Do you remember the article ‘Be the change’, which was published in The AEGEEan a few weeks ago? Did you have the chance to attend the workshop ‘Impact your university’ during the Agora in Patra? In case you didn’t, we got you covered with this article!

‘Impact your university’ was a workshop conducted by rootAbility, a social business that drives the sustainability transition of the European higher education sector by establishing and coaching student-driven and staff-supported sustainability units, teams and projects. They believe that universities and colleges should create new knowledge to solve complex sustainability questions. Universities and colleges are educating the decision-makers of tomorrow on relevant sustainability competencies. They should therefore reduce their organisations’ ecological and social footprints and assist regions in their sustainability transition.

Do you believe that you can change the world with a simple students’ project? Perhaps it sounds a bit difficult, but if you start small you can have an impact! As university students we are one of the biggest stakeholders in our society. With this manpower behind us, starting with our own institution can be a smart idea when changing the way we live. Later on you can always make it bigger. When rootAbility started, it began with the Maastricht University’s Green Office in 2010. They took sustainability matters into their own hands, the student’s hands.

In the workshop, rootAbility communicated the tools and steps you need to implement your own project. We learned that it is not so much about having ideas but more about executing them. Concrete planning should therefore play a major role before jumping right ahead and try to change things. Thinking about possible problems, strategies to mitigate them and ideas on how to engage the stakeholders for the project are necessary activities to ensure later success.

Photo by: Elise Bessieres

Using a project canvas, sustainability projects were identified through problem analysis, planned according to their needed resources and activities that were mapped corresponding to the desired outcomes. However, no one can plan a whole project in such a short period of time completely. Learning that further steps such as writing a project plan or proposal are required to move on was also a part of the workshop.

We can learn a lot from the business world, even when implementing sustainability projects. Taking the tools you need from different disciplines and working together with students from various study backgrounds further contribute to a project’s realization. With resources that are accessible at your university such as its infrastructure, the knowledge from professors and peers, its reputation or the university’s network, every student is in a unique position to impact their direct surroundings, while also improving your university experience.

Besides, the life skills learned in project management are widely applicable, and more and more employers are seeking graduates that have such additional skills. So, the knowledge acquired when executing a sustainability projects can be used later on and complement university curricula. At the end of the day you have the power to have an impact on the society! Think big, start small and change the world for the better!

In case you have any questions regarding student-driven and staff-supported change projects for sustainability, do not hesitate to contact iris.hordijk@aegee.org, or visit Rootability.

Written by Iris Hordijk, Policy Officer on Sustainability

Just close your eyes for a few seconds and think about nature on our planet. Do you see the glistering of the oceans in the sun, the colourful flowers in the fields and can you hear the birds in the forest? Amazing, isn’t it, what our planet looks like today? A source of life and diversity on all different levels and in different appearances…

From the beginning of our existence the human race has always put its stamp on the earth by changing the environment. With the growing world population and the consumption based economy there is no spot on the earth which is not influenced by us. Nowadays, humanity consumes the resources of 1.8 planets and we will need 3 planets by 2050 if the present trend continues.

A solution for this problem would be a more sustainable lifestyle and mind set. Sustainable means that the things we do right now could go on forever and don’t deplete the resources we have. Sustainability will increasingly determine the way we live, do business, vote and understand ourselves as a human species. The change to a sustainable way of living in this world therefore is the challenge of our generation.

University of Lund , Sweden

What could be a better place to start with the change to sustainability than universities? They are the institutes where our knowledge and understanding expands every day by research and teaching. Universities create knowledge to solve sustainability questions. Universities should practice what they preach, so be sustainable themselves as well.

Being a sustainable university goes further than separating the garbage and insulate well, education is a very important factor too. Students are important agents of change to steer the sustainability transition of universities and colleges. As Europe’s largest interdisciplinary youth organisation, AEGEE has a huge potential to sensitize students for the opportunities that the sustainability transition offers and how they can positively contribute to it.

Logo RootAbility

Are you challenged to make your university more sustainable? At the Agora in Patra the organisation rootAbility will conduct a workshop on how to make your own student driven change project possible. RootAbility is a social business which drives the sustainability transition of the European higher education sector, by establishing and coaching student-driven and staff-supported sustainability units, teams and projects. They believe that universities and colleges should create new knowledge to solve complex sustainability questions, educate the decision makers of tomorrow on relevant sustainability competencies, reduce the ecological and social footprints of running the organisation and assist regions in their sustainability transition.

Ever thought your university could do more with sustainability? Learn how to actively impact your university’s transformation process with your own student-driven change project!

Be the change!

What: Workshop Impact your university
When: Thurday the 1st of May
Where: Spring Agora Patra

Written by Iris Hordijk, Policy Officer on Sustainability

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