Een van de oudste #voedselbossen in Nederland ontdekt op de campus van de Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Zuidas Amsterdam. Dit concludeerde bomenexpert Huib Sneep.
Volgens hem vormt de betonnen jungle van de Zuidas in een droogte zoals we die nu (en waarschijnlijk steeds vaker) meemaken een Urban Heat Island, en geeft het microklimaat van het GLL terrein essentiële verkoeling.
Lees het volledige rapport hier: Voedselbos VU Amsterdam
It was a pleasure to host Ecosystem Restoration Camps members at The Green Living Lab yesterday!
We heard from John Dennis Liu, Pieter Van Der Gaag, & Rik Armando Ridder from the Ecosystem Restoration Camps team why we need to come together now to use our collective resources & talents to restore degraded ecosystems for the survival of future generations. We know how to restore our world, so let’s do it! There is no more time to waste to ensure our children’s future & the survival of our species. The stakes cannot be any higher. Nature will be OK, however, humans are threatening their own extinction by destroying the only home they have to live in.
Luckily, we have the knowledge & skills to change this for the benefit of future generations, but we have to act now.
If you would like to act to make a greener, healthier & more sustainable world a reality, become a member of Ecosystem Restoration Camps today. Every individual contribution counts.
For information on how to become a member, please contact: pieter@ecosystemrestorationcamps.org & check out the website here: https://www.ecosystemrestorationcamps.org/
John Liu will return to The Green Living Lab on Wednesday 11 July, from 19.00 – 21.00, to discuss the value of living systems vs non-living systems.
Please see this link for information on John’s work to restore ecosystems worldwide, & the event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/395739337500840/
We have just 5 more places available for this event. To book your place, please send your full name by email: info@greenlivinglab.org
We look forward to seeing you there! ?
We celebrated a beautiful finale to this year’s Green Student Bootcamp Challenge , where students first went into our organic garden to investigate our resident insects.
Led by Dr. Cor Zonnveld, an ecologist at Amsterdam University College, students learned about the classification, anatomy, and habitats of insects. It was clear that some did not like the idea of insects at all, however, after spending time with Cor in the garden and looking at insects closely with curiosity and wonder, they learned to appreciate our insect friends and their important place in our ecosystem.
Students then harvested from our garden and dived into the kitchen to made delicious vegan food to celebrate their graduation. As a special graduation gift, students were presented with pots of soil from our garden, symbols of fertility and of our care for the living ecosystem of The Green Living Lab location. Our graduating students learned through the course of the programme that life begins in the soil, and that looking after our soils by building fertility is essential for a sustainable world.
We hope this class of 2018 will now go forth to help make a healthier greener world in harmony with nature. In fact, we are pretty sure they will. ?
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Please see English below.
Wilgenvlechten Workshops: 12.45 – 13.30 & 17.00 – 17.45, zaterdag 23 juni bij het Green Love Festival!
De levende wilgenschuttingen van The Green Living Lab verwelkomen bezoekers met een grote groene knuffel, wat een gevoel van balans tussen natuur en de torenhoge kantoorgebouwen rondom creëert.
Wilg is een ongelooflijk duurzaam organisch materiaal en wij zijn er helemaal gek op! Vergezel onze getalenteerde wilgenmeester Daniel en vlechten samen met hem nieuwe wilgentenen in de bestaande wilgenstructuren. Daniel zal met plezier interessante wilgen weetjes met je delen. Ga mee met de stroom van de wilgen – een helemaal zen beleving!
Kinderen zijn welkom!
Activiteiten gratis met een WeMakethe.City festivalpas, anders op donatie basis. Koop je festival pas hier:
https://wemakethe.city/en/programma-item-en?programid=4400
Voor het volledige programma zie: https://www.facebook.com/events/202557530556904/
Reserveer je plaats voor activiteiten na 18.00 uur per mail: info@greenlivinglab.org
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Willow Weaving Workshops, Saturday 23 June, 12.45 – 13.30 & 17.00 – 17.45 at the Green Love festival!
The living willow structures of The Green Living Lab greet visitors with a big green hug and create a feeling of balance between nature and the surrounding tall office buildings.
