Events

We have organised several events at MSSL to raise the profile of sustainability. Below you can read about a few of these.

Star/Planet Gazing Walk 2025

To celebrate the great planetary alignment of 2025 (all planets in the evening sky) we organised an evening walk from MSSL in collaboration with the Department's Wellbeing Champions. We started from the splendid south-facing view of MSSL's terrace and headed for a loop across Holmbury Hill. The weather was ideal and the participants could enjoy the view of all the planets, particularly Venus, Jupiter and Mars, the latter of which were in a nice symmetrical pattern around the Orion constellation. We also saw the Orion Nebula and the Milky Way. 

The walk gave us an opportunity to:

  • Enjoy and appreciate a clear sky with little light pollution
  • Enjoy the wildlife and forest at night
  • Improve mental health and well-being
  • Connect with other people from the department

Orchard Planting in Dekens Field

At the end of 2024, volunteer staff and students planted a new orchard consisting of twenty fruit trees and three oak trees on the grounds of MSSL. Supported by Surrey County Council, this big occasion was organised by Holmbury House Social Club, Wild Space @ Mullard Space, and Green Impact. Read the full article.

Biodiversity Walk 2024

As part of a visit from our sustainability colleagues from the main Bloomsbury campus, we organised a departmental walk about the MSSL site. Whilst the weather wasn't the best, we were lucky to spot a variety of flora and fauna en route.

These walks are beneficial in lots of ways, as attendees get to:

  • enjoy and learn about the wildlife.
  • improve their mental and physical well-being.
  • connect with other people from the Department.

Interested in exploring the MSSL grounds? Follow our self-guided walk. 

Sustainable Christmas 2023

We invited everyone to the common room to share ideas about "How to have a sustainable Christmas". Staff and students shared many good ideas to reduce our environmental impact during the festive season while enjoying plastic-free sustainable food delivered by For Earth's Sake. Some of the ideas suggested:

  • Reduce waste: use up leftovers.
  • Choose a lower-carbon meal: white meat or a vegetarian/vegan option.
  • Give useful presents or buy second-hand.
  • Use reusable wrapping or save wrapping paper to reuse.
  • Reuse your plastic Christmas tree for at least 20 years.

Photo of staff sitting in a circle

Tree-Planting for the Queen's Green Canopy 2022

On 21st April 2022, the department came together to plant a tree as part of the Queen's Green Canopy. We selected a Hungarian Oak as a more resilient species for coping with climate change in the UK, to prolong its life for carbon sequestration.