Eco Oikos
Within the context of the Social Ιssues, Social Innovation and Corporate Responsibility course led by Betty Tsakarestou in Panteion University in Greece, we, a group of students, decided to band together and try to tackle a specific SDG (Social Development Goal) and find ways on how to contribute to its fulfillment.
WHAT ARE THE SDGs AND WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT?
Before we delve deeper on the specifics we should first explain what an SDG (Social Development Goal) is. They are “an urgent call for action” that aims to end poverty, improve health and education, reduce inequality, fight against climate change and other aspects that should receive much more attention in the next few years. They are set by the United Nations and there are, in total, 17 of them. Our team chose the 7th, which is about affordable and clean energy. This particular goal tries to offer everyone in this world the chance to use the various renewable sources of energy humans have discovered, like the wind (wind turbines), the sun (solar panels) or the water (dams), among others. If we can make sure that most of humanity is taking advantage of these types of energy production, then we can both satisfy our energy needs and make sure that we are not harming the environment in the process.
As to why we chose to work on this goal, we all have our different, personal reasons, but there is one all-encompassing sentiment that the future lies within our ability to preserve the environment. Undoubtedly other non-renewable sources of energy have done wonders for our society but the cost has always been high and it is already getting worse. If we can find a way to protect the environment without compromising our efficiency then we are going to have scored a great victory and that’s exactly what clean and renewable energy can do. We have had it right in front of us all this time but we didn’t bother, so now it is time to pay attention to all the benefits this way of living provides us with. And so, as young individuals, we find it appropriate that we have the capability to spread and consolidate this wave of change.
Even though we, as a global community, have the resources, knowledge and capability to go green, we haven’t and there are major hurdles that must be overcome; millions of people simply don’t have access to electricity. In fact, in 2019, more than 750 million people were dealing with this issue. The use of green energy would make the process of providing these people with power much easier and less harmful to our already very damaged planet. If everything keeps going as it is right now, then we should see no change: a lot of people cannot and will still not be able to afford basic electricity services and even more will be using unclean technologies while others rely on harmful and dangerous and polluting fuels to cook, making them especially vulnerable to COVID-19.
Effective climate action will require accelerated action on modern renewable energy, especially for heating and transport. The main contribution came from the electricity sector, where the share of renewables now exceeds 25 percent, but electricity makes up only around 21 percent of final energy use. The remaining portion is concentrated in the heat and transport sectors, where, in 2018, modern renewables penetrated 9.2 per cent and 3.4 percent of the global market, respectively. Traditional uses of biomass — such as the burning of wood for heat — still account for almost 14 percent of global heat consumption.
All this current situation is exacerbated by the fact that financial flows continue to be concentrated in a few countries. In fact, the 46 least developed countries received only 20 percent of commitments. So most of the countries with the lowest levels of electricity access are LDCs receiving less international public funding than the global average when measured on a per capita basis.
WHO WE ARE, OUR MISSION AND THE IMPACT WE WANT TO HAVE
That’s when we decided to create Eco Oikos, with the objective to communicate this necessity as effectively as possible. At first we aimed big: Athens, the city. Obviously as a small group of students, there is no way for us to achieve this massive goal but we can contribute in smaller ways, and make an example that others can follow.
Athens relies mostly on harmful forms of energy production and because it is so large and with so many people living in it, the problems caused by pollution are greater than they should. For example, more than 6400 people die in Greece each year because of pollution and most of them (we are talking of the 58%) die in Athens. This number may not sound big but it doesn’t matter, deaths happen because of the lack of interest in green energy and this is unacceptable. We can help mitigate this number and, in general, improve the living conditions in the city. We also have a bit more interesting data. From 2020 there will be at least 13000 projects connected to the use of green energy and those projects have the potential to offer more than two million job opportunities. Moreover, those types of actions are cheaper and can save a lot of money for both governments and individual people. It is estimated that households can save up to 500 U.S.D. per year and emerging economies 156 billion U.S.D.. So, we can see that we all stand to gain from this new way of living. Besides, a change has already been happening. In the first quarter of 2021, it was reported that renewable energy sources were the dominant source of energy for the country with the wind and the sun (photovoltaic farms) being the dominant ones regarding electricity generation (49,13%).
This would be the ideal, long-term goal, but we understood the sheer scale of this project would be impossible for a group of students to currently handle, so we attempted to scale it down. This proved more difficult at first, unsure of whether we would be able to contact municipalities or companies working with renewable energies in our area. In the midst of setting up and disregarding plans, an idea hit us: the university. Not only are we students in one of them but they are supposed to be places of knowledge and innovation and so it would be really fitting if they were the first places to adopt green energy. By turning the universities green or, at least, spreading awareness, we are hoping that the Athenian administration is going to take notice and start taking steps towards improving the city and informing the public of the benefits of such a change.
