Plastic Free by 2023
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The official newspaper of Leeds University www.thegryphon.co.uk Twitter: @TheGryphonLeeds Instagram: @thegryphon Issue 5 09/11/18 NUS in Financial Crisis The National Union of Students is in risk of bankruptcy, a letter has revealed. Page 7 The Rapid Rise of Populism Features explores the dramatic ascension of far-right groups in Europe and further afield in Brazil. Image: University of Leeds Page 10 Plastic Free by 2023 The University of Leeds and Leeds University Union have pledged to stop using single-use plastics on campus by 2023, it was announced on Wednesday 7th Not so Essential? November. Business conduct a price-comparison Zahra Iqbal racks with reusable equipment. Examples of current research between Essentials and its competitors. News Editor Chris Morris, Union Affairs Officer includes: Page 17 at Leeds University Union, said: “as a - Researching processes to produce Students have responded positively to Union, we are delighted to announce the next generation of bio-degradable the news that their university is aiming this joint pledge to be single-use bioplastics, a type of plastic derived to become single-use plastic free. plastic-free by 2023. from renewable biomass that will Between now and 2023, LUU and “Students have often been ahead of break down quickly and safely once Leeds University will phase out single- the national agenda, with freshers’ disposed. The research is being led by use plastic across the board. This will week plastic bag free and ensuring we Professor John Blacker from the School involve working with partners and have biodegradable alternatives in the of Chemistry. supply chains to phase out plastic Union - this pledge is another step - Predicting the flow and cry- In the Ring with Josh Warrington packaging coming onto campus too, where the University community can stallisation of polymers in plastics to Sport interviews local lad and boxer, making our campus entirely free of lead the way. improve processing and recycling, led Josh Warrington, after the premiere of single-use plastics by 2023. “We are looking forward to working by Professor Daniel Read, School of his title-winning documentary. The University and Union have vowed in partnership with the University to Mathematics. Page 23 to use biodegradable and reusable make sure we all have a positive impact - Increasing understanding of how alternatives in all subject areas. For on this future defining issue for the after-use plastic is managed within teaching in labs and other challenging planet.” cities to maximise circular economy areas, the University aims to launch The 2023PlasticFree initiative will potential. The research, led by Dr an action plan which will develop aid the University’s research into the Costas Velis from Civil Engineering, will alternatives to crucial apparatus and environmental, social and economic help identify plastic pollution sources, equipment. An example of a recent impacts of plastic use and advance pathways and where to target action. change is the School of Earth and research into sustainability that is Environment replacing its centrifuge already underway. Story Continued on Page 5. 2 | News thegryphon.co.uk - In a 19th Century impressionist painting by Claude Monet Editor’s Letter: In contrast, here’s a list of places I wouldn’t expect to see a poppy: Dear readers, - On the lead with which you walk your dog It’s that time of the year again: the - On the fender of your Range Rover in the middle of April darkened autumn sky has been set - On the baggage handler cars at Manchester Piccadilly Train alight by bonfires, kids are throwing Station live fireworks at locals on the - On top of another poppy Editor of the Week streets of Leeds, and James McClean - On somebody’s Facebook profile picture has tweeted about the poppy. That’s The poppy’s strength lies in its understated nature of being a right, Christmas is coming - breathe subtle but poignant reminder that the person wearing it will take Inaya Folarin in and sniff that festive air. In this conscientious steps in their life to ensure death on a mass scale Inaya came into the liminal space between the 5th and 11th will never reoccur. But when it becomes so damn commercialised, office on her birthday of November, the clouds of gunpowder and when you can purchase poppy earrings, poppy bags and poppy to upload this week’s sparkler smoke have made way for the even cloudier debates stickers for cars on Amazon, it loses its core value and becomes Features articles onto surrounding the Remembrance poppy - ‘Poppy Rage’, as some of nothing more than a misappropriated commodity. the Gryphon website. the more snowflake-y members of our generation may know it. In previous years, the issue of The Gryphon published