Sustainability Day offered visitors a broad array of attractions again this year, including a fresh fruit-and-veggie smoothie at the Healthy Campus stand with free information on healthy breaks, recycled jeans handbag sewing at the Green Office and bee watching through a glass pane at the Agroecology stand.
Easily accessible opportunities for all members of the University
The campaign day was organized by Team N (N for “Nachhaltigkeit” or “sustainability”), comprised of the Vice Rectorate for Sustainability, the Sustainability Unit and the student-run Green Office. “Team N is dedicated to anchoring sustainability as a core part of our mission as a university. I am pleased to see so many committed individuals across the areas of research, teaching, operations and transfer working together to make today’s campaign event possible and provide all members of the University with easily accessible opportunities to get involved,” commented Professor Annette Scheersoi, Vice Rector for Sustainability.
The event was designed in part to scientifically educate visitors on sustainability issues. The Sustainable Chemistry group, for example, conducted a live experiment at its stand, using a miniature fuel cell to show students how energy is generated through hydrogen reacting with oxygen. In addition to learning about the chemical process, visitors were informed of how hydrogen is the energy source of the future, taking a look at the hurdles yet to be overcome to enable sustainable production and widespread industrial usage.
Learning made fun—in and out of class
Playful new approaches to acquiring knowledge awaited visitors at the stand of the Lab for Analog Games and Imaginative Play (LAGIP) in the form of sustainability-themed board games—with insights into the principles of good game design. One of these is the University-wide simulation and role play game “7’rizons,” which is designed to promote a sustainable future through creative teaching concepts in higher education, and will run until 2028.
At the stand of Transfer Center enaCom, visitors learned about how University of Bonn research often yields sustainable products and services, such as Xiadani Orozco Angelino’s prototype breakfast cereal “Kuali,” developed for her bachelor’s thesis in nutritional science. The protein-rich Kuali cereal balls are made from barley left over from beer brewing processes, which is usually just discarded. Orozco Angelino received support from enaCom in developing the product prototype through an EXIST Women grant for female entrepreneurs.
Promoting biodiversity on campus
At the Biology Subject Didactics stand, visitors found information on building-breeders, such as swifts, pipistrelle bats and mason bees. The mission of the Building Breeder Initiative, formed by University staff and students, is to document the species nesting on University buildings in order to ensure protection of their nesting and resting places, thereby promoting biodiversity. As Dr. Julian Kokott commented, “The modern buildings of Poppelsdorf Campus do not offer suitable nesting sites for building breeders,” pointing out how the needs of building breeders can and should be taken into account in new building projects where the University of Bonn itself is builder. This was done for example in constructing the new Sample and Vegetation Center of the Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional, and Engineering Sciences (AEI), where fabricated swallow nests, hollow stones and bat boxes were deployed on the advice of the Building Breeder Initiative to create nesting and resting places that ultimately enhance biodiversity on campus.
Anyone who missed out on this anniversary event can look forward to the next annual Sustainability Day in May 2027, when individuals dedicated to transforming the University of Bonn into a more sustainable place will again converge on Poppelsdorf Campus.
