Sustainability news

Our commitment to Sustainability is enshrined in The Open University’s strategy ‘Live and Learn’.

By 2030 we shall be confident that:

EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR HOSTED BY THE OPEN UNIVERSITY, PARTNER OF NET ZERO WEEK.

Tuesday 9th July 2024, 14:00 – 15:00 BST

FREE TICKETS HERE

Over 550 OU staff and students have taken part in the ‘How bad are bananas?’ game in the last twelve months. The game was played at over 25 events, across the OU, with staff and students from all four nations in the UK taking part.

The ‘How Bad are Bananas’ game is a fun and engaging way to promote and prompt discussion around climate impacts with any audience. The game take about 30 - 60 minutes and can be adapted for different formats (face-to-face, online, large or small groups) and audiences. 

A new report has been published following a consultation event at St George’s House, Windsor Castle in February 2024.

Ramla Khan, a PhD student in The Open University’s School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences recently wrote for Climate Perspectives magazine.

In the article Ramla discusses her research ‘Investigating the effects of temperature extremes on urban trees’. Her work is part of The Open University's mission to deliver impact-driven research to ensure a sustainable planet.

Responsible Futures is a whole institution accreditation programme with the aim to embed sustainability across all aspects of student learning. Responsible Futures has been created by the charity Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK), this is a unique accreditation being student led and audited by students.

Go Green recently ran a workshop for staff about Responsible Futures at the OU which you can watch below.

The Institute of Educational Technology (IET) at The Open University have recently launched a much-needed free OpenLearn badged open course (BOC) supporting educators across multiple sectors and subjects in addressing the climate emergency in their teaching.

In January 2024, The Open University introduced a new free course on the emerging field of Climate Psychology. It is now widely accepted that facts about climate change, taken alone, do not promote change.

The Open University's Dr Ian Kenny and MSc Student and Post Doctoral Research Assistant Dr Dhouha Kbaier recently co-authored an article for Climate Perspectives Winter 2023/24 edition (pages 26 - 29). 

The article discusses The Open University's mission to deliver impact-driven research to ensure a sustainable planet. Our contribution is through the intersection of two extraordinary fields: Climate Change and machine learning.

Learning about the climate and ecological crisis can be very disturbing and overwhelming. We may feel a variety of different emotions often grouped under the umbrella label of eco-anxiety. But what is eco-anxiety and how can we learn to live meaningfully with the reality of the crisis without falling apart?