2019 Student Engagement Finalist: E.N.S.T.I.B, Universite de Lorraine, France

Towards a healthy and well-thought consumption for life

Our proposal is based on the motivation and the will of students to be more eco-responsible, and their wish of saving our planet by reducing their environmental impact. A local farm provides students with local and seasonal vegetables. Our bike park has been renewed this year and bikes have been rent out. A compost bin makes students aware of waste repurposing and a vegetable garden teaches them basics about gardening. Waste sorting is a value which is more and more respected. Step by step, those habits have become simple life rules for the young generation, leading to a goal of good health and well-being, exchanges and sharing of good habits, while promoting social links between the youths. Thus, raising awareness of the necessity of sustainable actions is now a reality at the heart of student communities; those youths who will become the leaders of tomorrow, making theirs this quotation from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry : “Nous n'héritons pas de la terre de nos parents, nous l'empruntons à nos enfants (We do not inherit our parents’ earth, but borrow it from our children)”. 

Top 3 learnings:

1. Health education
2. Make students aware that food wastage shouldn’t be an option
3. Buy local and seasonal products directly from the distributor

What it means to win

“We would like to enrol our School in this international challenge in response to the dynamic involvement shown by our students for sustainable development and the values of environmental protection with all the actions taken. Today, this theme has become global and I think that the commitment of youth is paramount when it comes to this issue. The exchange of good practice in this field shouldn’t have borders. Young people, whether they are in France or elsewhere in the world, feel involved in their way of acting and can, by going into action, succeed in reversing the wrong turn taken today. The example given here can be easily reproduced and we want to share it and encourage small and bigger campuses to act with simple ideas and few means.”

This finalist is a Green Gown Award Regional Winner.

Videos

• Student Engagement Finalist: E.N.S.T.I.B, Universite de Lorraine, France (click to hide)