The project "Green Campus VSU: moving on a green course" is aimed at informing about Russian and European environmental policy, developing environmental thinking, increasing interest in environmental protection issues and the general environmental activity of the academic community. The general partner of the project is the EU Delegation to Russia.
From VSU, the project involves the Office for International Cooperation, the faculty of Medicine and Biology, the faculty of Geography, Geoecology and Tourism, and the Botanical Garden. Representatives of VSU are planning to visit European universities to examine the experience of applying green technologies at the university campuses and develop cooperation in the field of conservation, environment, urban studies and urban construction.
Students will be able to present their vision of the "green campus" by taking part in the "My Green University" digital storytelling competition, which is scheduled to start in November this year. The best videos will be awarded with prizes from the organizers, and the most interesting ideas can be put into practice.
One of the key events of the project will be an eco-marathon, which starts at the end of October and will last until May next year. In addition to lectures and seminars on environmental topics, students will be able to take part in the Zero Waste Challenge, where participants will have to follow the principles of reasonable consumption for three weeks: refusing the unneeded items, save resources, replace disposable products with reusable ones, sorting waste for recycling.
In 2021, the university will start a separate waste collection and work will begin on creating of «green spaces» on campus.
Within the framework of the project, it is planned to create an Organic apothecary garden, which will become a green laboratory for students of relevant faculties: they will be able to learn how to plant, grow and process medicinal herbs and prepare herbal teas and soft drinks.
It is also planned to create «green walls» on the territory of the university – special installations consisting of potted green plants of certain species which will help to reduce noise levels and create a more comfortable and healthier microclimate inside the university building.
The project will end in September 2022 with the «GreenFest» – a public event devoted to presentation and demonstration of the project results and opened to wide public.
At the festival, it will take stock of the results of the year of the project. Visitors will be able to take part in a number of workshops and seminars, taste drinks from herbs grown in the Organic apothecary garden.
The official pages of the «Green Campus» will soon be launched in social networks, where you will be able to find out all the relevant information and follow the progress of the project.
