Here are some ideas which you might consider for your teaching association. Some may not be possible or relevant, and if you have other ideas we’d love to hear from you!
As well as feasibility and cost, consider the environmental impact in all decision-making for your association.
What would be the impact of an initiative or event?
How could it be made less impactful on the environment?
Holding meetings and events online can be more sustainable, cheaper to run, and more inclusive.
For face-to-face events, look for a venue with good public transport links, and which is as central as possible to where your attendees are travelling from.
Ask venues about their green credentials and build this into your decision making on where to host an event.
Encourage any exhibitors to consider sustainability in their participation in the event.
Encourage speakers at events you run to share their handouts and PowerPoints online, rather than printing out lots of copies in order to give to attendees.
As long as your members can access the internet, consider digital publications rather than printing and posting paper versions. These can be added to a website or shared by email, social media or WhatsApp or Telegram, for example.
Whenever files are no longer relevant or necessary, delete them from online. The fewer files you have saved online, the less heat-generating web servers are required to store them.
When purchasing any promotional materials, banners or displays to promote your association or to use at events, consider more sustainable options such as cardboard signage, and displays and banners which can be used again at other events.
Don’t let your old tech equipment go to waste. Once you’ve made sure all data has been deleted then consider donating it for reuse to teach students how to test, repair and reuse such equipment. If that’s not possible then consider offering it to be recycled.
No organisation has all the answers. Share what you are doing, see what other associations are doing, and ask you members how you can continue be more sustainable as a teaching association.