‘Our Green City’ course returns in February

Nelson Mandela believed that “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” – a statement that seems especially fitting when referring to an educational tool as informative and accessible as UWE Bristol’s MOOC. Following the undoubted success of the first course, a second run is due to commence on the 1st of February. Free and open to all people far and wide, this six week course aims to “showcase the spirit and practice of Bristol Green Capital” by exploring the key themes of Bristol 2015: food, nature, energy, transport, resources and cities with an extra orientation week to provide additional support. The course aims to build the capability of participants to lead change in their own communities and take a step towards changing the world.

“Incredibly inspirational” is how Richard Spalding, senior lecturer for the Department of Geography and Environmental Management and an academic lead for Our Green City, described the participants.  Richard proceeded to define the incredible 1300 people who registered as “first class contributors” and he praised the course for being a platform for an “honest” depiction of their thoughts and learnings. The MOOC, he believed, was used by the participants as a framework to articulate their own stories. It was an enticer in the terms that the leaders and organisers planted the seed and said “here’s our story” whilst provoking enrollers to share their own experiences. Richard believed this was able “to give them a sense that they were part of something real, something that’s not a sham” and also helped Richard learn of stories from all over the world. Emphasising the global reach of the course, he read of actions from Bristol to Bogota!

But what did the participants believe? Well Becky Golding, a freelance writer from Knowle, provided an unbiased perspective on the course from a contributor point of view.  Week one opened her eyes to the impact of cities in the development of a sustainable world. The week’s learning alerted her to the idea that cities are both good and bad places to live, but they can be “a radical spot for innovative change”. As well as opening Becky up to new ideas, the MOOC has reinforced her own beliefs with theory and assured the benefit of her own actions. Living in the notoriously hilly area of Knowle, Becky’s kitchen window looks out onto the roof of her garage. Therefore week 4’s instructions to create a garden on your roof benefited her in many ways. Now, instead of a grimy grey shed roof, she looks out onto a natural and colourful roof-garden.

Becky really felt a personal connection to the Nature week and appreciated the MOOC as a tool for change. This week reinforced her values and ideas as she had previously tried to influence her neighbours on implementing greener aspects to their neighbourhood before seeing its effectiveness on the MOOC.  This then gave her the confidence to influence her neighbours into developing nature highways in their gardens. She claimed it was ‘”a ratifying of things she felt she knew, with a theoretical underpinning.”

After the week’s information and engagement, participants began to pledge for future actions. Actions included people promising to “grow my own salad vegetables and share seeds and produce with my neighbours”, “work on making a septic system that could create fertiliser for surrounding gardens, fields “, “make every effort to make less visits to the supermarket and more to the local retailers”, “introduce plants and wild plants to my own front garden, and share ideas with neighbours”, “use green energy and look for those non-profit companies that promote their green energy” and to “cycle more; it is free, it is healthy”! 

Course organisers recommend an input time of 3- 5 hours per week – enough to embrace the content of your learnings – the videos, quizzes and activities which will all benefit your eco-friendly education. Building on your skills and confidence, this can reignite your passion for learning and offer the opportunity to enrich your awareness, and your environment. Help drive the legacy of Bristol 2015 into 2016. 

For more information, go to @Our_Green_City on Twitter or visit the course page at uwe.ac.uk.