Green Office Blog

This year’s World Clean Up Day in Groningen was a huge success! Together with a team of volunteers, we hit the canals armed with nets and trash bags. Despite a last-minute boat change, we collected plenty of litter and gained a new perspective on the hidden trash along the water’s edge. The day showed the power of community and how every small effort brings us closer to a cleaner, greener Groningen.

In her blog, Gloria offers a fresh take on New Year’s resolutions. She's swapping out the mundane bullet points for an exciting list of climate-focused events to attend throughout the year. If you too think that New Year’s resolutions are outdated, read on, get a pen and be ready to mark your calendar for a round-up of sustainable, fun and socially engaged events throughout the year.

The FreeCafe provides a space for volunteers to actively address food waste in a meaningful way. Its concept goes beyond this, involving volunteers in a social manner that fosters a warm and inviting atmosphere. This approach turns the task of combating food waste into an enjoyable and satisfying experience for volunteers, ensuring they leave the FreeCafe with both a full stomach and a sense of fulfilment.

The actions we undertake on a daily basis have a small but substantial echo and there are many steps we can take both as individuals and as a society to lower our carbon footprint. These have a multiplier effect on our friends, family and peers. Gloria beliefs that the most powerful way of leaving a mark on Earth is precisely by having as little impact as possible. As a rule of thumb, think twice before throwing away food. Find ways to use stuff that is past their use-by date but still safe to eat. Outfit your kitchen cupboard with bread, legumes, couscous, nuts and spices. True game changers in the fight against waste!

Spending time in nature can have a positive impact on mental health and overall well-being. Walking in nature can increase energy levels, improve focus, reduce stress, and enhance creativity. Evolutionary psychology suggests that natural environments are easier for humans to process and can lead to a feeling of connectedness, which can improve attention and self-discipline. Tips for starting a walking routine include starting small, stretching to warm up, ensuring safety, and finding ways to stay motivated.

In this blog, you will find out how to plan your trip in nature. How can learning new activities, volunteering, and meeting new people positively impact the environment?  Choosing the right places to visit, engaging with local businesses, and sharing transport are some of the strategies that Larisa uses when she travels. Learn about her experience and how to put the concepts into practice!

The coffee and tea industry face several environmental challenges. The production is climate dependent, chemical pollution is a key issue, and waste is created throughout the chain. What underlies these challenges, and how can we help overcome them? By choosing sustainable brands, reducing our own waste, and supporting local businesses, we can promote sustainability in the coffee and tea industry.

During the Sustainability week, the Green Office and the Faculty of Science & Engineering’s program ‘FSE is going green’ collaboratively organized several litter-picking walks.  In this blog, Nils shares his experience of the trash picking event at Zernike. Acknowledging that people might experience psychological barriers, he and his friends were pleasantly surprised by the activity.

The days are getting colder, and with the current energy crisis, conserving energy has become more relevant than ever before. But how can you best save energy as a student? In this blog, Sarah walks you through the basics and offers 6 tips on how to stay warm. She advises to embrace the sun, wear layers, prevent drought, get an infrared radiator, ask your landlord for insulation, or focus on warming up your body. Don’t worry if you can’t work through all the tips, nobody is perfect and some action is better than none!

Do you have a balcony, or even a (small) garden? Make your outdoor space winter-ready within three steps! In this blog,  Jylles explains why now is the time to invest in plants, how you can help out birds & insects, and the benefits of doing nothing! Learn how to make your green-area winter-proof for plants & wild-life, and prepare to flourish in the spring!