two of Lent Term every year, the LSE SU hosts Environment Week – 7 days of events and awareness raising on ecological issues. Past guests have include Colin Challen MP (Labour), Timothy Yeo MP (Consevative), Jean Lambert MEP (Green Party),  academics from Europeans for Medical Progress (the campaign against animal vivisection) and Pro-Test (the campaign for animal testing), campaigners from Christian Ecology Link (CEL) and the Islamic Foundation for the Ecological and Environmental Sciences (IFEES), activists from Practical Action and the Climate Outreach Information Network (COIN) and many more.

A new green awareness week has also been launched in recent years – Climate Change Action Week, which focuses exclusively on climate change, the most imminent and alarming example of the building global ecological crisis. Speakers have included Michael Meacher MP (Labour), Dr. Derek Wall (Green Party), Aubrey Meyer (pioneer of the Contraction and Convergence Model), Andrew Simms (New Economics Foundation) and Dr. Simon Dietz (LSE academic involved with the Stern Review on Climate Change). This year, People and Planet and the Mayor of London will be championing Climate Change Action Week – an idea that originated in LSE – across the capital. More >>>

The Living Wage Campaign

One of the most exciting and important – as well as successful – campaigns at the LSE from 2005 has been the Living Wage Campaign, seeking to make sure that all SU and school employees, especially previously deprived contracted employees (like cleaners), are paid a London Living Wage of at least £7.05 per hour (rather than the national minimum wage) to ensure that LSE employees can afford to live in the capital at its high living costs.

The LSE SU is proud to be a Living Wage employer to all its employees. After almost 2 years of impressive campaigning, the Living Wage Campaign successfully won a commitment from the school to ensure that all of its employees, including those operating through contracted parties, would be guaranteed a London Living Wage. More >>>

Ethical Investment

The LSE SU pursues an official policy of ethical investment, having divested in 13 companies involved in the arms trade and those companies who operate in Sudan in cooperation with the government responsible for inflaming ethnic tensions in the Darfur conflict. As with other campaigns, the SU has taken the struggle to the school.

In 2007, as part of the high-profile Darfur Divestment Campaign, the LSE passed policy to follow the SU in divesting from companies involved with the Khartoum government in Sudan, which has caused the current death and destruction plaguing Darfur. The school has announced that, following student pressure, the adoption of a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Policy will be a priority this year. More >>>

Fairtrade

LSE is a Fairtrade University – the first London university to become a Fairtrade provider after coordinated student and staff campaignng. This means that Fairtrade products are stocked at all food outlets in the School and the SU shop.

The Fairtrade Mark guarantees producers in the Majority World a fair wage and working conditions, as well as guaranteeing ecological standards.

Many Fairtrade products are available on campus, including tea, coffee, snack bars, fruit, hot and cold drinks. More >>>