In the globalized world, we live in we are constantly bombarded with news. It is easy to observe how information about climate change and its consequences take an important place in the media. A tweet, a news article or a video of Greta Thunberg warning once again about the need for change has become part of our daily lives. And yet, all information is little.
In our university, the Green Club tries to keep us up to date in the midst of this whirlwind of data. We talked to Lou Ladoire, president of the Green Club.
Could you introduce us to the Club, when it was created and what are its objectives?
The club was created several years ago, but its activity had been greatly diminished. During my first year at the university, four years ago, a group of students decided to start it again. We mainly focused on policy-changing in the university by for example avoiding single-use plastics in the cafeteria. We also organized the first “Green Week”, a full week of events and activities on sustainability. Our biggest problem during that first year was the lack of response from students and the administration, we felt that it had been disproportionate to the amount of effort we put in to organize the events.
What was your reaction to this situation?
It made us change our approach while maintaining the same objective at all times, to raise awareness on those issues that we consider important. , the Green Club has become an online platform. Social networks generate much greater response and impact and have allowed us to expand and connect with many more people than we had reached so far.
Social media is your main tool, how do you manage them?
We are very active in social media, especially on Instagram, @iegreenclub, where we update weekly information with new posts about current issues that concern us. Specifically, this week we are announcing the strike against climate change, several demonstrations are going to take place in Madrid, we understand that it is necessary for IE students to be informed of all this.
Tell us a little more about your initiative for World Cleanup Day.
The truth is that this initiative is both ours and Litterati’s. They contacted us through a formal graduate student who followed us on Instagram. The impact that social media is truly immense, there are opportunities to live new experiences that were unimaginable not too long ago.
Litterati is a company that collects data on garbage. The idea is simpler than it seems, they have developed an application that works through a personal profile. Every time you find garbage on the street, you can take a picture, locating the place and the material of the waste in question. In this way, a database is created that is updated promptly with all this information.
I believe that the Litterati initiative is really enriching since it not only helps to keep our planet clean but also helps us to become aware of the amount of garbage we produce. It is also interesting to learn about the different types of materials of this garbage.
Finally, the exact information we need to attend the Green Club & Litterati cleanup is…
We will carry out the cleanup this Saturday, September 21st from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the Plaza Mayor of Madrid. We recommend you wear gloves, preferably reusable, garbage bags and, of course, the Litterati app downloaded. If you have any questions you can consult our Instagram or contact us directly.
