Shifting mindsets: Let’s be more sustainable!
According to the UN sustainability is defined as: “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
Why is it so important to start thinking about our future generations? Why do we need to care about the environment right now? The simplest answer to this is because we are now living in a generation where natural resources are deploying faster than ever before. We are the generation that is experiencing all the positive and negative changes and how we start acting from now on, will have a huge impact on the future.
And for higher education institutions, educating the current and future generations, raising awareness about living and working in a more sustainable way is more important than ever before. Just think about the effects of climate change and their impact on our daily lives. Have you perceived the heat waves during summer? Seen the tormenting rains and floods on the news? Have you realised there is less and less snow on the glaciers? These are all the negative effects of climate change and the main responsible for these events are human beings and their daily activities. Shifting into a more sustainable mindset is vital for a change that will not only help the environment but will slow down the damage caused by human activities. These activities can be measured by using the term “carbon footprint”, this serves to measure the amount of greenhouse gasses a person generates. Many environmentalists are looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint, a simple way to start this is by raising awareness.
At Expertise in Labour Mobility, we are getting more aware of the impact human actions have on the environment and try to take action: we have joined CANIE (Climate Action Network for International Educators).CANIE’s vision is: “to strive for a carbon-neutral and climate literate international education sector by 2030”. To achieve this vision, ELM does not only follow the three R’s (reusing, reducing, and recycling), but we also encourage our staff to take public transport, to use their own bicycles (as a real dutchie!) or (if possible) to walk to the office.
Moreover, we aim to make our work more sustainable. For example, in the office we make sure to print less and use more digital marketing, in this way we reduce the use of paper. Another example is the makeover our office had over summer: we installed energy-efficient windows, worked on our heating system, and have green roofs! They look nice and attract all kinds of insects and birds, even though some roofs are invisible from the office they do contribute to a positive impact on the environment.
Probably you have already heard the phrase: “We are running out of time”. This phrase, believe it or not, is very true because as mentioned before, we are currently seeing more natural disasters than ever before, and we should take those disasters for what they are: as a call for help from planet earth. The future of our planet depends on us, so let’s start making small changes at home and in our workplace. Small steps can turn into big change!
© 2022 – Blog written by Nicolle Rumay Giraldo for Expertise in Labour Mobility