Green Office Activities

Want to explore the city and find out where to shop cheaply? Green Office will show you around Antwerp! They introduce you to the best thrift shops so you can pimp your room with fun stuff. Or maybe you will score a new outfit? We will end with a drink in one of the city's cosiest bookshops! Register quickly via the link below, see you then!

• WHEN: Monday 18/03 at 2 pm
• WHAT: 2-hour walk through the city
• WHERE: Meeting point at the Agora (Grote Kauwenberg 2, Antwerp)​

​Register here!​

Curious about the pictures taken during the previous thrift tour? Have a look at our Dutch site

Carolina and Wilder, two activists from Falan, Colombia, are building a movement to defend their region against mining companies and their colonialism. They have the right to say no to the destruction of their region. Join the events during The Right to Say No Tour to hear about the experiences of these environmental defenders, how our “green” transition is impacting their lives and how degrowth might help their struggle.

Carolina and Wilder are here to share their experience fighting against mining in Colombia and how standing up for their rights comes with the risk and fear of being intimidated, stigmatised and persecuted.The Right to Say No Tour is meant to bring awareness to this injustice and to also provide a network of support for the environmental defenders so that, when they return, they do so with the necessary tools to protect their home!

Come meet Wilder for an engaging lecture followed by a Q&A session. Join us on March 25 (2024) from 19:30 - 21:00 at University of Antwerp, Stadscampus - Zomaar een dak, Prinsstraat 32.

Participation is free, but make sure to register using this link.

You can find more information on their facebook event

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Can't wait for spring to start? Feel like rolling up your sleeves?

On Wednesday, March 27 at 1 p.m., GreenOffice is hosting a Community Garden moment on Campus Groenenborger & Drie Eiken. Together we will prepare the planters for a fruitful year. We will apply a compost layer in both the planters and around the fruit trees,

and where possible we will also sow the first plants. In addition, Maggy will provide us with a word of explanation (CGB only) about the origins of the Community Garden, and the greening of the campus in collaboration with Middelheim.

Don't forget to wear clothes that can get dirty, and if you have, gardening gloves. Once again, GreenOffice will provide participants with a small gift to take home with them.

In short:

• What: a fun gardening session
• Where: Campus Groenenborger building Z & Campus Drie Eiken building A
• When: March 27 at 1 p.m., but joining later is possible!
• For whom: UA students and employees who like to be outdoors and roll up their sleeves
• How much does it cost: absolutely nothing !

​Register hereso we know ho many fifts we need to provide

The corporate global food system is governed by a dominant paradigm based on food as a commodity. That paradigm translates into a mainstream dynamic of industrialization of the food system, characterized by private titling, profit maximization and money-mediated market interactions. The manufacturing of food on an industrial scale and its worldwide distribution contribute to pushing the environment beyond its ecological limits. In addition, the system fails to provide basic human needs for all and doesn’t guarantee freedom from exploitation and oppression [...]. 

​READ MORE and register here for the upcomming conference at the University of Antwerp.

"The aim of the conference is to provide a platform to think collectively about a just food transformation from multiple angles and perspectives, including that of decommodification and adoption of alternative principles and premises. During a day of presentations, workshops and group work, we aim to showcase the voices of those who are involved in addressing various forms of inequalities that occur throughout the food system (production, labour, finance/rent, trade, accessibility to means of production or food, etc.) and explore together the notions of justice and the horizons of justice that inform their work and that support their transformative vision."

In the spotlight: GreenOffice is not an organizer of these events but supports and helps spread the message. This section can include guest lectures about sustainability or global justice. Also interessting workshops and events will be listed here.

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How You Can Help Design Ecocentric Futures

Lecture by Marek Oziewicz (University of Minnesota)

April 26th: 1-2 p.m. at C.002 City campus Prinsstraat 13

In this talk I share a vision of how studying children’s literature today can make a difference for the Earth’s future. I suggest that we have the opportunity—a narrow window of perhaps a decade—to lay foundations for an ecological civilization and one way to achieve it is to leverage public education into an unstoppable force of societal transformation.

