5.4 Environmental education and awareness
5.4.1 UKZN’s commitment to low carbon principles
It is important to note that through its environmental policy, UKZN acknowledges its role in implementing pro-environmental measures and reducing its campus carbon footprint. The environmental policy highlights that UKZN commits itself to take responsible steps in reducing water and energy wastage in all its campuses (UKZN, 2015c). The study sought to measure UKZN’s commitment towards reducing energy consumption, hence students were asked whether UKZN was committed in that regard. Figure 5.6 below is an illustration of the students’ responses.
Figure 5.6 shows that only 4% of the students in the study strongly agreed that UKZN was committed to energy conservation, whilst 28% agreed, 22% were neutral and the majority of the students, 38% disagreed. Lastly, 8% of the students strongly disagreed that UKZN was committed to energy conservation.
92 | P a g e Table 5.5 reflects the results illustrated in Figure 5.6 that portrays a negative and contrasting
‘imaginary’ between the University’s environmental obligations and its actual environmental approach. As shown in Table 5.5, nearly half of the participants rated UKZN as being poor as far as the implementation of energy conservation measures were concerned. A further 28% rated the University approach as being fair, whilst 24% rated them as being good. Only 6% of the participants rated the University’s approaches to energy reduction as being excellent and none regarded them as being outstanding. The majority of the students rated UKZN’s approach to energy conservation as being poor as shown below:
Energy usage is very high and not even controlled, students use it (energy) anyhow.
There are not even posters to encourage students to conserve electricity in the residences or on campus (Student 15, September 7, 2015).
The University does not have any awareness programmes or informative messages to students on saving energy (Student 30, September 9, 2015).
The lights in the library are always on as well as in other places even at night. Lights are always unnecessary turned on during the day even in the residences (Student 44, September 11, 2015).
A study by Singh (2010) with staff members at UKZN also identified the same pattern and feelings of her participants towards UKZN’s commitment to pro-environmental approaches. According to Singh (2010), 33% of the participants indicated that they were not contributing to greening efforts at UKZN because the University did not have any greening procedures or initiatives that provided guidance. Students in this study raised the same argument. They contend that there is a lack of assistance and stewardship by the University in spearheading a conservation culture at UKZN. To this end, the in-depth interviews with the DSRA officials inquired whether the department had on- going programs within residences aimed at promoting energy saving behaviour amongst students.
The aim was to validate the data obtained from the energy surveys. Below are the some of the quotes on the implementation of energy conservation programs.
I do not think we focus much on electricity use as RAs because in most cases when we implement residence programmes, we do what has already been done and try to
93 | P a g e reiterate that. So as RAs we are not really innovative in terms of coming up with new ideas. We have not done something like that to be honest (referring to energy saving initiatives) but I think it might be an important initiative because when you start raising consciousness of students that might be important in educating them about the environmental issues (RA2, October 31, 2015).
Honestly I have not had any official project for reducing the use of energy but what I did was putting up posters in the kitchen and bathroom, informing students on good energy saving practices such as switching off the stoves and microwaves after usage.
However apart from these posters, the department does not have any program specifically aimed at encouraging students to save energy in our residence (RA5, October 29, 2015).
Other than having those meetings or campaigns that are aimed at advising students on how to use energy better and save it especially since South Africa is having load shedding. There are no other programs initiated by residence department. As a RA you can just go door to door advising the students to save energy in their rooms (RA3, October 30, 2015).
The DSRA manager was also asked to explain the department’s position regarding the progress of the greening campus initiative within the residences. The manager elaborated on the department’s programmes which are offered to students to encourage a conservation culture in the residences.
Initially when students occupy the premises we give them a welcome brochure, in this brochure there are tips and guidelines outlined on energy saving procedures and we have orientation programmes as well. As a department, we do speak to the RLOs (Residence Life Officers) and RAs that they need to put notices and inform students to switch off their appliances when there are not in use (Jojo, November 10, 2015).
This position was also supported by various RAs who confirmed that even though the department did not have energy saving programmes to encourage conservation, they are often encouraged by the department to support students to conserve energy.
