When you say ‘planet’, you think of Greenteam. But what does VUB’s Greenteam do? And who’s part of it? We’d like to introduce you to Milan Calloens. He works at Greenteam and tells you more about what they do and why he’s part of the team.
Hi Milan, can you introduce yourself?
My name is Milan, I’m 21 years old and a law student. I’m in my master’s, and I study International and European Law. In my free time, I’m also a volunteer in the Flemish Youth Council and a couple of other organizations for youngsters. And since the start of this year, I’m also part of Greenteam. It’s my student job and there’s 5 of us working there. Maybe I should explain a bit more what Greenteam is? We’re a team of students who work on making the campus more sustainable. So we have set up several projects on climate, biodiversity, the environment and stuff like that.
A busy bee! You’ve been part of Greenteam for a year now, what made you join the team?
In my everyday life I already spend a lot of time on things related to climate, and on how to live sustainably, but I was never doing anything more with it. So I thought to myself: I want to make sure other people also get the chance to live in a more sustainable way. But I’m realistic, I can’t expect from everyone that they have the most eco-friendly lifestyle or that they really pay attention to every single thing they do. But that’s the fun thing about Greenteam. On the one hand, you can work with students that do already have that mindset, and with them you can elaborate on ideas on sustainability. On the other hand, there are also other students who are not so invested yet, and we can show them some sustainable things they can do on campus. For example, when you order a sandwich in the cafeteria, you know it’s made locally and from sustainable produce. So we want to make other students more aware about it, without it being too big of an effort.
And when would you consider your participation as a success? What would you like to achieve with Greenteam?
Well, that’s a hard question. When students who already live in a sustainable way have the feeling that the VUB is a sustainable campus. For example, that vegans feel at home at the VUB and know they can do as they always do. And on the other hand, that students who aren’t too fussed about sustainability, have the feeling: ‘Okay, by being on campus, I became more aware of some issues’, so more awareness about what they eat, what they do or the stuff they use. And that, as a consequence, their lifestyle becomes a bit more sustainable. If we can contribute to that and if students think: ‘It’s partly because of Greenteam that I changed my lifestyle’, then it will be a success.
And how do you try to achieve that?
A concrete example: we’re creating a walk on the campus, called Living campus walk, and that will highlight certain areas on campus. Like, this part is important for biodiversity or here we work on climate. So raising awareness. Or we also have a project, Green House Bash, where we visit the dorms to give some tips on being more eco-friendly, and organize a competition on how to live as sustainably as possible in a dorm. Every week we raise a challenge, which they have to complete with their dorm mates. That’s how we try to raise the sustainable engagement and create awareness.
We also hung up some birdhouses on campus, to contribute to more ecology. And another realization, by Greenteam and the student restaurant, is that you can get a Billie Cup there, a reusable coffee cup on the go. We also make sure there’s a nice offer of vegetarian and vegan food. So we spend a lot of time on raising awareness. Certainly now, in these times of corona, it’s hard to organize events, but it’s our goal to do that more often in the future.
You’ve already mentioned it: it’s hard to organize events right now. Which impact did corona have on your activities?
A pretty big one. I remember that we were working on several things in October, like an event on biodiversity, or the birdhouses that were supposed to be hung on campus then, or plant some flowers. And then a week later, we had to cancel everything. That was a shame. We tried to do as much online as we could. It was fun because people were interested, but it also made me wonder what we could’ve done if we had been able to organize something on campus. Then it could’ve been a bit bigger and a bit more fun. And also, Greenteamers love to be on campus, we try to chat with students there so more people know about us. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s beginning to look a lot better so we look forward to next year!
What are your thoughts on the climate case?
It’s complex. On the one hand, it’s obviously getting more urgent and more stuff gets done, like the European climate law. But on the other hand, I wonder: is it enough? There’s an international agreement that global temperatures can’t increase with more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, but will the measurements we take be sufficient? Unfortunately, I don’t think so. There will be some climate policy and we’re going to reduce the impact, but I don’t think we’ll reach that goal. And that’s a drama. In Belgium it won’t be too bad, but in other countries, in other parts of the world, it can make a difference between death or life for some people. People will live in unlivable conditions.
