Fairtrade Fortnight 2023 at Falmouth University

25 May 2023

Stall at Falmouth University's Fairtrade Fortnight event

Fairtrade Fortnight 2023 5

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Film screenings, quiz night takeovers, workshops and collaborations with local businesses and community groups. Here's how Falmouth engaged with Fairtrade Fortnight 2023.

At Falmouth University, helping to inform and empower our campus community to make sustainable changes in their lives is a core part of our sustainability strategy. For our latest campaign, we turned our attention to our purchasing habits – the area of our lives that presents the most sustainability challenges, but also, the greatest number of opportunities to make a positive impact.

Tying into the national Fairtrade Fortnight campaign, which took place between 27 February and 12 March 2023, we ran a range of events in person and online, and created spaces on both of our campuses, where people could drop by to meet local, sustainably-minded suppliers. All this to help our community discover more about the importance of Fairtrade, and learn key considerations which will help them to make positive purchasing choices.

We worked with a number of people across the fortnight, including: the local Fairtrade Falmouth group, our Commercial Operations team, student societies, local businesses, and local interest groups. Jake Causley, Falmouth University’s Sustainability Coordinator, said the collaborations further empowered the on-campus community to make positive changes. “People often tell me they feel too small to make a difference in the world, but the truth is we all have incredible power through how and where we spend our money,” he said.

“Working with Fairtrade Falmouth to highlight the importance and impact of the Fairtrade label provided a perfect route into the wider theme. It’s been wonderful to collaborate with the local Fairtrade Falmouth community group – they have brought a wealth of knowledge and an exciting on-campus presence to our community!”

Falmouth University students at Fairtrade Fortnight event

Fairtrade Fortnight talk in Falmouth University's Sustainability Cafe

Fairtrade Fortnight talk at Falmouth University

Falmouth students at Fairtrade Fortnight workshop

From Fairtrade film screenings to a quiz night, workshops exploring the ties between banking and sustainability, to a clothes repair session, our events, activities and spaces were open to the general public as well as university students and staff, in an attempt to boost our reach and impact.

Some key themes explored during the campaign were what makes a sustainable cup of coffee, how buying local products from sustainably managed forests can help tackle climate change, and how we can unlock our individual and collective power to create change for the better.

The most popular events were a Fairtrade Takeover of the regular student quiz night and a film screening of Once You Know. The creation of two, flagship campus spaces also proved popular, consisting of always-on content, resources to take away and a total of nine stalls across the fortnight.

Guest stalls included local fruit and vegetables from Roots & Shoots, the local Green Party group, representatives from Falmouth Food Cooperative, and a presence from SwitchIt Green, a charity helping to educate people about the important links between who you bank with and investments in the fossil fuel industry.

Pat Fitzpatrick from the Fairtrade Falmouth Community Group said of the events: “It has been a great privilege having a Fairtrade space at both Falmouth and Penryn Campus. To have the opportunity to share the positive message that we can all do something, that Fairtrade is available locally and can be affordable is greatly appreciated. Sharing conversations with passionate, interested students has been very energising and very encouraging.”