Master students and members of the Environmental Committee, Camille Darbo and Yannic Bucher, discuss Sustainability Week, which is held each year and serves to illuminate some of the greatest challenges facing the planet and how humans can act for positive change.
What does Sustainability Week contribute to the larger conversation on environmental issues?
First and foremost, our main goal is to sensitise students to the ecological and climate emergencies we are facing. Climate change can be quite an overwhelming topic and it is often difficult to find an entry point for people who are not familiar with the issue. The aim of Sustainability Week is thus to offer students an opportunity to learn more about environmental issues, meet experts and connect with other like-minded people. The week is also an important sign to the university itself to show that the student body cares about these topics. We think universities have a great responsibility to equip students with the required skills and knowledge to address these issues in their future careers.
What were some of the outcomes you achieved?
This week was very much centred on sustainable food, as one of the most impactful changes people can make is to change their diet. With the insect tasting many students discovered that grilled insects are a tasty, sustainable and atypical option to get protein.
The presentation by our cafeteria caterer Novae gave students plenty of ideas related to seasonality and food waste, while offering innovative food recipes to test. Novae also allowed two groups of seven students to join chef Christophe in the kitchen. The chef showed them how to bake vegan cakes and cookies, showing them that vegan desserts can also be sweet and sustainable alternatives!
Another event included a visit to a waste management facility in Satigny, which was eye-opening. There is a large amount of waste produced just in the Geneva canton and most of it is quite difficult to recycle. In addition, only 50% of what should be recycled currently is. After the visit, we developed a video to raise awareness about this topic and to incentivise people to reduce their waste.
In the same spirit, a clothes repair workshop was an opportunity for students to gain new skills to make outfits last longer and counter fast fashion.
Overall, we hope that Sustainability Week empowered the students by giving them some tools to act at their individual level in order to have a more sustainable lifestyle. It was also a great opportunity for students to engage with our initiative and spread the word on the types of activities we organise.
See a roundup of Sustainability Week's actions in this Instagram video.