94 | P a g e It is not like there is a programme per say but it is something that we are always encouraged by the department to tell our students to turn-off un-used electrical appliances. Also to ensure students follow certain rules such as turning of their radios at the stipulated times and switch off their lights when they are sleeping so that energy is not wasted. The department asks us to at least encourage our students to use energy sparingly to avoid wastage; it is not a programme as such (RA1, November 1, 2015).
Few months ago, at the housing department there was a notice that stated that ‘after you have used the stove, make sure that you switch off the electricity’. I think they (DSRA officials) are seeing the need of trying to raise consciousness amongst students towards issues of conserving energy. However, I am not sure if there will be a proper programme for students but it was something that I saw at the offices (RA2, October 31, 2015).
The housing manager was present in our first residence meeting and he said that they (DSRA) will try to install a meter-box to see how much energy each residence uses.
The idea was to encourage students to save energy, as they would know how much their residence would be using compared to others. As it stands, nothing of that sort has been done so it is not easy to see whether students are saving energy or not (RA5, October 29, 2015).
It is clear that DSRA acknowledges the desire to motivate students to conserve energy in their residences. However, less attention has been given to the implementation of greening initiatives within UKZN residences. Thus, energy-posters alone will not be an effective tool in encouraging students to save electricity. Not much support is given to the RAs by the department in terms of embarking on pro-environmental projects or programmes. Hence, the findings of this study contradict the environmental policy’s principles of UKZN. For instance, principle 5 stipulates that UKZN will acknowledge, encourage and support student body’s creativeness towards energy conservation initiatives (UKZN, 2015c). However, the support highlighted within the environmental policy does not translate into action, as demonstrated by the participants of this study. The university officials still need to show a greater commitment as far as the creation of a conservation culture at UKZN is concerned. The same criticism was raised in an energy study
95 | P a g e conducted at Rhodes University. Rickerts et al (2007:12) highlights that “Rhodes University environmental policy on electricity does not include specific details nor does it provide guidance on how electricity should be used efficiently at the institution”. Therefore, environmental policies in most local universities tend to be very eloquent in stating the possible strategies that can be adopted to curb energy use, but they do not outline how such strategies could be implemented.
This reinforces Maistry’s (2012) assertion that most African universities do not show the same enthusiasm of spearheading the greening campus initiative as their European counterparts.
Most American and European universities are quick to adopt and commit themselves to environmental initiatives. For instance, over 600 universities in the USA are signatory to the 2006 President’s Climate Commitment initiative that calls for the member-universities to implement green projects (Marans and Edelstein, 2010). European universities are also vocal and hands-on when it comes to the introduction of environmental education. At Ball State University, greening initiatives are incorporated into the university’s strategic plan such that there was a well- established inclusive council to address environmental matters (Koester et al, 2006). This level of commitment towards curbing environmental issues is not yet visible within the local universities.
For example, out of the 440 universities that are signatories to the Talloires Declaration, South Africa has only five universities, while the majority are European institutions (ULSF, 2015). This justifies the call by Kofi Annan, then United Nations’ secretary general, for African universities to be forerunners of good environmental governance in the continent (Maistry, 2012).
However, South African universities could be lagging behind in playing this pivotal role of promoting environmental strategies because they are faced with pressing issues of ‘shrinking’
operational budgets. The years 2015/2016 are characterised by national-wide students’ protests against university fee increments as much attention was devoted to addressing the protests. The problem of the ‘shrinking’ operational budget has been attributed to a range of factors including the ever-escalating universities’ utility costs. A significant 20% or more of the total utility costs that local universities are facing is solely the electricity bill (Govender, 2005). This assertion reinforces the importance of greening initiatives within universities because such initiatives have the ability to curb increasing utility costs. Universities should be hubs for low carbon projects to encourage students to be better environmental citizens. However, data obtained from this study
96 | P a g e showed that UKZN is perceived to be less committed in preparing and mentoring its students to become low carbon citizens.