Green Offices
What is a Green Office?
A Green Office (GO) is a platform for sustainability that is established and run by students with the support of the university or Applied Sciences school staff members. The primary goal of a GO is to ensure that the institution is becoming more sustainable in all its facets. This way, the sustainable initiatives of GOs become more visible and thus the involvement of students on sustainability is stimulated.
The Green Office Model is created by rootAbility and consists of six principles, it::
- exists of students and staff;
- has the official mandate to encourage sustainability in the higher education institution;
- also receives funding to achieve the above;
- is integrated in the organizational structure of the institution;
- collaborates with internal and external parties;
- demonstrates how this change can be achieved through training.
GOs aim to ensure sustainability in all facets of a university or college, in both the academic curriculum and operations.
- The academic role covers the role of the higher education within society: What do we teach our students? Does the institution’s research lead towards making the society more sustainable? How are students and staff stimulated to get engaged in sustainability?
- The execution is more about practical matters that influence the ecological foot print of the institution and cover therefore energy, catering, buildings, waste, biodiversity and more.
Green Office Coordinator: Matthijs Hinkamp
Hi! My name is Matthijs, the national Green Office Coordinator. I study Earth Sciences at the University of Amsterdam and in the recent years, I have developed an enormous passion for sustainability. Through my work for the UvA Green Office, I personally experienced how much Green Offices can achieve when they collaborate, share knowledge and inspire each other. As a national Green Office Coordinator I will facilitate these processes through interesting and fun workshops, events, articles and newsletters. In case you would like to share something with other Green Offices or if you have a question, feel free to contact me at greenoffice@studentenvoormorgen.nl.
Green Offices that are members of Studenten voor Morgen are:
Would you like to start you own Green Office? Find more information at www.greenofficemovement.org. If you have questions, please contact Felix Spira at felix.spira@rootability.com.
