Catch up on everything to do with student life in Kent this week with Azaria Gayle.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Kent Student 101 live here on KMTV. I'm Azaria Gale and this is a show for
00:26students by students. Each week we'll explore different facets of student life
00:31across Kent with a range of topics and segments. This week we're going to be
00:36focusing on how students can contribute to helping the environment. First let's
00:41explore the ways in which taking part in eco-friendly activities can actually
00:46benefit students themselves. Levi McIntyre went down to the Oasis garden to
00:51talk to the volunteers on the ways in which helping maintain a green space can
00:56have mental benefits as well as helping the environment. The University of Kent
01:00has a number of programs to support the well-being of students and also the
01:04well-being of the environment. I've come to the Kent Community Oasis garden to find out
01:07more about how these programs work so let's find out together. I began my visit
01:11to the Oasis garden by speaking to Debbie Adams the coordinator of the project to
01:15find out the goals of the garden and how they hope to impact the community. This
01:18is the Kent Community Oasis garden and although we call it a garden and it is a
01:23garden but actually we say it's more than just a garden because it's all about
01:28connecting people with nature and making those nature connections we do that
01:33through growing food but we also do it through lots of the biodiversity work that
01:38we do here so we record all of our species that we see on site and we run
01:44activities around biodiversity and making space for nature. We work with all kinds of
01:50plants like house plants to encourage people to bring green and nature into
01:55their lives and connect with nature basically because we know and research
01:59tells us that that really improves mental health and well-being and that's
02:03what we're all about here. I also spoke to some of the student volunteers that make
02:06this whole project possible to find out what the garden means to them. So I first
02:10came to the Oasis garden because one of my friends dragged me along. My degree and the
02:15conservation degree share of the same building so I know a lot of
02:18conservationists they found it I came along I just really really love the
02:22community in the project that's the main thing that made me stay. I think it's
02:26just like a really important outdoor space and I really enjoy working outside
02:29and with other people within this community and it's like a really good
02:33place to be like productive and feel like you're really working on something
02:37physical that is important so that was my reasoning. In terms of the stuff that I
02:42work on like being able to get people involved in nature in a way that's not
02:48scary and kind of shows that you're able to make a difference even on a small
02:52level as this group of people surrounded by people who all kind of want to do
02:56similar things I think is really important that we have projects like this so
03:01that people can have those spaces and so that we help support biodiversity as a
03:06collective group as well. I think it's really really important for students to be
03:10outside in nature and because a lot of campuses can be quite concretey a little
03:16bit sad or city universities as well we have a particularly green one but having a
03:20space that's so close to nature is really really nice for students and then yeah to
03:25be able to have a little community and a group of people you know you can rely on
03:28it's really really important when you've moved so far away from home quite
03:32suddenly. This garden is run by the University and East Kent Mind and so we have a
03:37big emphasis on it being a well-being space and we do things like running
03:41climate cafes to support people with anxieties that they might have around the
03:46climate and so having a space where you can come and just have a moment of peace
03:51and like breathe again I think is so important for students even if you're not
03:55interested in conservation and nature particularly. Last year I didn't have the
03:59role as ambassador so I just came as a regular volunteer but it definitely was like a
04:04place where I could just take a breather from studying and academic stress and
04:09even this year it's still the same and I see the impact it has on other people too so
04:14it's really important yeah. Levi McIntyre for KMTV.
04:20Seeing activities that are positive for the environment can also have a benefit of
04:25helping students mount a well-being. I'm joined in the studio by Levi McIntyre to
04:31talk about the other ways and eco activities can be beneficial for both
04:35these areas of life. Levi thanks for joining me. Thank you for having me. So are
04:40there any activities apart from gardening that can help the environment? Well I
04:44mean there's a number of activities you can do you can try making a bee hotel in
04:47your garden. It's not only a great activity for the bees health but it's a
04:51calming activity for you and according to the Friends of the Earth Association
04:5590% of their habitat wildflower rich meadows have been destroyed and they
05:00also face things like pesticides and climate change so this is a great way
05:03to support them. I mean you can you can make this easily at home all you need is
05:08to cut a plastic bottle into a cylinder and fill it with hollow stems and then
05:11you can just tie it up high and it's away from your kids and pets. Great is there
05:15any other activities that can really help nature thrive? Oh yeah well you can try
05:20creating a birdbath in your garden you know this can really be beneficial to the
05:24birds it just gives them a safe place to drink and clean themselves because you
05:28know feather hygiene is extremely important to them and you know there are
05:33many other benefits to introduce them to your garden because it helps with
05:35pollination it helps with your mental well-being having the animals there it's
05:40just like really calming for most people so it's just good to have them around.
