Exclusive: We spoke to the Bristol Uni student who graffitied on Senate House

Last month, a member of Extinction Rebellion Youth Bristol (XRYB) got in touch with their creative side and spray painted the words “Greeen Washed” on Senate House in protest against “the university’s complacency when it comes to the climate emergency”.

The Bristol Tab can reveal that the elusive Banksy impersonator is a second year geography student at Bristol Uni.

We spoke to Alex*, not their real name, in order find out why they spray painted the exterior of Senate House. 

Why have you spray painted Senate House?

“I view the university to be guilty of greenwashing and people need to be aware of the cost of their complicity. It was an act of defiance against the university’s complacency when it comes to the climate emergency.”

What does greenwashing mean?

“Essentially, it means they claim that they are committed to preventing the climate disaster when in fact it is actually nonsense and just an advertising tool.”

How is Bristol Uni guilty of greenwashing? 

“One look at the Bristol Uni website will tell you that it is presenting itself as ecofriendly and at the forefront of researching the climate crisis. Their page on the “climate emergency” claims that “Bristol was the first UK university to declare a climate emergency” and that it is “committed to taking action on climate change”.

“The website further claims that “the University has divested from fossil fuel investments, pledged to become a net carbon neutral campus by 2030, and invested £10 million in energy-saving technologies.”

“These declarations all sound rather impressive, however, although the University of Bristol is presenting itself as “green” the reality may be slightly different.”

XRYB have accused Bristol University of taking more than £20million in research & consultancy fees since 2017/18 from defence firms such as Boeing.

An XRYB activist stated: “We will not accept that University of Bristol portrays itself as “green” whilst still receiving money from defence corporations.”

A spokesperson for the University of Bristol said: “The University Civic Engagement Committee, which includes student members, is overseeing the development of and Ethics of Partnership framework, which will guide decisions around partnerships, including with defence firms.

“We proactively work with a diverse range of employers across all sectors to ensure that our students have the best career opportunities possible.

“At present, defence firms are permitted to attend events and advertise vacancies; however, they are not permitted to sponsor events. We believe that allowing students to make informed choices is the best and fairest approach.”

Despite studying geography, Alex* feels that their course does not focus heavily enough on climate change.

They told The Bristol Tab: “I am studying geography and there has not been a single course taught on climate change which is ridiculous. The climate disaster is putting billions of future families in danger and if this were a war time scenario we would be flooded with information.”

Whilst there is no geography unit explicitly called “Climate Crisis”, the geography department insist their course provides all the teaching and activities to develop a “full and rounded understanding of the science underpinning climate change”.

Alex* also took issue with geography field trips that are part of second year units that send students abroad to cities such as Mallorca, Barcelona and Marseille.

“Bristol Uni is unnecessarily and lavishly flying 150-160 students around Europe which seems abhorrent,” they said.

The geography department maintain that when they consulted students on the future of field trips in 2019/20, “the overwhelming response at that point was to maintain overseas field trips”. They don’t deny that the university pay for these trips but argue that by keeping the trips mandatory, it avoids being exclusionary.

What can Bristol Uni do in regards to being more ‘green’? 

“Allow Extinction Rebellion to have a society! They have been banned from being a society because apparently they’re ‘too radical’.”

Bristol SU explained: “Extinction Rebellion have chosen not to become an affiliated Bristol SU group because they want to be able to act freely and do not wish to be constricted by the Bristol SU Code of Conduct.

“The door is always open to Extinction Rebellion to become an affiliated student group.

“XR Bristol Students have regularly been invited by SU Officers to be part of the Bristol SU Welcome Fair, and this year they had a stall and craft area where students could learn more about the movement.”

A spokesperson for Bristol Uni said: “The University of Bristol plays a key role in tackling environmental change through its research, its teaching and how it operates. The University Civic Engagement Committee, which includes student members, is overseeing the development of an Ethics of Partnership framework, which will guide decisions around partnerships, including with defence firms. We look forward to working with our community to develop this framework.

“Sustainability remains one of the central strands shaping the University’s vision of the future. We were the first in the UK to declare a climate emergency in 2019 reaffirming our strong and positive commitment to take action on climate change and, a year later, in 2020 we completely divested from all investments in fossil fuel companies.

“The Cabot Institute for the Environment is at the forefront of world-leading research into environmental challenges and our expert academics provide advice and guidance to decision-makers on an international, national and local level.”

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