If I can compare it to the corona crisis, I think we can learn from it. We have to keep the scientific approach. Since corona, we started thinking way more scientifically on certain things: on the virus, the vaccines, and the infections. So when we think about climate change, we would best use that same scientific method. What should really happen? And what are its effects?
I view climate, and the measures we have to take in the fight against climate change, as something positive for us. What we do with Greenteam on campus, are positive things. No student has ever said to us: ‘The things Greenteam does, it limits my freedom, I can’t live my life the way I want to!’. So on a global scale, we don’t have to think about the fight against climate change as something that will limit our freedom, like the fight against corona did. The way I see it, we’ll get more freedom and we’ll live in a more healthy world.
So you, and Greenteam, want to send a positive message?
Yes. We need a bit of the urgency and a ‘be careful’ message, but the fight against climate change, which we have to do all together, is positive and will change things for the better for all of us.
Do you think more people will listen when you say it in a positive way? Instead of telling them what they can’t do?
Absolutely. I notice that with my friends. Some of my friends say: ‘You don’t have to convince me, I know why we do it.’ But others say: ‘Comfort is more important to me.’. So yeah, when you can spread your message in a positive way, they will be more likely to listen to it and act on it. For example, travelling by plane. You can say: ‘You should not travel by plane anymore!’. Or you could say: ‘Travel by train to get a new travel experience!’. Some people will then even say: ‘If it’s good for the climate, it’s just a fortuitous coincidence.’ But that doesn’t matter because we’ve reached our goal: making them do something in a more sustainable way.
I think the governments also have a huge responsibility to create a climate policy, but they should do it in collaboration with citizens. Greenteam is a good example for this, we show how we can work together with students and staff. So the world can learn that from Greenteam.
And how do you see that work in society? It seems more easy to collaborate like that in an organization.
Imagine if every city in the world, so to speak (laughs), has their own Greenteam, to put it that way. That everyone knows, these people are working on making our city more sustainable, they’re the contact point for climate policy in our city. So when you have an idea, you can present it to them. That’d be fun, for everyone to have their own personal Greenteam. But it can’t be just to organize fun, sustainable parties. There also needs to be more investments, with money and manpower, to be able to create enough change.
How do you think the climate case will evolve in the future? Are you optimistic?
I’m an optimist, so I’m going to say yes (laughs). Especially after the pandemic, I’m positive and I’d like to think people will learn from it, do things differently. Maybe their lifestyle will be more sustainable and people will care more about health, the smaller things in life, like nature, but also other people.
What are your goals in life?
Oh, that’s a big question. Let me think. Whatever I do as a job, I want to contribute to a… how to say it… to make sure all people have it well in the world. I’m in a very privileged position: I live in the western world, I study at a university, I don’t have financial problems. But I know that there’s a lot of people in the world who are not that lucky. So I want to help them, so that they can study or live in a comfortable and safe place. If I can make life better for a few people that way, that would be amazing to do as a job. And, of course, at the same time making sure that my carbon footprint stays as low as possible. I know that as a person in the West, my carbon footprint is way higher than the one from people in different parts in the world. So continuously limiting that, that’s also a goal.
And where would you like to work?
If I have to be concrete, I think of places that are hit hardest in the world, for example by drought. Like Africa, or other parts in the world. Contributing to measures on climate adaptation, so people don’t have to flee because it’s not livable anymore. Helping to make sure that they have good living conditions, despite the climate change. That would be a nice job, one that makes an impact.
And do you think it will have more impact to be there, in those places?
Yeah. I see myself working on policies as well, but my issue with that is that you don’t see your realizations. And then you don’t have any feeling, or you lose it, with the people you’re doing it for. So yeah, certainly in the beginning of my career, I’d rather be in close contact with the people there and see my realizations. That’s important to me.
And in the near future, you’re not leaving Greenteam yet?
Exactly. As long as I’m a student, I’ll be in Greenteam, so for sure for next year. We’re also going to look out for new Greenteamers, as some of our current members are stopping. So anyone reading this, if you’re interested… (laughs).