Vote green and rage against the machine
Hey there, my name is Imogen Robertson (they/them) and I would love to take on the role of the next Sustainability Officer. I am a third year student, and have been very much involved in student politics during my time here at Stirling - I am currently Secretary of the Vegan and Rights for Animals Society, and Core Convener for the Stirling Plant-Based Universities Campaign. Environmentalism is very important to me, and I strive to apply its ethos to everything I do. I have experience running a small-scale community food operation on campus that aims to distribute plant-based food to students - during the course of running this I have endeavored to make it as accessible as possible. I have also helped construct and pass motions that aim to strengthen the union's commitment to carbon neutrality (Plant-Based Commitment Motion) and more recently a motion that achieves greater autonomy of smaller scale societies (Clubs and Societies Coronavirus Recovery Motion).
What do I stand for?
I strongly believe in intersectionality when it comes to environmentalism, and that more needs to be done to uphold values of sustainability on campus. I will aim to take a firm, but a nonetheless engaged and compassionate approach to issues of environmental justice, and other issues pertinent to the sustainability officer role and will also make it my core mission to use my voice to amplify the voices of others when it comes to these issues.
More to the point, I believe in holding the union accountable, whether that be on the basis of their own statements about research, their current commitment to carbon neutrality and other pledges to sustainability, or simply holding them to account by pointing out what the best avaliable scientific literature has to say.
Key Elements:
Food Waste and Carbon Neutrality: I aim to improve the current state of food waste on campus by continuing to campaign for plant-based menu's. It has been shown that plant-based food items/staples have longer shelf lives, and are less energy intensive than their meat and dairy counterparts that have to be either refrigerated/frozen. Divesting from animal agriculture will have a positive effect on carbon neutrality, as it has been shown time and time again by numerous academic bodies that the impact animal agriculture has on the environment overall is devastating. I believe that divesting from such industries also acts as a step towards a more climate just campus.
Food Justice: I aim to continue campaigning for more community food initatives that offer foods that are just, sustainable and accessible to all. I have seen a lot of interest in the community food iniative founded by my society (VERA) in collaboration with Labour and believe that I can expand this to be more widely avaliable to students.
Recycling: In addition to the aforementioned elements of my campaign, I intend to hold the University of Stirling to account in regards to recycling and the management of waste on campus - it is evident that recycling is in need of refinement, and so I will make this a key issue.