Day +1557
isabel hahn
I am a first year student attending DCU in Dublin and I study Climate and Sustainability! I am passionate about climate change and our environmental impact on the planet. I am excited to see how I can be more sustainable through my challenge.
My challenge
not buy single-use plastic

my reusable cup is on the left 🙂

Today I tried to use my reusable Starbucks cup that I bought yesterday thinking I can reduce my plastic waste with my iced coffee and to get one every morning on campus. However, the lady said they do not take cups and that she would give me a plastic cup and I could pour that into my reusable one. This was quite annoying as it didn’t make much sense to me. So I think I might say it to the students union for something that needs to be changed as we need to move away from reliance on plastics and encourage people to use reusable cups…

So this week has been another learning curve, to bring my own iced coffee out and also to try not to buy food from the canteen because the food comes in styrofoam boxes.

Styrofoam is not only a dangerous air pollutant but also poses a great threat to humans, the environment, and animals. The worst part is that Styrofoam takes over 500 years to decompose and in the process, it leaches harmful chemicals into the environment. — got this from the internet

So I think I am going to say some of these issues to the student union to answer the question of ‘have I ever stood up for something I have believed in’ 

19.10.2021
  • Aaron McNiffe
    Aaron McNiffe commented on Day 19: questioning 4 years ago

    Hi Izzy. I had the exact same issue in the library Starbucks today. It's a shame that Starbucks usual "guidelines" are applied here, especially when there is a heavy focus on sustainability in the university. I'm more than happy to support you on this if you mention it to DCUSU! I think Ross might be the go to person for this. Good luck with the rest of your challenge :) Aaron. Respond

    • Darren Clarke
      Darren Clarke commented on Day 19: questioning 4 years ago

      Brilliant Isabel and Aaron. This is exactly the kind of "standing up for something you believe in" aspect that can make a real difference to change. I'll also support you both on this. Let's unite and make a collective stand together on this. I'm going to email Ross now too. Well done on your efforts so far. Respond

      • Darren Clarke
        Darren Clarke commented on Day 19: questioning 4 years ago

        Hi Isabel and Aaron - just sent the below to Ross now. Let's hope for a positive response. ____________________________________________________________________ Hi Ross I hope things are good with you and you're managing to find some sense of normality with being back on campus. I'm a lecturer in the School of History & Geography and I've asked students in our new BA in Climate & Environmental Sustainability programme to take on a 30-day sustainability challenge. All the students have been truly brilliant and are really embracing change, and positively influencing others around them too. This is where I am contacting you to see if you can help me. Some of the students are taking on a sustainability challenge to reduce / eliminate the amount of plastic they use. As you can imagine this is no easy task given the prevalence of plastic in our lives. One student in particular was in Starbucks on campus recently and brought a re-usable coffee cup for their coffee. Starbucks refused to take it from them and instead suggested that the student pour the coffee from the disposable plastic cup Starbucks provided into the student's own reusable coffee cup. You might think this action is related to cautions around COVID-19. However, there are countless coffee retailers / shops nationwide that are now allowing customers to bring in their own re-usable coffee cups given that we are hopefully the right side of the pandemic. DCU is also placing a significant emphasis on climate change and sustainability as part of its 2017-2022 Strategy and it seems that this goes against everything we should stand for. I know the SU voice is strong on sustainability too and this is why I am contacting you as I think you might have significant leverage on this with retailers / coffee shops on campus. I'm happy to provide any support also but wanted to see if there was something we could do collectively to ask such retailers to change their unsustainable practices. Thanks a million. Look forward to your reply. Darren Respond

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