I discuss the power of cultural narratives to frame parameters for cultural change and I highlight the advantages of climate literacy education conceived as a broad socio-cultural (rather than a narrow technical) competence nourished through engagement with stories, especially children's literature and media. I suggest that we, the children’s literature people, have an important role to play in helping build a climate literate society.

The talk concludes with an overview of the hows and whys of climate literacy education, drawing on the work of the Center for Climate Literacy at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

​Register here​

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Global justice guest lectures 

Coloniality, (de)colonization and every day’s racial injustice

February 29th: 14.00-16.00 at C102 

Jerry Luther King Afriyie is the Co-Founder of Nederland Wordt Beter. Jerry has been actively involved for almost twenty years in de-colonial and anti-racist campaigns in The Netherlands, with particular emphasis on de-constructing the origin and implications of 'zwarte Piet'. Jerry will be sharing his experience and insight in order to provide intellectual tools to be deployed during the lecture (and in the following seminar) for individual and collective self-reflection on current forms of coloniality that still surround us, from our university to the city where we live.

Climate (in)justice

March 14th: 14.00-16.00 at C102

Alba Kapoor is the Head of Policy at the Runnymede Trust, the UK's leading race equality think tank, managing the policy function for the organisation. She delivers large scale pieces of policy research and works to set out Runnymede’s anti-racist agenda. As part of this role, she led the English civil society submission to the United Nations' Committee on the Elimination on Racial Discrimination.

​Intersectional (in)Justice 

March 28th: 14.00-16.00 at C102​

Jana Nakal is a PhD student at Ljubljana University and member of the Secretariat of the World March of Women. She a feminist urban planner and researcher. She has published in several Lebanese and regional newspapers and magazines on urban and feminist issues. Her research focuses on housing, public spaces, heritage and culture from an intersectional feminist perspective. She is specifically interested in the concepts of gender and space, and the spatial rights of disenfranchised communities, and organizes trainings on intersectional feminism, agroecology and ecofeminism. Jana is also on the editorial board of Watch, FIAN’s journal, and Public Works Magazine. 

Development and Cooperation in the pursuit of global (in)justice

April 22nd: 17.00-19.00 at KS204

​Dr. Rosalba Icaza Garza is professor at the ISS, and her research and teaching lie at the intersection of global politics, feminisms and decoloniality. The field of global politics analyzes interactions between power and knowledge under conditions of globalization. The field of feminisms investigates the gendered inequalities in such interactions. Feminisms in plural indicates Prof. Icaza Garza’s long-term interest in the plurality of approaches reflecting and acting upon gendered inequalities across the Global North/South divide.

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Ethnic-cultural inclusion and global engagement month

​March 2024 is dedicated to ethno-cultural inclusion and global engagement. During this month, we would like to involve you, as a student or staff member, in the steps we have taken and also give you a say in the steps we can take as a university in the future.

All information can be found on this webpage of Univ. Antwerp

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Europe and the rush to cobalt

Cobalt plays a critical role in the global low-carbon transition to combat climate change, and in the diffusion of information technology. It is an essential element in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and consumer electronics.

The evening starts with screening of the award-winning and University of Antwerp-linked documentary Cobalt Rush (21 minutes), followed by a debriefing by two of the makers of the film. The issues they raise will be taken to a panel with a Member of the European Parliament, an international development professional and a post-doctoral researcher. The event will close with an open Q&A with the audience.

All information can be found on this webpage of Univ. Antwerp​

The new academic year has officially opened, which means that Green Office is also ready to welcome you for several interesting and sustainable activities. The starting activity is a first: an introduction to the "community garden" project on campus Groenenborger. This unique vegetable garden concept is led by our expert Maggy Goossens. She will give us a word about the project. Of course, we won't sit still and help prepare the vegetable garden for winter. At the end of the introduction, you will receive a nice gadget for gardening in your dorm room.

