The University has launched a new carbon target, to halve peak emissions by 2030.  This will be challenging, but we can all do something to help.

Save Energy

Here in the SSL we have been working to reduce the energy consumption of our electrical equipment by switching off some photocopiers and PCs during low use periods, setting the photocopiers to sleep after a few minutes’ inactivity and enabling power saving settings on staff PCs.  We have reduced PC monitor brightness and we turn off monitors when not in use.  Low energy LED lights with motion sensors have been installed throughout the library thanks to an ongoing Estates Services project to convert all the lighting in the Manor Road Building to LED.  This has reduced the amount of electricity used to light the library by two thirds.

Here are our top tips for how you can help save energy in the SSL:

1. Switch off laptops and mobile devices when not in use – simple and effective.
2. Enable power saving settings on your laptop – do this once then save energy without even thinking about it.
3. Turn off your device’s Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth when not in use – this will also make your battery last longer between charges.
4. Reduce the screen brightness on your mobile phone & laptop – another great battery saving tip.
5. Unplug any USB devices from your laptop, eg external hard drives, when they are not needed – these can still draw power when not in use.
6. Shut down the Reader PCs after use – our new PCs are really quick to start up.
7. Turn off the lights in the Discussion Rooms, Information Skills Training Room and Q-Step Centre Teaching Lab when you leave – our policy is to leave these lights off.

Read up

Be inspired and informed by our Climate Change Book Display located around the corner from the SSL Issue Desk.

The books have been chosen by our Subject Consultants and cover African Studies, Economics, Forced Migration, Geography, International Development, International Relations, Politics and Sociology.  They are just a small selection of the books we hold on climate change – to find more books on this topic, search SOLO.

Get involved

We can all make individual changes to our behaviour but by joining with others we can do more and have fun.  You could sign up for Student Switch Off at your college or take part in Green Impact via your department or college.  Find out more about these and other initiatives run by the University’s Environmental Sustainability Team at https://sustainability.admin.ox.ac.uk/get-involved

…

Electricity used to light the library and run PCs, photocopiers and readers’ devices is one of the Social Science Library’s main environmental impacts due to the carbon dioxide emissions resulting from power generation.

Library staff have been taking simple energy saving actions to reduce energy wastage. You can help by:

• Switching off laptops and mobile devices when not in use
• Unplugging chargers when devices are disconnected or fully charged
• Enabling power saving settings on your laptop (this will help your battery last longer too)
• Switching off the Reader PC monitors after use
• Turning off the lights in the Discussion Rooms and Graduate Study Rooms when you leave

See the Greening the SSL web pages to find out more about what we have been doing to improve the library’s environmental sustainability.

For further tips, and to test your climate change knowledge, try the NUS/University of Oxford Student Switch Off Climate Change Quiz which we are proud to support.  You could win 50 tubs of ice cream for your college!

To learn more about the University’s work on reducing energy usage see the Environmental Sustainability Reports.

In summer 2017, the Social Science Library conducted a survey of its new purchases to investigate the sustainability practices and commitments of the publishers who supply our broad intake of new books.

We had previously acknowledged “Resource use (paper, energy, ink) in printing and delivering books and journals acquired for the library” as one of the Library’s most significant environmental impacts.

As it is our key responsibility as a Library to provide reading materials in support of world-class teaching and research, our purchasing decisions are driven entirely by academic criteria. However, we were interested to explore the sustainability credentials of the publishers of the books we buy, and celebrate the examples of good practice we found.

During the survey we examined the new print books delivered to the library, looking for statements of responsible sourcing of materials and other sustainability policies within the books themselves. We also looked for this information on the websites of the publishers of the books we had received.

We received 65 new printed books during the period of the survey, from 29 different publishers. The library also purchased 6 multi-user e-books during the same period.

12 of the new printed books contained notes in the publication information given within the book to indicate some degree of sustainability practice in the publishing process, for example:

“This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.”

• Note in book published by Palgrave Macmillan

8 of the new books were marked with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) [http://welcome.fsc.org/understanding-the-fsc-labels.27.htm] logo, certifying that the materials used to make the book are sourced responsibly, comprising material originating from FSC certified forests, as well as recycled or reclaimed materials.

A further 14 of the books contained a statement that they had been printed on acid-free or alkaline paper, or that the production process met national or international standards of Permanence of Paper [http://www.niso.org/apps/group_public/project/details.php?project_id=81] which indicates that under normal circumstances the paper should survive for several hundred years.

We found other statements and commitments to sustainable practice on our book suppliers’ websites. Here are some examples:

• Cambridge University Press
  “Approximately 75 per cent of Cambridge books and journals only contain paper and board that is either FSC or PEFC certified.”
  http://www.cambridge.org/about-us/community-and-environment/sustainable-procurement-policy/
• Harvard University Press
  “We have joined over 100 other U.S. publishers in becoming a member of the Green Press Initiative (GPI).”
  http://www.hup.harvard.edu/about/#greenpress
  http://greenpressinitiative.org/
• Pearson
  “The paper used in Pearson textbooks increasingly comes from well-managed forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and we support sustainable forests initiatives by the WWF, the environment organization, and other partners.”
  Pearson Sustainability Report 2016, p.22
  https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/global/Files/sustainability/2016-report/Summary_PearsonSustainabilityReport2016.pdf
• Penguin
  “92% of the paper we use to make our books is currently Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certified, in other words sustainably sourced. Our aim is to increase this to 100% by 2020.”
  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.uk/creative-responsibility/sustainability/
• Taylor & Francis
  “we continue to work to reduce waste through the increasing use of Print On Demand.”
  http://taylorandfrancis.com/about/corporate-responsibility/sustainability/

Water is a precious resource.  It is vital for human well‐being, economic development, and a healthy environment but we often take it for granted.  Although it seems like it rains a lot in the United Kingdom, London actually has a lower annual average rainfall than Istanbul or Rome.