Willow is an amazingly sustainable organic material and we love it! Join our talented willow master Daniel to weave new willow branches into the existing structures. Daniel will also share some wonderful willow facts with you. Go with the flow of the willow – it is a completely zen experience!
Children are welcome!
Activities are free with a WeMakethe.City festival pass, otherwise on a donation basis. Buy your festival pass here:
https://wemakethe.city/en/programma-item-en?programid=4400
For info on the Green Love programme, see:
https://www.facebook.com/events/202557530556904/
Reserve your place for activities after 18.00 by email: info@greenlivinglab.org
Please See English below.
15.00 – 16.30: Gezicht Schminken
Onze vrijwilligers zullen je met plezier omtoveren tot een sierlijke vlinder, nieuwsgierige vogel of stoere tijger.
Je zal versteld staan van hoe cool je er als dier uitziet: plezier voor jong en oud!
Nu je er toch al uit zal zien als een dier, ben jij uitgenodigd op De Raad van alle Wezens!
16.00 – 17.00: De Raad van Alle Wezens Workshop met Manon
Laat je helemaal gaan en gedraag je als je gekozen dier in onze tuin. Fladder van bloem naar plant, maak een nest van takjes en brul er op los! Laat je creativiteit de vrije loop en waan je voor even in het dierenrijk. Wat kan jouw dier aan de mens leren?
Taal: Nederlands en Engels
Activiteiten gratis met een WeMakethe.City festivalpas, anders op donatie basis. Koop je festival pas hier:
https://wemakethe.city/en/programma-item-en?programid=4400
Voor het volledige programma zie: https://www.facebook.com/events/202557530556904/
Reserveer je plaats voor activiteiten na 18.00 uur per mail: info@greenlivinglab.org
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Become an animal at the Green Love festival on Saturday 23 June! ?
15.00 – 16.30: Face Painting: Our volunteers will love to turn you into a beautiful butterfly, a curious bird or a tough tiger.
You will be amazed at how cool you look as an animal: fun for young and old!
Now that you are an animal, we invite you to join The Council of All Beings!
16.00 – 17.00: The Council of All Beings Workshop with Manon
Imagine yourself as your chosen animal in our garden. Flutter from flower to plant, make a nest of twigs or let out a roar! Let your creativity run free as you imagine yourself in the animal kingdom. What can your animal teach humans?
Language: English & Dutch
All activities free with a WeMakethe.City festival pass, otherwise on a donation basis. Buy your festival pass here:
https://wemakethe.city/en/programma-item-en?programid=4400
For info on the Green Love programme, see: https://www.facebook.com/events/202557530556904/
Reserve your place for activities after 18.00 by email: info@greenlivinglab.org
Scroll for English
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A Sustainable World Already Exists & Holds the Secrets to Our Survival
Throughout the Green Student Bootcamp Challenge 2018, students have been encouraged to observe and interact with nature. From sowing seeds & brightening grey urban environments with seed balls for people and pollinators, learning how to grow vegetables and oyster mushrooms at home, composting their organic waste, foraging and cooking with wild plants, looking with Green Office VU at the issues caused locally and worldwide when humans do not work in harmony with nature at the Whole Earth? photography exhibition, (also on the campus of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam ), and hearing how natural processes can be integrated into cities to create a healthier environment for all, our class of 2018 has been on quite a journey!
No better way to spend the penultimate session of this year’s programme than learning about Biomimicry. Biomimicry is a strategic design approach to innovation, where nature’s 3.8 billion years of research and development is a source of sustainable solutions. If we view nature as a teacher, we see that everything that nature does is already circular and sustainable. Animals, plants, and microbes are skilful engineers. By emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies we can create products, processes, and policies that are well-adapted to life on earth in the long-term. In this way we can solve massive sustainability problems we have created for ourselves and future generations.
Jamaica Den Heijer, is a consultant with Biomimicry Nederland and Innovation Manager with Heijmans, a large Dutch construction company, that is looking to nature to develop sustainable innovations for construction. Thankfully more and more progressive businesses & organisations in The Netherlands are looking to natural ecosystems to learn from them how to innovate in order to operate sustainably.
