One thousand trees for One Planet Week

Posted on 9 February 2020

University of York staff and students aimed to plant 1,000 trees in one day as part of the University’s One Planet Week.

On Wednesday staff and students teamed up with pupils from Badger Hill Primary School, Archbishop Holgate’s School, Lord Deramore’s School, as well as volunteers from the Badger Hill Residents' Association and the City of York Council to plant the trees across a number of venues.

Now in its fourth year, One Planet Week, which runs from 10 to 16 February, is an annual event to promote awareness, share knowledge and celebrate sustainable actions with staff, students and the wider community. The week is also an opportunity to highlight the University’s sustainably-focused research, with several open lectures scheduled.

This year the focus is on ‘Zero Carbon’: looking at practical ways to reduce carbon emissions to the atmosphere to limit the effect of climate change.

University Vice-Chancellor Professor Charlie Jeffery said: "One of the key tenets of my vision for the University is for sustainability to be part of everything we do, now and in the future. As a society and as a university we need to be bold, and move as quickly as we can to a zero carbon future. I wholeheartedly encourage everyone in the University community to embrace One Planet Week and get involved wherever possible."

This year other One Planet Week activities include:

Upcycling: staff and students are invited to discover the joys of upcycling, giving ordinary items a new lease of life. Organised with the Graduate Students’ Association and University of York Students' Union (YUSU) sewing society, SewSoc.
The One Planet Bring and Buy sale: Spring clean the house AND help the planet at the same time by joining us for the first One Planet Week Bring and Buy sale. Open to the public as well as staff and students.
Ethical Fair: this event is open to the public as well as staff and students. We have also teamed up with our on campus NISA shops and a social good app GIKI to highlight low carbon food options to shoppers.
Fill Bellies Not Bins Launch: the popular charity initiative is back. University students can find out what the charity does and how to get involved.

Many of the activities are open to the public and some lectures are being streamed live online - check eventbrite tickets for details. Streamed lectures will be available with catch up on our sustainability YouTube page.

Anyone interested in attending should check the One Planet Week webpages for details.

Further information:

One Planet Week runs every year in February to celebrate sustainability research and work completed at the University of York, encouraging further action through workshops, seminars and social events. In previous years the week has focused on zero waste, sustainable materials and local and sustainable food.

The One Planet Living framework was developed by Bioregional and WWF to provide a user friendly approach to tackling the complex issue of sustainability .

One Planet Week launches on the 10 February 2020. Find out more about One Planet Week.