CEU Graduates Lead Sustainable Development Workshop in Moscow

Three CEU graduates visited Moscow to implement an environmental activism skill building workshop that focused on developing strategies for encouraging sustainable transitions in universities and communities. In its second consecutive year, this summer's three-day workshop from August 19-22 was titled “A Green University: Start with Separating the Waste.”

The workshop was held at Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design in Moscow, and attended by over 30 students and local activists who are currently studying and working in Russia. Lea Baumbach (ENVS ’12), Petr Kiryushin (ENVS ’12) and Logan Strenchock (ENVS ’12) collaborated with Danish and Russian colleagues to give a seminar that focused on helping attendees develop strategies and functional solutions for solving waste management issues.

While major themes of the workshop were waste avoidance, selective waste collection, and waste management solutions, interactive discussions also focused on communication strategies and community engagement. Workshop attendees are expected to develop foundational plans for sustainable develop projects that could be implemented at their respective home institutions.

A highlight of the workshop was an update from a group of students from the People’s Friendship University in Russia, who attended last year’s workshop and were inspired to organize an activism campaign which resulted in the establishment of their university’s first selective waste collection system. Workshop attendees were energized by observing how this motivated group of students were able to encourage a major breakthrough in their community with a few months of calculated planning, communication, and outreach. A video summary of their efforts can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9iAgWgHJ6I.

The workshop was supported by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation and the Strelka Institute in Moscow.

For more information, visit the following links:

Workshop description from the Strelka Institute website: http://www.strelka.com/en/summer/event/2014/08/20/a-green-university-start-with-separating-the-waste

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