Jamaica inspired students to go out into The Green Living Lab ‘s organic garden to observe nature’s patterns and design strategies, and students began to see the garden, which they had already spent a lot of time in, from a completely different perspective. With a new curiosity, respect and understanding of the design genius in the natural world around them, this group of students from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam / Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam University College, HvA – Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Utrecht University & TU Delft are ready to graduate!
For more information on Biomimicry & for info trainings & courses in The Netherlands, see: www.biomimicrynl.org
Kom langs bij het Green Living Lab om de groene paradijs op de Zuidas per fiets te ontdekken!
Het was een plezier rondleidingen over The Green Living Lab te geven op de Dag van de Bouw afgelopen zaterdag, waar we gasten van alle leeftijden verwelkomden om de schatten die de Zuidas te bieden heeft, te ontdekken.
Na lokale gebouwen en openbare plaatsen te hebben bezocht, waren deelnemers verrast om in onze natuurlijke groene oase te belanden, die helemaal wordt verstopt door de grote gebouwen rondom.
Na voet te hebben gezet in deze natuur, gingen onze gasten een interactieve uitdaging aan om kruiden te herkennen door gebruik van hun zintuigen, wat ze heerlijk vonden. Dropplant en colakruid waren volledig nieuwe ontdekkingen voor velen! Na een rondleiding in The Green Living Lab, onze biologische onderwijstuin, circulaire initiatieven en experimenten, ontvingen de gasten een kweekpot gevuld met biologische aarde en zaadjes van eetbare bloemen en groenten. Een geschenk om de natuur ook in hun huizen te brengen.
Het was heel fijn dat Amsterdam Zuidas van Gemeente Amsterdam ons natuurparadijs op nam in de Dag van de Bouw en het was inspirerend om te zien hoe veel de gasten genoten van het verbinden met de natuur op onze locatie.
Een initiatief van Amsterdam Zuidas, de volgende fietsrondleiding zal op vrijdag 6 juli plaatsvinden. Deelname is gratis, maar plaatsen gereserveerd moeten worden per mail: contact@zuidas.nl
JongVUmc, an organisation of young healthcare professionals working at the VUmc hospital in Zuidas Amsterdam, came back to The Green Living Lab this week to attend a special lecture on how to prevent burnout, by Cuna Knegt from Arts in Balans. They heard how stress management is key for their health and for sustainable careers as healthcare professionals.
Sadly, the number of young people in The Netherlands suffering from burnout is steadily increasing. Three in four students in The Netherlands are emotionally exhausted and one in three has an increased risk of a burn-out. One in seven students suffer from severe anxiety and depression complaints.
Something must be done and done now, in order to prevent this health crisis from spiralling further. Thankfully government and leading educational organisations including the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUAmsterdam) are coming together to take action and to focus on increasing student welfare and health, including increasing the awareness of burnout, its prevention, and assistance in dealing with its effects.
JongVUMc heard how preventing burnout is of paramount importance, as burnout can cause serious health issues. Overcoming the effects of burnout can be a timely (and costly) process for everyone.
Students, don’t wait to burnout as it can take a long time to heal again. Take care of yourselves, and don’t wait to burnout only to have a doctor tell you to spend time in nature to feel better. This is the advice that is currently given to sufferers of burnout. Make sure you get outside into nature at least 20 minutes every day, or as often as you can. Nature’s restorative powers for stress relief are unsurpassable, and they are free!
The Green Living Lab has been designed in harmony with our beautiful natural surroundings on the VU campus, so that students and guests can destress and feel great while they study, work, learn or socialise.
Having more nature integrated into our urban landscapes is part of the solution to help young people, and the wider public, to destress. Nature is a healing influence in our city, and we need it close and within sight, for a healthy and vital city.
Come visit The Green Living Lab to stop a while in nature, to hunt for strawberries, to observe our blossoming education garden, to relax in our willow circle, or to hold your work meetings, trainings or private events. The energising power of spending time in this special natural paradise will help you leave your stress behind.
#timeout #goplayoutside #preventburnout #VUAmsterdam #greencampus #healthyurbanliving