rootAbility and the Green Office Movement become part of Students Organizing for Sustainability (SOS)
From August 2019 onwards, the role rootAbility has played so far to spread, support and connect the Green Office Movement has been integrated into Students Organizing for Sustainability (SOS) and rootAbility was closed as a formal organisation.
Who is Students Organizing for Sustainability (SOS)?
Our close partners and friends from the National Union of Students (NUS) in the UK, together with the Danish student union (DFS), launched SOS International in May 2019 as an international association, based in Denmark. The goal of SOS is to convene student-led networks and organisations to amplify student-led change for sustainability worldwide.
What does this mean for Green Offices and Green Impact participants?
Not much will change for Green Offices who are members of the Green Office Movement or teams running Green Impact. Essentially, our support for the Green Office Movement and Green Impact will continue, but simply as part of SOS as a new umbrella organisation.
We do see many opportunities for the Green Office Movement to further develop and expand under the umbrella of SOS:
- Leverage the potential for global expansion through collaborating with members of SOS from across the world.
- Build synergies with other programmes, campaigns and communities of SOS members.
- Guarantee the legacy of the groundwork rootAbility has done over the first 10 years of the GO movement.
- Attract funding from international donors.
Tim continues as Green Office Movement Coordinator under SOS
Since 2014, Tim has been supporting Green Offices through workshops and by coordinating the Green Office Movement Membership. Tim continues to do so under the umbrella of SOS, as the Green Office Movement became a central programme of SOS. Membership contributions and workshop fees are invoiced via SOS as of August 2019.
Anne’s role as Green Impact coordinator was taken over by Ann-Sofie
Since 2017, Anne has delivered Green Impact at universities in Maastricht, Utrecht, Wageningen, Brussels and Leuven. As of 2020 she moved on to work full-time for Royal HaskoningDHV, helping to make buildings more efficient and energy neutral.
On 1st October 2019, Ann-Sofie took over Anne’s position as Green Impact coordinator.
Previously, she was the coordinator of the Green Office for KU Leuven since 2016. Ann-Sofie now delivers Green Impact under the umbrella of SOS.
Felix, Anselm and Giorgia continue volunteering to support the establishment of new Green Offices
Felix co-founded rootAbility in 2012 and Anselm joined in 2016. Their main accomplishment is the development of an online course and website that helps students and staff with establishing Green Offices. The project, through which their positions were funded, ended in summer 2019. Felix moved on to work for Skilllab – developing a skill assessment mobile app for refugees – and Anselm is finding this way into politics.
Together with Giorgia – who has helped spread and support GOs on a volunteer basis since 2015 – Felix and Anselm still remain involved as volunteers to support students and staff with launching and adapting the GO model (if questions aren’t answered in the online course), and post on our social media, and support Tim with ongoing GO movement developments.
What’s coming up for the GO Movement?
- See the overview of activities on the GO Movement Membership page (and register as a movement member if you haven’t already!)
- Stay updated about ongoing activities by signing up to the Newsletter and Facebook Group and following the GO Movement on Instagram and LinkedIn
If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this integration, please feel free to email Tim about it.
Many thanks and we are looking forward to continue working towards sustainability with you in the future,
Felix, Tim, Anne, Anselm, Ann-Sofie and Giorgia