BCB Go Green Club brings awareness to the BCB community on how to make make campus life more sustainable. Volunteers work in close collaboration with other Civic Engagement projects, including the community garden and the swap shop. Campaigns range from informing students about proper recycling methods to organizing events focusing on green initiatives in the city of Berlin.
“I found out about the Swap Shop during the Involvement Fair and I signed up for volunteering. The Swap Shop is really exciting for people who, when they first come here, they can find something original and understand the idea behind it - taking something and putting something in its place, that’s a cycle of sustainability”.
-- Sofia
The BCB Swap Shop is a volunteer-run initiative based in the Dacha cottage in the backyard of P24 with the goal to promote a more sustainable community. The project started as a two week “Sustainable Living” campaign to gather second-hand items from students which they don’t use anymore and would otherwise throw away. During opening hours, BCB students and members of the community are invited to stop by and either pick up one of the many items the shop has in store or drop off an item they don’t want anymore, so that it might be able to find a second life. In the past, students have scored books, dishes, clothes, and even a Samovar from the shelves of the Swap Shop.
Are you interested in plants? Have you always wanted to grow your own vegetables and make your own compost? Volunteer with the BCB Urban Gardening group and get your hands dirty. Learn about how to grow veggies, herbs, and flowers, and share your own knowledge at regular meetings and gardening events to make BCB a greener place.
What is the relationship between economy and ecology? Do people who think they live a more sustainable lifestyle actually have a smaller ecological footprint? In this course on behavioral economics students analyze whether and how economic development can be ecologically sustainable and socially just as well as efficient. Students develop their own research project and explore the potential of behavioral economics to drive environmental protection and to contribute to the efficient design of policy instruments.
On November 6, 2024, Bard College Berlin and the organization Araminta welcomed three prominent human rights activists from Azerbaijan and environmental journalist Angelina Davydova to discuss state repression in that country and the COP29 meeting in Baku.
Every year students and faculty across the globe are joining together for a WorldWide Teach-in on Climate and Justice, a climate education initiative established by OSUN's Solve Climate by 2030 project. More than a dozen OSUN institutions, and over 250 other colleges, universities, and high schools in more than forty countries are participating. The grassroots project is engaging 30,000 students in a series of events focused on taking steps from “Climate Despair to Climate Repair". At Bard College Berlin students participate through protests, panels, and workshops to fight climate change and alleviate the burden of climate change that disproportionally affects people living in the Global South.