Sustainable Futures: Exploring the Impact of KLU's Sustainability Club
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Upon discovering that KLU didn’t have a sustainability club, Masters in Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management student Ronja Moritz and Kateryna Naidonova, who is doing a Bachelor in Business Administration, did the logical thing: they set one up. Since “Green Dream’s” formation last September, the club has grown to 16 members. Ronja and Kateryna, President and Vice President, respectively, talk about their enthusiasm for the club and ways of achieving sustainable impacts on and off campus.
Where did the idea for Green Dream come from?
Ronja: Both of us started last fall and during the Welcome Week we got introduced to different clubs and it was mentioned there was no sustainability club. It’s something we thought was very important, so, afterwards we went up to Student Services and said we would like to have a sustainability club, can we do that? They said yes, we could start our own club, do our own research and projects.
How do attract people to the club?
Kateryna: I spoke at a KLU Thinks Big event last year about sustainability. There I introduced our club and let the people know we would be happy to have them as members.
Ronja: We also use social media to advertise the club and invite people to join. We talked a lot to our classmates and other years, too. We didn't want to use paper as that goes against what we stand for.
What are you hoping to achieve with the club?
Kateryna: We would like to attract as many people as possible who are passionate about sustainability and improve sustainability on campus. Then we would like to expand our activities further to include workshops to reach more students and raise awareness of sustainability.
What else do you have planned?
Ronja: Our next big thing is we will try to be part of the positive impact rating for business schools: the PIR. So, asking students about how they see KLU’s sustainability level, and where their concerns are, and observing what is the university doing already. We gather and work with all the data we can get, and then submit our results to the PIR committee. They then write to us and, if we have any deficits, give us some help on how to improve those.
What are some ways that you can improve sustainability on campus?
Kateryna: We, as a club, don’t have much data on how things are done in KLU just yet. For example, we don't know how trash is being sorted outside of campus. We don't know how the university saves energy, but with the help of the PIR rating we can get this data and improve things.
Ronja: What we do have on campus, though, is water stations to fill our bottles and kitchens everywhere, so we can bring food to heat up. We have paper trash baskets in study rooms, and trash on campus is separated. There are reminders everywhere to be mindful about water and turn off the lights, and in the big kitchens there are ceramic cups you can use for to-go drinks.
What do you personally do to be more sustainable?
Ronja: Little things like turning off the lights when I leave the room, not letting water run, and using public transport and bikes. Instead of throwing away food, I eat it the next day or share it with friends. I'm a big fan of the App “Too Good To Go”. You can get food a bakery would otherwise throw out in the evening, for example, and have it for breakfast the next day. These are the easy things to implement.
Kateryna: I try to lead a more-or-less minimalistic lifestyle. I don't buy more clothing than I need, or I try to buy second hand. I try not to use plastic as much as possible. Sustainability has become a big part of my life since I started paying attention to what I do for a more ecological society.
What would you say to someone who was thinking of joining Green Dream?
Ronja: Just do it. Being a member and showing you are aware that sustainability is helpful because you make other people around you aware there's a club that specializes in sustainability. You will be in a community that is very open, very diverse and very supportive. You will be involved with a group of people who is passionate about sustainability and initiatives to make positive impacts now and in the future.