SO

Do you have green fingers and an interest in gardening? Do you like being outdoors? Do you like meeting new people? Then this activity is for you! 

Register here (link expired)

How much does it cost?  The event is completely free!!!

Do you need to bring anything?  If you have, it's best to bring a pair of gardening gloves

What to expect?

• An interesting presentation of a unique vegetable garden concept
• A fun gardening session
• A cool welcome gift from Green Office

Practical side

• Campus Groenenborger Building Z
  
• Start at 1.00pm on 11th of october
• Bring your own lunch

See you then!!!

This event has expired, curious about the pictures taken during the event? Have a look at our Dutch site​

Rediscover the Serenity of Nature in the Heart of Antwerp

During this Green Walk, you'll have the opportunity to escape the city's hustle and connect with nature. We will embark on a journey through the beautiful Wolvenberg natural reserve, where the stresses of daily life yield to the tranquility of nature. Here, you can find a moment of peace and refocus your attention on yourself.

Join us on Thursday, November 16, from 12:30 PM to 1.30 PM  for a green breath of fresh air!

• WHEN: November 16, from 12:30 PM to 1.30 PM  
• STARTING POINT: Bus stop Berchem Sint-Willibrordus
• WHAT: A 1-hour walking tour

Make sure to register via this link!​

On a mission to clean rivers

River Cleanup is a global network organization stopping plastic from reaching our oceans by cleaning rivers, changing behavior, and transforming organizations.

On the website of River Cleanup you can start your own clean up, but even easier, you can also join an existing one! 

November 18, 2023 will be the next cleanup session in Antwerp, and this time at the Scheldt!

• WHERE: Stormkop, Droogdokkenweg, Antwerp
  
• WHEN: 18th of november
• TIME: 2pm - 5pm

You can just join the GreenOffice group and we will provide all the necessary materials (pegs, gloves, trash bags). We will make ourselves recognizable! See you then River Warrios:)

"River Clean up: Join us on November 18th for a fun cleanup in Antwerp! Together, we will make an impact by cleaning along the river Scheldt and then celebrate our action with a drink! We bring all the material. All you need to bring is your big smile and your outfit according to the weather forecast. This cleanup is open to everyone: friends, families, colleagues etc! So invite your surroundings to join us! The more, the merrier! 

REGISTER HERE

Pieter Van Eecke • 2023 • Belgium, Netherlands • 74 min • English subtitles • Free entrance

Green Office @the movies. The nights are getting longer and the temperature is gradually going down: time for a movie night! On December 7, we will watch his latest film "Planet B" in the presence of director Pieter Van Eecke.

Two young people grow up in a world that destroys itself. They each seek their own path and test how far they are willing to go in their actions.

Thirteen-year-old Bo lives in a quiet neighborhood, has a loving family, lots of friends and is doing well in school - a pretty perfect teenage life. Like young people around the world, Bo is curious, questions everything and is rebellious. As she follows the news, she becomes increasingly aware of the destruction of our planet - not only in faraway places, but also closer to home, in Belgium. She decides to fight climate change and joins Extinction Rebellion, along with her bosom friend Luca. They occupy factory sites and highways, and soon face opposition: they are ignored, criticized and arrested, and even spend time in police cells. While Luca proposes increasingly radical actions, the more thoughtful Bo seeks her own way through the challenges of our time.

Planet B is the coming-of-age story of two young teenagers trying to grow up in a world that is destroying itself. What will it take to make people realize that there is no Planet B?

• WHAT: Documentary "Planet B" with director Pieter Van Eecke - Dutch spoken with English subtitles
• WHEN: Thursday, December 7
• START: 7 p.m.
• WHERE: room R.008 on the city campus
• ENTRANCE: absolutely free!
  

Register here​

Wondering who else is interested? Follow the link to our facebook event and get updates.