This spring, young people from Norway and all over the world chose to put aside their commitments and instead protest for the future of our planet. It comes as no surprise. Climate change is not a possibility, it is a fact! The 16-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg from Sweden, the initiator of the school strikes emphasizes,
“What we do or don’t do right now will affect my entire life,
and the lives of my children and grandchildren!”
The message was clear when the students at NMBU went on strike for the climate, March 15th 2019 (Photo: Ørjan Olsen Furnes)
According to reports by The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (UN), continuing what we have been doing up until now, we are at risk of submerged lands, lack of drinking water, and loss of food resources due to the extinction of many different species. Not only that but imagine a world where people run from climate like today they do from war. Imagine a world with acidic oceans that your grandchildren will not be able to swim in, as well as frequent hurricanes that will bring these oceans to land. Imagine a world, where not only food but also good health is a luxury they might not be lucky enough to get. All this for the price of keep doing nothing with the bonus of being completely irreversible!
As students, we are the young people who want to see change and sustainability. We do not want to see the world crumble because we did not do enough. We also believe the university is the best place to start changing the world.
We are a transdisciplinary group enrolled in the Design for Society course here, at NMBU, with a goal to set our university on a course to sustainability. The university whose name, in direct translation, includes the word environment. The crisis we are currently facing is complicated and we must see the bigger picture to solve it. We believe one way to do this is by creating a transdisciplinary environment at the university itself by teaching transdisciplinary thinking to the people who will shape the world tomorrow. Asking questions not only to our direct colleagues but seeking them outside our field of knowledge, because sometimes your complicated question has a simple answer right next door.
It is time to start working together. To be aware of how the positive economic growth negatively affects the bees. For agro-ecologists to get their hands dirty and work together with agronomy. What if we had economics students research how plant students could help NMBU earn money, instead of wasting money? The opportunities we have at NMBU are limitless. We, as students and faculty, working together, need to make something out of these opportunities, ensuring a thriving future for our children. What if we could use the university to start changing the world, together?
Authors: Gustav Halldin, Stina Skjerdal, and Anna Grosbaha