GMIT’s Green Campus committee will host the institute's annual green open day at the Dublin Road (Galway ) campus on Monday.
This year's event is taking place as part of the 2018 Loving Galway Festival - Celebrating our Green and Blue Spaces, which runs from September 20 to 30.
The GMIT Green Day programme will feature workshops, talks, tours and an exhibition space with stands representing a range of organisations and environmental groups committed to sustainable practices, offering information on new and emerging trends and initiatives.
Minister of State for Rural Affairs and Natural Resources Sean Kyne will launch the GMIT Green Campus Initiative, which will outline a number of opportunities for students and staff to engage in sustainability-related projects. Local pupils from nearby Gaelscoil Dara will also visit the campus to undertake the GMIT Green Campus tour and discuss how their Green School efforts can inform the ongoing work in GMIT.
Groups giving workshops and demonstrations include SEAI, which will give an energy upgrade grants workshop; the Sustainable Energy Communities groups in GMIT, Claremorris, and Inis Oirr which will host a seminar; and the Voice Ireland Recycling Ambassador Programme which will provide a workshop for first year students on everyday recycling and waste prevention.
An electric car demonstration area will be located in the pay-and-display car park on the Ballybane Road, featuring e-cars and hybrids from a range of dealers. Other exhibitors confirmed include ProAir, Galway County Council, Barna Recycling, Refill Ireland, Coke Zero Bikes, and Ecological Building Systems. Students from GMIT’s campuses at Letterfrack, Castlebar, Mountbellew, and CCAM/Cluain Mhuire will showcase successful green projects. There will also be plenty of competitions, prizes, and giveaways on the day.
Chairs of the GMIT Green Campus committee, Dr Mark Kelly and Dr John Lohan of the School of Engineering, and Sean Fahy from the buildings and estates office, said in a statement: “Once again, we are delighted to host the annual Green Campus Day in GMIT. The focus of the event this year is engagement and we will be launching a range of sustainability-related initiatives to engage students, staff and the local community over the coming academic year.
“The Green Day is free and open to the public and we would encourage anyone interested in sustainability-related issues to come along. We have a wide range of excellent exhibitors and workshops focusing on energy and water conservation, biodiversity, waste prevention, and recycling and sustainable transport.
“We’d like to thank the School of Engineering and the building and estates office for the support and funding for this initiative”.
GMIT Galway campus (Dublin Road ) and GMIT’s Centre for the Creative Arts & Media (CCAM ), formerly known as Cluain Mhuire, Wellpark Road campus, officially registered for Green Campus status three years ago. GMIT Mayo and GMIT Letterfrack campuses have already achieved Green Campus status. The Mayo campus was the first institute of technology in Ireland to be awarded the status of Green Campus by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE ) and An Taisce in 2011.
