UTokyo Sustainable Network

support the realization of a university that nurtures global citizens who understand sustainability and go beyond by putting knowledge into practice.

■Mission/Principles・Background

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Mission/Principles
Our aim is to support the realization of a university that nurtures global citizens who understand sustainability and go beyond by putting knowledge into practice to enrich and transform lives now and for future generations. Please keep in mind that the term “practice” is at the core of our vision.
The mission statements stipulate more specific measures to achieve this vision. They are divided into five areas: research, courses, on-campus initiatives beyond classrooms and laboratories, minimization of our environmental impacts, and public engagement. The underlying concept here is to promote sustainability as an organizational culture and to utilize our campus as a model of a sustainable society.

Background
UTokyo Sustainable Network consists mainly of the members of four sustainability-related student organizations: TSCP Student Committee, Kankyo Sanshiro, ECHO, and Climate Action UT. This network is the first initiative which actively promotes the alliance of these organizations. This organization also has collaborative projects with students from the GLP-GEfIL program and Bizjapan.
Alongside the day-to-day work of project teams and working groups, as a Network, UTokyo Sustainable Network push for the realization of four main agenda items (comprehensive sustainability strategy, UTokyo sustainability fund, sustainability literacy, and roundtable) through formal proposals, presentations, and meetings with faculty and administrative staff members.

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■Activities

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Before COVID
Established during COVID

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After COVID
Our works are divided into working groups (described in the administration section) and project teams. Please check our website for further information.
The running projects teams are as follows:

water Server:
Installing water servers across UTokyo campuses is a pioneer project of the this Network. This truly interdisciplinary project highlights the need for and role of the UTokyo Sustainable Network to increase collaboration across different groups on campus.
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This project has three objectives:

• Reduce the consumption of single-use beverage containers and straws
• Raise environmental awareness among students to encourage sustainable lifestyle changes.
• Improve campus community welfare and convenience.

Plant Based Food:
“Plant-based” means that the product is based on materials of vegetable origin.

Our main goal is to spread awareness about plant-based foods and make it easier for people to incorporate plant-based diets into their lifestyles. UTokyo Sustainable Network is currently collaborating with VegeProject Japan and the Co-op cafeteria.

This project intends to:

• Spread awareness about plant-based foods by hosting online lecture series
• Develop and introduce plant-based options at the Co-op cafeteria

Community Garden:
"KOMABATAKE", the Komaba community garden is a collaborative project initiated by a student circle ECHO to revamp the greenhouse in the Komaba I Campus as a student-led community garden.

This project intends to:

• Learn about how to and grow organic produce in line with sustainable farming practices
• Provide an opportunity for Japanese and International students to interact doing hands-on farming
• Increase student engagement in sustainable on-campus activities

Sustainability Week:
Sustainability Week is a university-wide initiative to hold various sustainability-related events over a period of 1-2 weeks. Many universities around the world have hosted this event.

UTokyo Sustainable Network aim to have various organizations and companies from inside and outside of the UTokyo participate in this event.

This project has the following objectives:

• Raise environmental awareness among students, faculty, and administrative staff.
• Raise awareness of the UTokyo Sustainable Network.
• Create an opportunity for new collaborative creation.
• Recruit students who are interested in sustainability.

Activities of the alumni
Relatively new organisation, thus do not have information regarding this topic.

Number of Members
51

Grade Composition of Members
Freshman to Masters students

Grade Composition of the Administration Team
Freshman to Masters students

Gender Ratio (Male:Female)
Around 1:1

Period of Entry
Year Around

Features of membership
People passionate about making tangible changes in campus sustainability, and who are interested in environmental issues.

Withdrawal Rate
Unable to provide information as a relatively new organisation

Structure of Administration
The working groups are as follows:

Central Council
Our main goal is to plan the workings of the UTokyo Sustainable Network as a whole. Furthermore, UTokyo Sustainable Network have been working to form a vision for a sustainable campus and making strategies to set up university-wide targets and plans. The cenral council of UTokyo Sustainable Network are also in charge of providing guidance to new members, screening project proposals, facilitating network-wide and roundtable meetings.

Design
Design is key to shaping an organizational identity that runs through the Network and engaging the UTokyo community in our activities effectively. By producing attention-grabbing websites, logos, posters, videos, and posts UTokyo Sustainable Network can contribute to creating a positive image of sustainable actions and lead social and environmental change.

Communication
Our team is in charge of fast and accurate delivery of the news and information from the Network such as updates from our projects, upcoming meetings, and recruitment through various channels.

Education
In the education group, members are conducting research and gathering information to promote learning about sustainability and to design a course or other educational programs to ensure the sustainability literacy of all UTokyo students. Our goal is to achieve a stage where learning opportunities that deal with overarching and practical content are widespread and lead to action.

At the moment, there are many things that have not been started yet, so if you are interested in thinking about events and lectures, you can play an active role in planning and managing them!

"I just want to be able to refill my bottle with tasty cold drinkable water - not in the bathroom every time." -M.P., Year 3 (as of 2021.12) Water server project

"The greenhouse is my happy place! I love to go with friends and help to grow the plants. When life gets really busy or the big city gets you down, the greenhouse is a little piece of quiet and green that gives you a big hug, and also gets some soil in your mouth because you forgot to close it and dirt just went everywhere." -J.A.B.S, Year 2 (as of 2021.12) Community Garden Project

Usual Activities
Each Project and Working Group meetings are held once a week in general. Members also have a monthly network-wide meeting. Meetings of each project are conducted in a combination of English and Japanese. Speakers of either language can comfortably participate.

No Fixed Schedule

Selection Process：
None. Anyone interested is required to fill a form on our website.

Eligible Members：
All UTokyo Members

Members who actually join：
Those who are passionate about creating a tangible change towards a sustainable campus

Procedure to join：
Check the information on our website and fill in the form under the "Get Involved!” page

○Pros

• Get involved in a meaningful campus metamorphosis promoting sustainability and have a real impact on the society you belong to
• Have chances to talk with many professors and people in the administration, so you can get to know about how the university operates.
• You will learn a lot–both soft and hard skills–by developing a project from scratch Work with wonderful team members with varying skills, interests, and even nationalities

△Cons

• Process to make an impact (i.e., persuading the university with a formal proposal as well as numerous presentations and meetings) can be time taking and slow. Expect to be discouraged from time to time because you do not see a progress in your project despite your and your team’s efforts.
• Not all people think the same way as you do. It can be difficult to find the like-minded members to begin a project and to keep your project team members motivated.
• Most of our projects require significant devotion in time and efforts. If you do not make a clear prioritization and be open about your workload for academics and other commitments, you might feel that you are overworked.

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