Everywhere you look you see things you can do to save energy or save time. Most of these things don’t really help you or the environment. Turning off the lights a little bit earlier or washing your laundry on “eco-mode” will not save you time nor a significant amount of energy/money. You need things that... Continue Reading →
The Wise Humans
The name we gave ourselves, the Wise Humans, or Homo Sapiens, is maybe exaggerated. Yes, you could argue that we are pretty smart. We have built cars and planes to transport us, houses to keep us warm, rockets to fly us into space, and social systems that support our society. But are we really wise?... Continue Reading →
Two Years Down, 2 more to go
Caption: Me participating in an Essence team building camping activity, organised by Essence Events Manager 2021-22. By Nisalyna Bontiff 3-minute read And just like that, the second year of the study is over. I don't know about you, but my head is in a whirlwind when I think about how quickly the time has passed.... Continue Reading →
Coffee for life – a personal insight behind your coffee
This story is about the coffee production of smallholders in Guatemala. Guatemala is an unequal country with a lot of contrast. Smallholders produce a large part of the food and a significant amount of the coffee Guatemala exports. Most are tiny farms: the areas where they grow coffee are very small. The possibilities for them to... Continue Reading →
Young Water Professional (YWP) Conference
At the beginning of April, I attended an international conference in Delft, The Netherlands. The conference was held by the Young Water Professional (YWP) BeNeLux chapter of the International Water Association (IWA). The conference took place in TU Delft, and lasted for 3 days. More than one hundred participants attended the conference. Even though it... Continue Reading →
Getting to know ESSET staff – episode 1
When I was a student, I used to question who my teachers really are. I was curious about their background and why they decided to be a teacher. Now that I am a teacher, I am often curious about what the students think about me. More generally, I am curious what the students think about... Continue Reading →
Sustainable Carnaval
It feels like ten years ago. Getting drunk in the city center with your friends. Forgetting about all your duties. Just living in the moment. For a long time, this has been put on a hold due to corona. But now, the corona restrictions are as good as gone. And coincidentally, it is also carnaval.... Continue Reading →
Gatekeeping – The exclusivity of the environmental movement
I personally always feel like it is my responsibility, and kind of the responsibility of our generation, to save the Earth, or at least the Earth as we know it right now. Climate change is threatening various ecosystems on our planet, and this also threatens us and everything humanity has achieved so far. Nevertheless, people... Continue Reading →
The fight of our lives
Being killed, silenced or, ridiculed for environmental activism, journalism, and advocacy. This week, I was randomly looking into environmental news articles when I stumbled upon a piece entitled: "Murders and threats spark fears among female activists." This article piqued my interest because recently, I found myself inspired by the bravery of environmental activists around the... Continue Reading →
Be a (food)waste warrior!
Have you ever come across this special "fridge" in Albert Heijn (AH), in which all products inside are labelled with "35% korting samen tegen verspilling" (EN: 35% discount, together against (food)waste) or "35% korting weggoien is zonde" (EN: 35% discount, throwing away is sin)? Would you be interested to buy these products, or would you... Continue Reading →
An Antidote to Suffering
If you have ever lived, you know life is suffering. We are condemned with the self-consciousness of our own mortality. There are many good moments in life, as well as many horrific. Every being suffers. We will never make it out alive. We’re all in. Now confronted with this, what can we do? We cannot... Continue Reading →
Navigating through “Brightspace”
The year 2021 ended, and with it so did the use of Blackboard at Avans. I was sitting at school yesterday when I came to the realization that we no longer have access to Blackboard. In a way, I was flooded with a bit of anxiety because on Blackboard there was an easily accessible page... Continue Reading →