A conversation with rootAbility about the Green Office model and their work.
Hey Felix Spira and Arian Meyer, together with two friends you established rootAbility. You were also behind the creation of the first Green Office, at Maastricht University. For those who have never heard of it, can you introduce rootAbility and the concept of a Green Office?
Felix: The Green Office is a student-driven and staff-supported unit that implements sustainability projects and policies at a university or college. As students, we have founded the first Green Office at Maastricht University in September 2010 (www.greenofficemaastricht.nl).
Arian: After all the successes and international acclaim we achieved in Maastricht, we established rootAbility as a social business to work together with students, staff and faculty from universities around Europe to help them set up similar sustainability units (www.rootAbility.com).
How did the idea of rootAbility come àbout?
Arian: When we graduated from Maastricht University in the summer of 2012, we decided to take our experiences and ambitions to the next level. After a lot of brainstorming we agreed to establish an organisation that would inspire, motivate and assist students, faculty and staff in taking the sustainability efforts of their university or college to the next level.
What was the most difficult moment in the life of the organisation so far? How did you overcome it?
Felix: In the first year, the most difficult thing has definitely been the constant ups and downs we experienced, which also relates to the fact that we were quite naive about how easy it would be to establish a Green Office.
Arian: What is important for us now is to share our vision, inspire and motivate people to act and set up a Green Office, while at the same time being quite realistic about how long it takes and how much work it is.
rootAbility aims at implementing student-led and staff-supported Green Offices at universities around Europe. What would you say is so special about them, and why do we need them?
Felix: What is special about a Green Office is that it empowers students to become drivers of a university’s sustainability transition, while at the same time closely involving staff and faculty. This way, the Green Office model allows for a more integrated and collaborative approach to sustainability, drawing on the strengths of existing initiatives from students, staff and faculty, while expanding existing capacities through the widespread mobilization of students.
What cities are you already active in, and what cities do you think could be joining the network next?
Arian: Sustainability units inspired by the Green Office already exist in five cities: Maastricht, Wageningen, and Utrecht in the Netherlands, as well as Exeter and Greenwich in the United Kingdom.
Felix: We are now also in contact with students, sustainability staff and academics from universities in Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg, Austria, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. So hopefully many more Green Offices will follow soon!
What possible cooperation do you see between rootAbility and AEGEE?
Arian: As Europe’s largest interdisciplinary youth organisation, AEGEE has a huge potential to sensitize young people for the opportunities that the sustainability transition offers and how they can positively contribute to it.
Felix: There are ample opportunities for collaboration between AEGEE and rootAbility, starting with joint workshops, summer schools, campaigns, or policy proposals related to sustainability in higher education, sustainability student engagement, as well as social and ecological entrepreneurship.
What are the top 3 tips you would give people interested in setting up a Green Office at their university?
Arian: First, go out, connect, and get inspired. We would like to encourage you to have a look at the existing Green Office models, as well as the sustainability projects that result out of them.
Felix: Second, do not settle for a second best solution. Do not get discouraged by the size of the task or the amount of obstacles your will be facing while interacting with the institution.
Arian: Third, start your own local movement, by creating an action group including students, staff and academics. But do not worry, we will work with you through all the different stages of the process.
Any other remarks you would like to make?
Felix: We would like to thank everybody that has so far supported our work and the Green Office Movement, especially profund – the incubator of the FU Berlin -, Maastricht University and our close allies in the student, staff and faculty community.
Arian: For all those that are interested in the Green Office model and our work, please connect with us and let’s get started in transforming the higher education arena in Europe.To learn more about the Green Office model, please watch the four minute video we made: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cOI8S-e5CI&feature=youtu.be
Written by Mathieu Soete, member of AEGEE-Leuven & AEGEE-Enschede