The recently started donation campaign "A tree for my university" of our working group is subject of an article in the local newspaper "Ostseezeitung". In the article Almuth Klemenz talks about the campaign's aim and current status. After two weeks almost 50 people have donated more than 200 €. The campaign is still ongoing and donations are welcome anytime!

We are glad about the successful start of the campaign! Almost 40 donors, more than half of them students, already participated in the donation campaign. We wish the willingness to donate money will last also during the next weeks and months!

The working group "Sustainability" of the "Junge Akademie" which was founded by Prof. Martin Wilmking published a collective article in the academy's magazine. Four members of the working group depict their perspectives on the question: "Does the idea of sustainability fail?" In his statement, Martin Wilmking focuses on the sustainability discourse at universities and recommends the institutional implementation of sustainability in research, teaching and university's operation. Looking on their own energy and matter fluxes and including these aspects in research and teaching, the universities could become excellent examples for sustainability on-site. Martin Wilmking would like the universities to take more action regarding sustainability aspects and that they - as happened so often in history - understand this debate as a chance to position themselves as a role model of a societal change. 

You can find the complete article here (available in German only).

Max von Maltzahn`s diploma thesis was subject of an article in the local newspaper "Ostseezeitung". Max has recently defended his thesis about the question, if Greifswald University could become an operator of wind power plants. According to his results the university could earn at least 85.000 € per year through operating one wind power plant. For that purpose an investment of about half a million € would be needed. To reach CO2-neutrality, the operation of two wind power plants would be necessary, states Max von Maltzahn.

Website of the picture contest: http://www.imagesoffascination.net/

Publication in the magazine of "Junge Akademie": http://www.diejungeakademie.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Media/JA_Magazin_16_RZ_01_Ansicht.pdf (available in German only)

Since 1st of May our team has enlarged by two reseach associates: Dr. Marieke van der Maaten-
Theunissen und Dr. Ernst van der Maaten. Both of them received their doctor's degree at Freiburg University and will concentrate their work on the research focus "Forest Ecology".

On July 1st Dr. Jeong-Wook Seo will leave our working group. He accepted a permanent position as a research associate in the Department of Forest Products, Division of Wood Engineering at the Korean Forest Research Institute in Seoul (South Korea). We would like to wish him and his family all the best for the future!

The results of Benedikt Gerigk's diploma thesis „Vegetationsformen, Wasserstufen und vertikale Kohlenstoffflüsse: Anwendung des GEST-Modells auf die Grünlandflächen der Universität Greifswald" (“Vegetation forms, water levels and vertical carbon fluxes: Application of the GEST model on the grasslands of Greifswald university“) are subject of an article in the local newspaper. Benedikt Gerigk's calculations imply that the 800 ha university grasslands emit a yearly amount of 7000 t CO2 – which is almost the amount of CO2 that the university is emitting every year due to operation. These data add another important piece for the “CO2-neutral University” project and will be considered when thinking of compensation strategies.

More and more universities are dealing with questions of sustainability as well as environment and resource protection. The article presents some examples for this development from different universities, also mentioning the project “Carbon Neutral University Greifswald”. With their dedication to environment related issues universities have found a strategy to bid for future students.

article (available in German only): http://www.faz.net/aktuell/beruf-chance/campus/nachhaltigkeit-an-hochschulen-deutschlands-unis-ergruenen-12021158.html