For years, Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences has been committed to sustainability, the conservation of resources and the responsible use of public funds. Ambitious goals! And sometimes they start in a surprisingly down-to-earth way.
As part of the long-standing international collaboration project with The Hague University of Applied Sciences, the traditional closing event took place in The Hague at the beginning of June. Whilst the students presented their innovative HR concepts, project leaders Philipp Schorn and Fabian Dargel set themselves a challenge of their own: travelling there by bike.
168 kilometres each way!
And because, as we all know, sustainability isn’t a one-way street, they cycled back again after the presentations. That makes a total of 336 kilometres by bike.
The positive side effect: the university incurred no travel costs. No train tickets, no mileage allowance, no parking fees. Instead, there was fresh air, headwinds, the occasional bout of self-doubt and, in the end, the satisfying feeling of having made a small contribution to sustainability and cost-efficiency.
Of course, this shouldn’t be taken as a new standard for business travel. Nobody expects project proposals to include a ‘travel by bike’ category in future. Nevertheless, this example shows that sustainability often belongs not only in strategy papers, mission statements or project proposals, but sometimes also in very personal decisions.
So, to conclude, here are two perhaps somewhat provocative questions: if, as a university, we regularly declare sustainability and cost savings to be among our core objectives, what is the organisation doing to make this an attractive option for us staff – appropriate charging points and bike storage facilities would certainly be a start. And a question for everyone: what concrete contribution is each and every one of us actually making towards this? Cycling 336 kilometres is certainly not the only answer. But perhaps it’s food for thought.
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