Although the last few months brought about some unforeseen changes in the workings of the AG Nachhaltigkeit as initially projected at the kick-off event in January, the group was just as busy.
The green roofing project has taken off: The roof of the biomedical department at Mattenstrasse 28 is, after several months of preparation, covered in dead wood and substrate. In a last-minute effort, the group visited the roof once again before the closure of the university due to the new developments in regard to the Covid19-pandemic. Overjoyed at the sight of various tiny blades of grass, the group is now eagerly waiting for spring, when the roof will fully bloom. Of course, the group will not rest until then as they are currently discussing with Facility Services which other roofs of the university could use a green do-over and are engaged in the drafting of a proposal for a green roofing project of the ETH Basel building.
The other projects of the AG Nachhaltigkeit have similarly progressed: The Sustainbility Map now includes sustainable stores in Weil am Rhein, Lörrach and even Freiburg im Breisgau – it’s definitely worth taking a look at the new map – for those among you who hang around in Germany every once in a while. Those of you who prefer staying at home during these turbulent times are invited to check out the online services and sustainable initiatives the group has researched.
Over the summer, the AG Nachhaltigkeit has seen an addition in the form of the “Uni Basel on Ecosia” project. The group is in direct contact with the IT services of the university to install Ecosia as the standard search engine on all university computers and thus make the electronic infrastructures of the university a bit more sustainable. Currently, the group is developing a pilot project for the Faculty of Psychology. As such, it is highly possible that by the time we return to the university, it won’t be Google to help us find the correct answer at the university computers, but Ecosia!
Unfortunately, we also bring some bad news from the AG: The closure of the university due to the pandemic and subsequently, also the cafeterias, makes it impossible to continue the coffee cups project at the given moment.
In a brainstorming session, the participants came up with ample ideas on how to improve sustainability of the university to make up for the (temporary) loss of the coffee cups project: A guide for sustainable studying, an information hub with all sorts of information on sustainable themes, the production of sustainable masks and a collaboration with the skuba to come up with more sustainable goodie bags were just a few of the ideas the group brought up – and since all of them truly sound so wonderful, we’re not even sure which project we want to start with…
That’s it from us for this month. If you’re also interested in joining a project or have your own ideas on how to make the university more sustainable, scroll up and fill in our contact form – we’re always looking for new minds full of bright ideas.