Sustainable Transport Pledge 2011

Orientation Week (O’Week) celebrations at the University of Adelaide attract over 15,000 students each year. In 2011, the Office of Sustainability teamed up with the Environmental Collective of Students (ECOS), Adelaide Metro and the Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure (DTEI) to deliver the Sustainable Transport Pledge to encourage students to travel to campus by bike, public transport or by walking.

Research indicates that embedding sustainable behaviours is more successful when combined with a life changing event e.g. moving schools, starting a new job, moving house or starting university. This initiative asked new students to pledge to travel to University in a sustainable manner with a public declaration (via social media) and rewarded them with a small prize.

Over the four day event, 502 pledges were taken by student volunteers. Students wrote their pledge on a white board and had their photo taken with it for Facebook. The pledge photos were promptly uploaded onto the sustainability Facebook page for students to tag themselves. A number of students made their pledge photo their profile picture and discussed their pledge with friends. The social media element of this project helped cement individual pledges through a public display of commitment.

Check out more pledge photos here!