We decided someone must take the first step, because this problem we are facing is not a choice anymore. Changing to green energy has now become a necessity. We communicated this through our TED-talk, available here: https://studio.youtube.com/video/o-JKVjh0CE8/edit
HOW WE STARTED TO DESIGN OUR CHALLENGE: OUR JOURNEY
We started with some research and got in touch with the university department in charge of sustainability. We were happy to find out about a plan dedicated to this specific issue taking place in the university. This plan had 3.5 million euros and some of its most important points were: heat insulation, LED lights for low consumption or the installation of solar panels in the building’s roofs, among others. They would be modernizing the current systems and implementing new ones for those who cannot be changed. So, the question then was: How do we join the plan the university already has, ensure it comes to fruition and raise awareness through efficient communication?
(For a visual guide of our journey, you can check out our miro board here: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVOcxqIHg=/?invite_link_id=383916449727)
WHO ARE OUR STAKEHOLDERS AND TARGET GROUP
To understand how to effectively communicate something, one must first know who it is they are addressing first. For us, stakeholders ranged from CEOs of companies that work in the energy field, all the way down to our own classmates. From the European Union to local activists, we realised all voices matter in this issue, but only a few are within our reach.
(Visual board of potential stakeholders and detractors: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVOcXw3mU=/?invite_link_id=585693762233)
We focused on our immediate environment: our classmates, our department, other departments, and everyone else involved in some way or another with our university. We asked the students to see what they thought and to get a general reading on what we were working with.
We found out they are poorly informed and disillusioned. Though in theory they care about the environment and wish for something to happen, they themselves are not very willing to take action. However this is not a result of a lack of worry, they simply don’t have enough information: 80% of the respondents knew nothing about the topic; they didn’t know about organizations related to renewable energies, they didn’t know if the university was doing anything about it, they hadn’t seen anything in social media, barely seen anything in the news… Overall, they were feeling aimless, lost, and disappointed.
This means that we must peak their interest and make it significantly easier for them to access said information, as the majority were also positively responsive to being a part of some project like ours, as long as it’s not too complicated. We must invest time in spreading awareness and creating accessibility.
This changed our project slightly, as we understood that getting the students on board might prove more of a challenge than what we originally expected, as we’ll have to fill in the role of the educator on top of being a communicator.
We worked on our target in class, creating a profile:
All of the information we are offering here can be also found in our social media accounts: twitter, instagram , facebook on all major platforms and in our website.
OUR FIRST INITIATIVE: THE WORKSHOP
Our first initiative was a workshop. We gathered people in a zoom meeting and gave them an introductory talk explaining our current situation with energy and the university plan. To make it more interesting and interactive, we proceeded to play a Kahoot game with questions and answers on the topic to further inform them about the issue (i.e. is renewable energy always clean? Which is the most used energy source is Greece? How many households can a single wind turbine power? etc.)
Next, the attendants were asked to create a collage related to green energy. They were challenged to be as creative as possible in order for it to have a greater impact on them and the other university’s students, as it was shared and posted on our social media. Again, we hoped to make awareness fun, interesting and engaging, so we were very happy to find out that this had been the participants’ favorite activity.
Here are some of their creations:
Finally, the audience was given a certain problem connected to our introductory talk about the use of clean and renewable energies within a city. Their task was to find alternative ways of producing energy within a densely populated city in a sustainable manner aside from wind and solar energy. We encouraged them to post their ideas on twitter under the hashtag #brighterfuture and by tagging us, for online visibility and engagement.
With this initiative, we hope to have an impact on the environment, making people who are not aware of the problem aware and supporting those who are. Apart from the obvious environmental good that our project would cause if implemented, with our proposals the university will acquire a better image, the face of someone who is socially conscious and energy efficient. Furthermore, in the long run, the university will benefit economically, because despite the investment and the high main cost, renewable energies become much cheaper over the years. As for the students, raising awareness may increase their overall involvement with environmental and other social issues. It may encourage them to join us/other initiatives, to start their own projects, much like ours, and with a little luck, this may even translate to other universities as well.
“When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money.” — Cree proverb.
Team members:
- Sara Granell Cabedo
- Mireia Saragossà
- Alexandros Kasfikis
- Zoe
- Francesco Oliva