before Did someone say trooper? No - just me? In recent years, heated arguments concerning the poppy seem remembrance Sunday has accompanied The Gryphon logo with a Oh well. Either way, to be popping up across every media outlet, comments section, little image of a poppy. Despite looking like the kind of man who enjoy the birthday message board - even just during your average late night bleeds an endless stream of purified poppies every time he shaves celebrations, Inaya - “ McDonalds outing. To add my two cents to the discussion, and his head, my predecessor, Reece Parker, resisted this temptation. you deserve a good despite Guy Fawkes being fully out of our systems, I’d like to open As will I. To pop a poppy on the front page would not be an act one. up an avenue of discussion by comparing some of the similarities of remembrance, it would be an attempt to capitalise on people’s Quote of the Week between Bonfire Night and the poppy. emotions to encourage them to pick up a copy. What intrigues me most about these two cultural icons is that Wherever you stand when it comes to the poppy, it’s clear that it “Hai, si, ja! they both seem to have evolved to taken on forms and meanings is an incredibly emotional issue, and no amount of political logic or Hold tight.” which are distinctly separate from their original history. dogmatic rhetoric is going to outmanoeuvre the deep and personal Remember, people first gathered round piles of flaming wood to connection people feel towards honouring or remembering the Following news of a burn an effigy of a man who failed to blow up a room full of Tories dead. And at the end of the day, we need to respect other people’s comeback tour, the - and I don’t think too many inhabitants of Hyde Park get out of opinions, and know that whether they wear a poppy or not is not “Spice Girls revealed bed to celebrate this exact same sentiment nowadays (thanks Ellie an indication of ignorance, nor an indication of how much someone the lyrics, previously Montgomery for that lovely and now fully-referenced soundbite). ‘loves’ their country. thought to say “I The poppy is currently undergoing a similar fate. A symbol Put simply, the appeal of the poppy is about learning from and see ya, hold tight”, actually mean “Yes, which, to me, stands for respectfully remembering those who avoiding the mistakes of the past. Remember, during the two yes, yes!” when have given their lives in the line of duty, and acknowledging the minutes of silence which will occur this Sunday, 57,000 bullets will translated from sacrifices which service men and women make in the name of be manufactured, 30 new firearms will come off the production line, Japanese, Spanish protecting their family, their friends and their country, has been and 1.3 people will die as a result of armed conflict. It’s stats like and German. appropriated into a symbol of British pride and division. The poppy these which we should also be contemplating when remembering is meant to bring about the end of wars, not to glorify them. As the fallen on Sunday. Credits such, the untainted comfort with which I wore the poppy as a child I’m going to spend this weekend remembering fallen service men has now been replaced by the crippling guilt I feel when I don’t and women in my own time, and playing with my brother’s new Editor-In-Chief ~ Robbie Cairns wear one, and the unexpected shame I feel when I do wear one. Dalmatian puppy who is, quite ironically, called Poppy. Whether Wherever I go during the first weeks of November, I seem to be I will be wearing a poppy will be a decision that I do not expect Associate Editors ~ hyper-aware of all the unusual places in which I’m starting to find anybody else to be involved in. Polly Hatcher poppies. For context, here’s a list of places I would expect to see Whatever you choose to wear on the 11th hour of the 11th day Ian White a poppy: of the 11th month, 100 years after the end of the First World War, Digital Associate ~ - On someone’s chest make sure you’re wearing it for the right reasons. Bella Davis - As part of a wreath or war memorial Stay classy, Robbie Cairns News ~ Megan Editor-in-Chief Cummings, Zahra Iqbal, [email protected] Eleanor Smith Society ~ Rose Crees Contents: 4-7 News Features ~ Inaya Folarin, Tara Lee, Somya Mehta 8-11 Features Views ~ Ed Barnes, Hamzah Bharwani, Eleanor Noyce 12 Society Science ~ Michelle Heinrich, Alec Sims Business ~ Shona 13-15 Augustinus, Julia Views Constable Sport ~ James Felton, Cian Fox, Will Pickworth, 16-17 Business Ryan Wan Design ~ Robbie Cairns, Polly Hatcher, Ian White 18-19 Science Head of Photography ~ Giulia Bardelli 21-24 Sport thegryphon.co.uk News | 3 Exec Columns: This week, we’ve had loads of different Chancellor on what the University is small, submit your ideas online or pop things going on.