A RECRUITMENT drive was a top priority for Edinburgh University Young Greens at the start of the academic year.

A small society “badly hit by the pandemic”, it had also seen a number of its members graduate and at the start of September consisted of just four people. The push to persuade more students to join up paid off, with the total jumping to 30 by the end of the month.

Ruth Elliott, a third-year politics student, successfully ran for president at the AGM in November and with a restored membership, she hopes to get the society on the campaign trail with the main party.

That includes supporting the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which the UK Government is currently blocking, as well as MSP Gillian Mackay’s abortion buffer zones bill.

The society is campaigning to end single-use plastic in all University of Edinburgh cafes as, in Elliott’s words: “Someone has to set the ball rolling.”

However, as with other student societies, Elliott’s challenge has been getting members to turn up. “It’s frustrating,” she said. “How can we motivate people to come?”

External speakers have proved popular. At the start of the academic year, the society had Green councillors Ben Parker and Jule Bandel as guests. The latter is still a student at Edinburgh and was formerly society’s secretary.

Elliott grew up in Cumbria and was a member of the English Greens before switching when she moved to Edinburgh for her studies.

Thanks to her involvement, she plans to stay in Scotland after graduating. “Through getting more involved in the Greens, I have become more embedded in Edinburgh as a community,” she said. “The Edinburgh branch is a space I’m really comfortable in.”

As an environmentalist first, Elliott said that in her view: “Independence needs to be seen as a means to an end and not the end goal itself — a sustainable, liveable planet.”

She commended Scotland’s renewable energy production over rUK, saying: “Scotland is leading the way.”

“Climate change is the most urgent issue of our time,” Elliott added. “We need collective action – including the billionaires, the politicians, the corporations.”

In her case, that collective action starts at a university level. “Even though it’s a small difference, the small differences add up. We really matter, and our voices are strong.”