Here are five suggestions from the SSL Green Team on how we can appreciate water more:

Save Water  A running tap wastes over six litres of water a minute.  Approximately ten litres of water is needed to produce one sheet of paper!

• Top Tip: Turn off taps, and report any leaking taps or toilets.
• Top Tip: Reduce your printing and re-use scrap paper.

Drink Water  It takes up to five litres of water to produce one litre of bottled water.

• Top Tip: fill a reusable bottle from the water fountain in the Locker room behind the building Reception Desk.

Read Water  Choose from the Library’s booklist:

• Barlow, M. (2008). Blue covenant : The global water crisis and the coming battle for the right to water. New York: New Press : Distributed by W.W. Norton.  HD1691.BAR 2007
• Chellaney, B. (2013). Water, peace, and war : Confronting the global water crisis.  Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield.  HD1691.CHE 2013
• Salman, S. (2009). The World Bank policy for projects on international waterways : An historical and legal analysis (Law, justice, and development). Washington, DC: World Bank.  HE385.SAL 2009
• Brown, P., & Schmidt, J. (2010). Water ethics : Foundational readings for students and professionals. Washington, DC: Island Press.  TD345.BRO 2010
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development. (2013). Water security for better lives (OECD studies on water). Paris : OECD.   TC345.WAT 2013
• DeSombre, E., & Barkin, J. (2011). Fish. Cambridge: Polity.  SH328.DES 2011

Enjoy Water  The River Cherwell flows alongside the Library – join the path in University Parks and stroll through ancient water meadows.

• See the Daily Info guide to Oxford Riverside Walks.

Campaign Water  Get involved and find out more about water conservation.

• WaterAid is a charity whose mission is “to transform the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people by improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.“
• Waterwise promotes water efficiency and provides water-saving tips and fun facts.
• The Oxford Water Network is a multi-disciplinary research community connecting 15 different departments at the University of Oxford.  Sign up to their monthly e-newsletter or check their list of events.

Simple energy saving actions by Social Science Library staff and readers contributed to a 7% reduction in the Manor Road Building’s electricity usage for 2015/16 compared to the previous year.  Electricity use is one of the library’s main environmental impacts due to the carbon dioxide emissions resulting from power generation.  As well as the 766 ceiling lights in the library, there are 87 reader and staff computers, 5 photocopiers, plus our readers’ own laptops and mobile devices all contributing to the SSL’s ‘plugged load’.

Help the SSL save more energy and further reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by:

• Switching off laptops and mobile devices when not in use
• Unplugging chargers when devices are disconnected or fully charged
• Enabling power saving settings on your laptop (this will help your battery last longer too)
• Switching off the Reader PC monitors after use
• Turning off the lights in the Discussion Rooms and Graduate Study Rooms when you leave

For more tips and to test your climate change knowledge try the Student Switch Off Climate Change Quiz.  You could win 100 tubs of ice cream for your college!

See the Greening the SSL web pages to find out more about what we have been doing to improve the library’s environmental sustainability.

To learn more about the University’s work on reducing energy usage see the Environmental Sustainability Report 2016.

L-R: Sarah Rhodes, David Shackleton, Jo Gardner, Joanna Soedring, Craig Finlay

The SSL’s Green Team was very proud to receive a Green Impact Gold Award at Oxford University’s Sustainability Showcase 2016 held at the Blavatnik School of Government on 15 June, and attended by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson.

Part of the Live illustration at the Sustainability Showcase 2016

SSL staff have been working hard throughout the year identifying and implementing ways to save energy and reduce waste by switching off equipment and lights when not in use, carrying out The Great Bin Survey, reducing handouts for training sessions by posting presentations online, and being instrumental in the introduction of KeepCups to the Bodleian Libraries.  We’ve also had some fun baking cakes for charity, counting bees and sporting Christmas jumpers.

Joanna Soedring won the Green Impact Staff Award for her motivation and dedication, enabling the team to go from Bronze to Gold in one year.

We are also really pleased that our colleagues in the Manor Road Building team achieved the Bronze award, and five other teams from the Bodleian Libraries picked up awards, including Silver for staff based at the Osney One Building and Bronze for the Radcliffe Science Library.

See our Greening the SSL web page to find out more about what we have been doing and how you can help.  Do tell us if you have any more ideas for how we can cut carbon emissions and reduce waste.

Green Impact is a national environmental accreditation scheme run by the NUS and managed at Oxford University by the Estates Services’ Environmental Sustainability team.