05:43That's great and have you also heard about can we hear about some more about we did hear
05:51about sorry just earlier we heard about gardening is there any other activities
05:57that is good for the environment as well as our well-being? Yeah definitely I mean
06:02you've got things like yoga and meditation and by doing those things out in
06:05nature you become more grounded because of your closeness to the environment and it
06:10also has a number of health benefits as well like outside of your mental
06:13well-being such as improving your circulation your flexibility and other
06:16things like that so yeah it's a fantastic way to maintain that. Great is there any
06:23other benefits to like exercises being exercising like outside? Yeah I mean it
06:30also reduces your stress and anxiety and it activates your parasympathetic
06:34nerve system which is a great way of reducing cortisol levels and other like
06:38health issues that may arise from not having this like activity in your life.
06:43Great thank you so much for joining me. That's great thank you for having me.
06:47Next on the University of Kent Canterbury campus we asked students what some of
06:52their favorite ways to practice sustainability is. What I do to be
06:57sustainable I put my recycle like recycling away like in the bin I don't tend to
07:03like put rubbish on the floor I always throw it in the bin whatever it is. So I
07:09mainly travel by public transport using trains and buses mainly and I also try to
07:15buy my clothes second hand rather than from shops because I find that that is
07:21quite sustainable. I do a lot of recycling pretty much everything I do is recycle
07:24I don't really print off stuff as well I don't really like wasting paper but I just use my
07:31computer for wasting my stuff. Yeah no I'm the exact same if I don't need to use the
07:35paper then I won't. I stay sustainable by recycling yeah me too I just make sure to recycle and instead
07:43of using paper I just like to stick to like electronic devices. I also don't use
07:48plastic as much I tend to use sort of like wooden spoons wooden like forks and stuff to
07:54eat mill deals or something so I don't really like to use plastic. Drinking
07:58more water is more like get a water bottle probably like a good liter or two
08:03and just like use that rather than like buying a lot of drinks because then that
08:09reduces the amount of plastics you use pretty much. Yeah like the billion
08:14Yeah the billion fields. You go there a lot just to hang out it's about fun. Yeah take a bit of rugby.
08:19You know just chill out. Yeah. I prefer to walk places instead of like using public transport but I also prefer to stay in a library without the talent.
08:28And finally now that we've heard some of the ways in which students can practice
08:38sustainability I'm joined in the studio by Sam Cochrane to quiz me to find out more
08:43about what a carbon footprint is. So what is a carbon footprint? A carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide
08:50released into the atmosphere as a result of activities of a particular individual
08:54organisations. It's basically the stuff we do day to day that creates a bigger carbon footprint in the atmosphere.
08:59So I've got a quiz for you today. So the first section I'm going to talk about is food. How would you best describe your meals in terms of how much meat do you have in your meals when you eat them?
09:08So I usually I have some meat in my meals but not all. Sometimes I try and have more vegetables than meat.
09:15On that same topic how much do you spend in terms of on takeaways and restaurants in a week?
09:21I'd say between like 10 pounds to 60 pounds if like I'm going out with like a friend.
09:27How much food do you but from what you buy do you tend to throw in away or waste?
09:32Probably not all of the food I'd say like I rarely like throw away food so it's quite small that amount yeah.
09:43Okay okay so the next topic I'm going to talk about is travel. And so first question what kind of vehicle do you travel in the most often as a driver or a passenger?
09:53So I don't really drive so usually I just walk or I take a bus.
09:57Okay cool. So next how many hours a week do you spend on the train for personal use or for business?
10:03I don't really take the train that often so I'd say under around two hours yeah.
10:08Alright next what kind of house do you live in? What kind of house do you live in?
10:13So I live in a semi-detached house.
10:15How many bedrooms do you have?
10:17I have four.
10:19And how do you heat your home?
10:21By gas.
10:23Do you regularly turn off your lights and not leave your appliances on standby?
10:27Yeah I usually try and turn off all the lights before I go to bed and make sure that I'm reducing the electricity that I use.
10:33Okay the final segment we're going to talk about is the purchases you make in a week or months.
10:37So the first thing is how much do you spend on clothes and footwear?
10:41So I would say between roughly around like £30.
10:46That's not too bad but on to it.
10:50And how much do you spend on health and beauty and like products to use for yourself?
10:55I do love beauty but I do love beauty and products.
11:03Is there any other questions you'd like to ask me?
11:05What is the final outcome?
11:07Okay the final outcome we have for you is an average of 7.6 tons.
11:16So to put it into perspective the average is around 12.
11:20So I'd say you've done a pretty good job on that.
11:22And now moving on to your scores.
11:24You have like your biggest score was food.
11:27In which a way you can improve this is to remember that everything you buy has a footprint.
11:30So try to choose products that have been responsibly produced.
11:33This means purchasing food that has been produced in a way that benefits both the environment
11:37and the farmers that grow it.
11:38Great thank you so much.
11:40That's all from us.
11:41See you soon.
11:42Goodbye.