Var tredje sekund förlorar världen lika mycket skog som krävs för att täcka en hel fotbollsplan. Under det senaste århundradet har vi förstört uppemot hälften av våtmarkerna i världen. Så mycket som 50 procent av korallreven har redan gått förlorade och uppemot 90 procent av korallreven kan gå förlorade redan till år 2050, även om den globala uppvärmningen begränsas till en ökning med 1,5°C [1]. Detta och mycket mer är några av de utmaningar som mänskligheten står inför just nu och i framtiden.
I nästan fem decennier har Världsmiljödagen varje år den 5 juni ökat medvetenheten, stöttat åtgärder och drivit förändringar för miljön. I dag är inget undantag! I takt med spridningen av coronaviruset har miljön också visat på de katastrofala konsekvenserna av ekosystemförluster, där vi successivt har krympt djurens naturliga livsmiljöer och skapat idealiska förhållanden för patogener. Årets tema är “Ekosystemåterställning – Ecosystem Restoration” med fokus på återhämtning av ekosystem som har försämrats eller förstörts, samt att bevara de ekosystem som blivit intakta. Alla typer av ekosystem kan återställas, inklusive skogar, jordbruksmarker, städer, våtmarker och hav. Restaureringsinitiativ kan startas av nästan vem som helst, från regeringar och utvecklingsbyråer till företag, samhällen och privatpersoner.
Hållbart Universitet är en av Unga Forskares medlemsföreningar som utmärker sig särskilt i arbetet med att öka intresset för hållbarhet och miljöfrågor. Föreningen använder sin plattform för att få fler studenter att engagera sig i frågor om klimat och miljö, samt inspirerar till ett mer hållbart levnadssätt, vilket är ett utmärkt exempel på ett initiativ till att främja ekosystemåterställning. Föreningen arbetar hela tiden med att få nya idéer till verklighet och medlemmarna har ett stort inflytande i verksamhetens utveckling. Om vi någonsin ska kunna nå upp till FN:s globala mål måste vi ge plats åt fler unga röster i samhället. I linje med Unga Forskares syfte måste vi därför främja ett fortsatt intresse för naturvetenskap, teknik och matematik samt deras roll i samhället.
Med detta vill vi introducera vår medlemsförening Hållbart Universitet som kommer att berätta mer om sin verksamhet och hur de arbetar för att aktivt göra skillnad i samhället.
Hi! We are Hållbart Universitet or HU, a politically and religiously independent non-profit organization that is led by students for students. Our overall purpose is to strengthen and coordinate the student engagement in environmental issues and sustainability at Lund University. We aim to provide simple and practical recommendations and guidelines on how students can start their sustainable lifestyle through our website and social media. Along with hosting events together with our sustainability partners to get more students aware and active, we also keep students updated on all kinds of sustainability events, lectures and opportunities through our social media and website.
The current board along with the previous board members at the Annual Meeting held in January, 2021.
This year HU consists of the HU board along with 5 amazing working groups led by students who are passionate about the environment and have been doing their bit to spread the word on some serious issues we face at the moment. All of them are actively engaged in different aspects of sustainability with certain groups focusing on specific ecosystems through active intervention. I will now introduce you to these 5 brilliant groups and tell you a bit about their work:
Bee the Change
Bee the Change is a project that allows students and community members in Lund to learn more about the importance of pollinators and beekeeping. The aim is to spread knowledge and awareness on pollinator’s vital roles in ecosystems and how humans can also prevent challenges that pollinators face on a local and global scale. The organisation does beekeeping activities and aims to be an inclusive and open communal learning space around pollinators. There are regular check-up meetings at the beehives that are open to the public. Here, members and visitors get the opportunity to come very close to the work with bees. The organisation also organises educational and community events such as an open study circle around pollinators or beeswax wraps and lip balm workshops.
Food Saving Lund
Food Saving Lund or FSL is a non-profit that tries to reduce food waste by joining forces with various shops to pick up food that would otherwise be thrown away and distribute it among the community or store it in food banks. They give importance to community activation, personal connections, organise workshops and events to spread awareness at the grass-root level regarding the challenges of food waste. And thus in the process FSL has managed to save 8000 kilograms of food over the last year alone! They provide a wonderful opportunity for networking, opportunity to work on sustainability-related projects and events with a lot of other environment-friendly organizations in and around Lund. At the moment, FSL is working towards creating awareness which can empower individuals to make little changes in their everyday life that can eventually cause a ripple effect in the future.
Klimatstudenterna
The climate students Lund (KSL) are working to make Lund University (LU) treat the climate crisis as an acute situation and act as a positive role model in climate change and live as they teach. More specifically, their aim is to make the university work in line with the Paris Agreement and lower emissions from its own operations by at least 50% until the end of 2022. In other words, KSL aims to help LU develop into a university that is at the forefront of what it takes to manage and counter the climate crisis and a university that students and staff are proud of! KSL is aimed at all students at the university, regardless of subject discipline, level of education, gender, religion, ethnic or political affiliation.
Collect & Affect
Collect & Affect is our newest working group. The student organization plans to address issues concerning littering, usage of resources, and recycling to help create a better environment! The organization aims to collect litter and try to minimize the amount of litter that you produce by taking care of possessions instead of just buying new things constantly, therefore, the organization was named Collect and Affect.
Sustainable Leaders
Sustainable Leaders focuses on sustainability issues along with management. They aim to answer the question of how individuals can become leaders to help move our current society toward sustainable development. Over the years, they’ve been running events on everything from design thinking to communicating climate change, and recently they’ve started a great series of talks getting the inside line from entrepreneurs! Some of the talks conducted by them have been on ”Scaling Challenges in Sustainability Companies” and on ”How Can Entrepreneurs Drive Climate Action?”.
Cloth Swap event held by HU in collaboration with Circle Centre at Stenkrossen.
Apart from these five groups that are up and running, we are also starting a group that will focus on Sustainable Fashion as well as a podcast group. And who knows what else we might start working on in the future! We always welcome new initiatives and try to incorporate them into our daily work, or, if the idea grows large enough it can become a working group of its own. In addition to our collaboration with Unga Forskare, we have also launched a collaboration with both Medveten Konsumtion and Sustainergies this year. In Lund, we work closely with Circle Center and are proud members of Akademiska Föreningen.
For more information check out our website: www.hallbartuni.se
Instagram: @hallbartuni & Facebook: hallbart.universitet
You can also find us on LinkedIn and Twitter as Hållbart Universitet
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[1] FN (United Nations), World Environment Day.
https://www.un.org/en/observances/environment-day