{"id":140432,"date":"2022-05-23T14:35:21","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T12:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=140432"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:17","slug":"i-believe-in-being-a-pain-in-the-ass-sometimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/05\/23\/i-believe-in-being-a-pain-in-the-ass-sometimes\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I believe in being a pain in the ass sometimes\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Erasmus Sustainability Hub alongside five student associations published a petition<\/a> in February 2022 demanding fifteen action points to the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The chair of the Erasmus Sustainability Hub, Berfu Ege, sees that three of them have now been partially implemented, but still wants to push the university further into a sustainable future.<\/p>\n

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As the chair of the Erasmus Sustainability Hub, Ege had a position at the Sustainability Liaison Network, a newly founded network for faculty representatives to discuss sustainability issues and solutions. Ege was the only student among the twenty faculty representatives.<\/p>\n

A little push from the students<\/h2>

In one of these meetings, a faculty member questioned the involvement of students in sustainability initiatives and belittled their actions on the grounds that that they \u2018graduate every 3 years\u2019. \u201cI felt like they needed a push from the students, from the Erasmian Community\u201d, Ege confesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many different efforts on sustainability coming from different student associations, but they are all disconnected. The impact we made was very little. That is why we created this petition as a group of associations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since its publication until the writing of this article, the petition has received over five hundred signatures. Considering that the campaign had minimal promotion due to the war in Ukraine, Ege sees these numbers as a \u2018good sign\u2019.<\/p>\n

Partial implementation<\/h2>

Erasmus University\u2019s Executive Board has yet to issue an official response to the authors of the petition. However, three\u00a0of the fifteen action points have already been partially implemented.<\/p>\n

A reusable cup pilot programme initially destined for only one restaurant, will be expanded to cover all restaurants and catering services that sell hot beverages on campus. EUR\u2019s press office detailed that the pilot programme will start the upcoming academic year and will run for a period of three\u00a0months.<\/p>\n

Another action point that is at least being explored, is about Ecosia, a non-for-profit search engine that uses its advertising revenue for reforestation actions across the globe. As a result of the petition, EUR has now started to \u2018explore the possibility\u2019 of making Ecosia the default search engine on all university computers. An official date has not been set for its implementation.<\/p>\n

Four new water bottle filling systems have also been installed on the Woudestein campus. However, Ege considers this to be insufficient. \u201cFour is not enough for a university with thousands of students and staff. They are all outside as well, considering the Dutch weather and if it snows, I wouldn\u2019t go out to fill my water bottle. What we are forced to do, and what I see in the bathrooms every day, is people filling their water bottles in the bathroom taps. This isn\u2019t sanitary. That\u2019s why we need more water filling spots that are inside the buildings, just like the ones in Polak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carbon neutral campus by 2027<\/h2>

When asked about the reasoning behind action point number five, which aims for a carbon neutral campus for 2027, Ege alludes to the European Geosciences Union\u2019s research<\/a> on the \u2018point of no return\u2019 set for 2035. \u201cWe wanted to give Erasmus University five years. It is super ambitious and maybe it\u2019s not feasible. But at least we wanted to see what kind of plan they could come up with. Right now, there\u2019s no plan, so that\u2019s worse. That\u2019s why I believe in being a pain in the ass sometimes. To speed things up and express the urgency. I hope we achieved this with the petition.\u201d<\/p>\n

But sustainability is not only about environmentalism. Inspired by the answers ESH received through their feedback form, socially sustainable actions were also included in the petition. \u201cSocial sustainability, like equality and accessibility, are part of sustainability. You cannot have a sustainable planet without having sustainable systems\u201d, Ege explains.<\/p>\n

Looking to the future<\/h2>

\u201cThese demands show us what the future will look like, what type of communities we\u2019ll live in. So, if we want our university to be a pioneer, we must incentivise these changes. By supporting this petition, we will contribute to making Erasmus University one of the first institutions to adopt sustainability actions\u201d, Ege concludes.<\/p>\n\n\t

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