Sustainability Day 2024 filled with inspiring lectures, workshops, a ClimateCasino and SpaceBuzz

On Tuesday 1 October, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht organised the Sustainability Day (Dag van de Duurzaamheid) during the Utrecht Science Week. This year, the theme of the day was ‘A social and fair sustainability transition’.

Globally, the urgency to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and inequality is being sensed. Students and teachers in higher education are also calling for more attention to these issues. It is important to explore together how sustainable ambitions can be shaped and how everyone can contribute to a sustainable and fair society.

The opening
The day began with the plenary programme in a full lecture hall at Padualaan 101. Day chairman Aniek Moonen, former president of the Young Climate Movement, opened the day and introduced the theme. Next to speak was Wilma Scholte op Reimer, chair of the Executive Board, followed by welcoming the keynote speaker Eva Rovers. Eva is a writer and director of ‘Bureau Burger Beraad’. She took the audience through 4 ‘ democratic weaknesses’ that she believes are slowing down the transition to a sustainable society and how setting up a citizens’ council helps to solve this problem. The opening ended with a panel discussion, during which people discussed the topics.

Choice of eight workshops
The opening was followed by the workshop rounds, with the choice of eight different workshops. There were workshops on recognising climate disinformation, citizen participation in the sustainability transition and the future of higher education in the climate crisis, among others.

The Green Market
Throughout the day, the Green Market was open, with various activities from the Green Office, Gender and Sexuality Alliance and the Diversity and Inclusion Network, as well as others. These included learning about swapping clothes at the Swaplab and scoring a plant at the Plant Doctor’s Clinic. In addition, as part of Diversity Day, there was the Diversity Wall where people talked about diversity and inclusion.

SpaceBuzz and ClimateCasino
Besides all the inspiring and cool workshops, visitors could drop by the ClimateCasino, where they could test their climate knowledge in a game format, and the SpaceBuzz. In the SpaceBuzz, (a virtual) André Kuipers took visitors on a space journey. The chair moves and through the VR glasses you can see the earth turning. From space, you have the ‘overview effect’ and see how extremely beautiful, but also how vulnerable the earth is. The aim is to make visitors even more aware of climate change and motivate them to get involved.

During Sustainability Day, the importance of paying attention to issues such as climate change and the sustainability transition is highlighted. It is important to discuss this and plan how we work together to create a healthy, sustainable society.

Curious about all the other sustainability initiatives at HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, visit the website (in Dutch).