Student Switch Off runs photos competitions every few weeks throughout term where you can win prizes like Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Lush gifts. All you have to do is enter a photo of you saving energy just like this one on your uni’s Facebook page or through our webpage…

Putting a lid on a pan saves up to 90% of the energy!!

This time we not only have prizes at each uni but also an epic national prize – everyone to post a photo will get entered into a random national prize draw for a £200 Eurostar holiday giftcard with STA Travel!

Photos have been flooding in from across the UK so submit your one quick! The competition deadline is midnight on Sunday (13th May). Good luck!

Over 900 of you voted in the Pic of the Month competition where students competed to win Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Amazon vouchers. The best energy-saving photos from January and February were put head to head with students from across the country voting for their favourite pic.  Alice and Rhiannon from UEA bagged first place with 321 votes for their photo which showed them wrapping up warm rather than turning on the heating! The 10 photos with the most votes also won prizes for their brilliant efforts. Thank you to everyone who took part.

Last week was Go Green Week – People & Planet’s national week of student action on climate change. The Student Switch Off team have been out supporting some of the brilliant student events going on at universities across the UK. There have been film screenings, climate quizzes, obstacle courses, photo competitions, various talks and an eco-market! We’ve been from Newcastle to Southampton and seen some really inspiring students and staff working together to find practical initiatives to create low-carbon campuses.

Students putting the lid on the pan at LSE - saves up to 90% more energy!

We’ve also had over 3000 students taking part in the Student Switch Off online climate quiz – at each university we have a solar-powered mobile phone charger so make sure you enter on your uni’s Facebook page.

Nearly 500 students wrote to David Willetts last week demanding for action for greening UK unis, keep the pressure up by a quick email today to show the Government how determined students and staff are to tackle climate change.

This week, over 100 schools, colleges and universities will take part in People & Planet’s annual national week of action on climate change, Go Green Week.

Students across Britain have outdone themselves this year, organising the biggest Go Green Week we’ve ever seen! Groups from Aberdeen to Exeter are organising activities to show their peers that climate change action can be fun and empowering. Activities lined up range from Birmingham turning their iconic clock tower green to promote sustainable living to York launching their brand new Big Green Makeover project which will provide energy-saving advice.

Over 40 ‘Can Film Festivals’ are set to encourage students to recycle cans in exchange for free film screenings. Oxford Brookes have convinced all their canteens to serve veggie food for Meat-free Monday whilst groups in East Anglia, Kent, Newcastle and Birmingham are launching brand new Scoops selling sustainable food to students at affordable prices.

This year, People & Planet are asking the government to live up to its promise to become the greenest government ever and take urgent action to secure the education sector’s transition to a low-carbon, sustainable future that can create green jobs. To send an e-action to David Willetts, just follow this link: http://peopleandplanet.org/gogreenweek/take-action/email-willetts.

To find out more about Go Green Week, check out: http://peopleandplanet.org/gogreenweek

Have a go at our climate change quiz below. On Monday 20th February we’ll select someone at random who has completed the quiz to win a solar-powered mobile-phone charger (worth £60). Join the Facebook fanpage for your chance to win even more prizes such as Ben & Jerry’s and Flirt guestlist.

What is Go Green Week?

Go Green Week is People & Planet’s annual national week of action on climate change in schools, colleges and universities in partnership with the NUS. From 6-12 February 2012, 1000s of students & staff  will be mobilised to raise awareness and launch carbon-cutting activities and projects on their campuses. It’s a great opportunity for students and student unions to work with staff and their student societies to showcase a positive ‘transition vision’ of their universities and kick start creative practical initiatives for a low-carbon future.

How will it work?

Activities will be themed around sustainable behaviours to encourage students to eat sustainably on Meat free Monday, use green transport on Travel Light Tuesday, get recycling on Zero Waste Wednesday and reduce their energy consumption on Switch-Off Thursday. Students will also come together for a national day of action on Friday 10 February to send a message to the government to commit to the education sector’s transition to a low carbon future.

How can People & Planet support you?

You can order a resource pack from the P&P website with all the resources you need to put on an amazing Go Green Week such as a media pack and everything you need to put together your very own posters and fliers. You will also receive goodies to help you put on events such as Can Film Festival screenings, Come Veg with Me dinner events and energy-saving advice clinics.

How do you find out more?

peopleandplanet.org/gogreenweek
goinggreener@peopleandplanet.org

Welcome back to term two of the Student Switch Off competition! We’re kicking things off with a national competition between some of the best photo entries we’ve had from across the UK. The 15 contenders need to get as many votes from the public by midday on Friday 13^th January and those with the most votes get their first pick of the prizes. To vote you need to join the Facebook Fan Page and then ‘like’ the energy-saving photo you like best.

The prizes on offer are:

* 5 x £10 Amazon vouchers *

* 5 pairs of Ben & Jerry’s vouchers * 

The National Union of Students (NUS) have launched a new project called I Am The Change to encourage and support you to campaign for positive change at your college or university.

This change could be on anything you want, whether it be educational, community based, environmental, personal development, health and wellbeing, careers and politics.

Do you want to make a difference? What do you want to change?

Watch the video and Be the Change now at www.nus.org.uk/iamthechange

Here at Student Switch Off we’re getting in the halloween spirit with our National Competition and we have some spookily good prizes to give away for the best ghoulish photos sent in before the end of October. The best/most amusing energy-saving photos will be shortlisted and will then be put into a public vote to win some of these awesome prizes…

- 5 litres of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream

- 5 £10 Amazon vouchers

- 10 THTC t-shirts (hemp and organic cotton!)

Upload your photos here or on your University’s facebook fanpage. Pictures must be your own and the best/most amusing ones will win prizes.

See last year’s entries below for inspiration!

The Student Switch Off team has been out and about training up new student volunteers at each of our 43 universities. Students interested in climate change and environmental issues have attended fun and interactive workshops on how to communicate our energy-saving messages most effectively around their halls of residence, using tips and tricks to put the points across.

 We’ve had record attendance at the training this year with highs of 90 students attending the Newcastle training and 60 at Cardiff! The training is a free event for anyone interested in volunteering with Student Switch Off, and everyone attending gets a free fairtrade cotton Switch Off t-shirt too.

It looks set to be another great year for saving energy with Student Switch Off – watch this space for the first energy data update in the coming weeks!