Not on the Label

Having arrived at Not on the label after booking it on a whim, I was pleasantly surprised at the passion and content expressed in the talk. 

 

To kick it off, Andrew Reeves spoke a little about DMU’s sustainability initiatives (the university now has an electricity contract with a renewable energy company!) and its relation to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. The whole talk focused around one step in particular: responsible consumption and production.

Leading the topic were Dr Claire Lepiniere and Emma Wood, explaining responsible consumption and production in textiles. After briefly explaining the differences between The Linear Model (make, take and dump) and The Circular Model (an initiative that the UN hopes to implement universally), they put us into small groups to undertake an activity. This was designed to show the water and energy consumption that goes into manufacturing certain materials found in our clothes.

Bringing the talk to a close was Amanda Berlan with a compelling insight into the cocoa industry, child labour and the fairtrade movement. Her passion for the subject served to incite passion in the rest of our group – who wouldn’t be interested in children’s rights, chocolate and equality?

After walking into the talk with little to no knowledge of its content, I found that my inner eco-warrior was crying to break free. I promptly signed up to hear more about DMU’s sustainability initiatives and hope to be more involved going forward into next year.

 

 

E.M. Williams