Embarking on my academic journey at the University of East Anglia in England, I find myself immersed in a culture that deeply values sustainability. My life here at UEA, with its picturesque landscapes and historic charm, has taken on an eco-conscious living, and I’m excited to share my observations.
Here’s a glimpse of the eco-friendly dining on campus: wooden utensils and napkins made from recycled materials.
From the moment I touched down on campus, I noticed a remarkable commitment to sustainability in the everyday aspects of life. It’s not just a trend here; it’s a way of life. Take, for instance, the small but significant items like napkins and wooden utensils. It’s heartening to see that these seemingly mundane items are crafted from recycled materials, embodying a commitment to reducing waste and embracing the ethos of a circular economy.
Campus garbage cans with clear instructions for responsible recycling: blue for general waste, green for mixed recycling, and white for food waste, and they are around the whole campus. There is also detailed instructions next to them in case people are confused about throwing out what where.
The dedication to sustainability extends beyond personal choices to the very heart of my academic haven—the University of East Anglia’s campus. Recycling bins are ubiquitous, making it incredibly easy for students and faculty alike to participate in the collective effort to reduce, reuse, and recycle. This widespread availability of recycling facilities is a testament to the university’s dedication to minimizing its environmental footprint.
The Sainsbury Centre’s current art exhibition, “The Stuff of Life / The Life of Stuff,” where visitors will meet artworks composed of salvaged materials, resynthesized fragments, and e-waste.A cool fact I learned from my supervisor at the conservation lab who gave me a tour of this exhibition was that the walls are normally reused from exhibition to exhibition, but normally they are painted over for the next show. The walls for this show were reused, but not painted over, so you can see scratches and damage, keeping with the recycled look of the exhibition.You can see the damage more clearly on this wall with the wall text for the exhibition.
At the pinnacle of this sustainable wave is the ‘Stuff of Life’ art exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. The name itself speaks volumes about the essence of the showcase—every piece telling a story of renewal, repurposing, and the beauty that emerges from sustainable practices. As an art history enthusiast, this exhibition has become a source of inspiration for me, weaving together creativity and consciousness in a truly impactful way.
This is a photograph of the artist Mary Mattingly, an American artist, pulling a large boulder made from her stuff through New York City, commenting on excessive consumption of today’s society.This is a boulder created by the Sainsbury Centre, following the artist Mattingly’s instructions, made of waste generated from the de-installation of the previous exhibition of the gallery space. Even though the Centre tries their best to be sustainable, this shows the challenge. I thought it was cool that the museum contributed an artwork to the exhibition in their own way.This photograph by Belgian artist Fabrice Monteiro working in Senegal is inspired by environment problems the artist witnessed in Senegal, including oil spills. It centers around a figure inspired by West African masquerades and animism, who is wearing a couture-like costume made of trash and natural materials made by the Senegalese fashion designer Doulsy.This photograph by Monteiro is set in Agbogbloshie in Accra, Ghana, the largest electronic waste dump in Africa, where adults and children risk their health trying to extract the copper from electrical cables.
Exploring the exhibition, I’ve encountered pieces crafted from repurposed materials, highlighting the potential beauty that lies within what some might consider ‘waste.’ It’s a powerful reminder that sustainability isn’t just about minimizing our impact; it’s also about reimagining our relationship with the materials that surround us.
These photographs were taken by the Benin artist Romuald Hazoumè, and it shows oil traffickers, who carries black market petrol in plastic jerry cans that are weakened with flame to increase their volume. Because of high prices of fuel in Benin, petrol is routinely bought cheaply in neighboring countries like Nigeria, then these oil traffickers bring it back, which is extremely hazardous.These are salvage plastic jerry cans, once used for illegal transportation of fuel, which were reformed to make masks by Hazoumè. The artist is making a comment on how western Europe imports African art, often masks, and then export its waste and trash to African countries (like the electronic waste dump in Ghana). This unjust system of trade is described as environmental racism.This artwork by El Anatsui was fabricated from flattened aluminum liquor bottle caps the artist found and they were stitched together with copper wires.
Beyond the confines of the university and the art exhibition, the broader UK community has embraced sustainable living in various forms. The prevalence of recycling bins in public spaces echoes a collective responsibility to care for the environment. It’s heartening to witness a society that not only acknowledges the importance of sustainable practices but actively integrates them into daily life.
Using recycled paper cups incurs a small fee here, encouraging everyone to bring their reusable cups to cafes and dining halls to contribute to the reduction of waste. Now, I am always carrying around my reusable water bottle and cup everywhere around campus.
As I navigate this landscape of eco-conscious living, I can’t help but reflect on how these experiences will shape my own perspectives and practices in the future. The commitment to sustainability in the UK goes beyond the individual—it’s a shared responsibility woven into the very fabric of society.
