The Green Office is the new student-run sustainability office at the University of Bonn. "We inform and connect all University members and support them in their commitment to more sustainability," says David Schwarz, who is one of three student assistants in the Green Office. Together with biology student Liza Nemes and law student Sarah Marenbach, he works closely with the Prorectorate for Sustainability and the University's Sustainability Office. The Green Office is also formally affiliated with the latter. "When it comes to climate protection, biodiversity, circular economy and much more, the University faces major challenges that we can only overcome collectively," the geography student is convinced.
In the future, the Green Office, located at Genscherallee 2, will bring the model of sustainability working groups to the University through events, in which students, staff and faculty work together on the sustainable development of their respective areas. The first successful examples of this concept already exist in the form of the Fairtrade University Bonn steering group or the Biocamp project, in which students and lecturers work together to promote more sustainable management of the University's green spaces. The Green Office will also promote exchange between the active areas, for example through a regularly updated "Sustainability Reader", which provides comprehensive information on the topic of sustainable development at the University of Bonn, on goals, measures and projects. For the first time, there will also be a University-wide sustainability conference in 2022, which will ideally take place annually thereafter.
The opening of the Green Office took place at the Rectorate's building and was attended by high-caliber guests: Rector Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Hoch and the Vice Rector for Sustainability, Prof. Dr. Annette Scheersoi, spoke words of welcome. The Rector said, "Sustainable development is one of the key global challenges. As a university located in the German city of the United Nations, we want to be drivers of this transformation process ourselves. Following the successful establishment of the Prorectorate for Sustainability and the associated staff unit, we are taking another important step toward becoming a sustainable University with the opening of the Green Office as part of our sustainability strategy." Prof. Scheersoi added: "I am pleased that the sustainability commitment of our students is now substantially and permanently supported by the establishment of the Green Office at our University."
On behalf of the Ministry of the Environment, Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Katharina Burusig from the Department of Budget and Cross-Sectional Tasks, Food Policy and Sustainable Consumption conveyed greetings. On behalf of the student body, the former AStA chairwoman Rebekka Atakan spoke, who had accompanied the development process of the Green Office from the beginning.
Food rescue activities
At the end of the opening, things got very concrete: All participants went out to Poppelsdorfer Allee to visit a presentation on the topic of food rescue. There, a Studierendenwerk food truck served delicious bowls, colorful grilled vegetables, and bruschetta made from rescued bread provided by Foodsharing Bonn. The Green Office was present with a booth about sustainable projects, ideas and visions. At the stand of the consumer center, visitors could test their knowledge about food storage. In addition, a student project showed how to reuse the coffee grounds of the Studierendenwerk in a sustainable way. The action took place during the nationwide action week "Germany saves food" and as part of the NEiS project (sustainable nutrition in students' everyday life), which was initiated by the NRW Consumer Center and in which the University and the Studierendenwerk Bonn are involved.
"We are very pleased that we can now also work closely with the Green Office as part of our cooperation with the University of Bonn. At the start, we succeeded in implementing this great campaign where first-year students can learn about sustainable nutrition and also try it out right away." - Bernhard Burdick, Group Manager Food and Nutrition at Verbraucherzentrale NRW e.V.
Further voices on the opening of the Green Office:
"I congratulate very warmly on the opening of the Green Office. This is a great and right step to establish future topics such as climate and environmental protection, resource conservation and sustainability in everyday student and university life. The University of Bonn is thus one of the pioneers in North Rhine-Westphalia." - Katharina Burusig, Ministry of the Environment, Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Department VI-1 Budgetary and Cross-Sectional Tasks, Food Policy and Sustainable Consumption.
"The university has recognized the central importance of the topic of sustainability. I hope that the establishment of the Green Office will add value to the path toward a climate-neutral university." - Rebekka Atakan, former AStA chairwoman and co-initiator of the Green Office project.