The start-up blog creating a shift towards sustainable living

How one digital platform launched during the pandemic is giving young people a voice on climate change and green issues

During the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, many people created digital sites to distribute various forms of content.  It is interesting to see growth and depth created in a time where many people's perspectives can change on things they didn't acknowledge before in time, and I have spoken to the founder of a start-up site that focuses on sustainable living and climate change, and we discussed her post-covid successes and what it means for her and her small team. 

Sustainability for Students is a media platform and resource hub. We are an international team of 13 writers with a shared interest in sustainability and climate change. The objective of SfS is to make the sustainability and climate change discourse accessible to all through the exchange of diverse ideas. 

Sustainability and climate change have grown in a way in which the importance has grown in regards to how people live their lives accordingly will make long term effects; therefore, actively promoting food for thought on sustainable living and the current climate change crisis is a fitting goal aimed by Eirini.  

What was the purpose of starting this online site - Did the pandemic and the various lockdowns give you plenty of time to rethink how everyone could live their lives in a more sustainable and climate aware way?

I think the radical disruption of global social life and economic activity was what made the imminent need for climate change mitigation and values of sustainability evident to me. The first piece I wrote about sustainability was at the end of the first lockdown in the summer of 2020 discussing the ways that the disruption led to a decrease in CO2 emissions. However, it was not until October that year that I began to think of my interaction with GHG emissions, and in particular my power as a fast fashion consumer.

Sustainability for Students is a post-pandemic baby that I began in September 2021 to keep track of everything I learned about sustainability and climate change, and I can definitely say that everything that I learned was the result of the additional time and access to resources that I got during multiple rounds of lockdowns in the UK and Greece.

What is it about sustainability and students in particular that gives the site its own identity? Is the sense of online teaching/resource hub and learning more about sustainable/green a convenient way to generate this information for people around the world, especially for students.

The access to knowledge and well-researched information is integral in achieving the objectives of Sustainability for Students. The climate crisis and innovation related to this absolutely must come to the epicentre of global discussions. Nevertheless, capitalist society is accustomed to short-sightedness putting our well-being at risk. 

SfS’ identity comes from the fact that it allows everyone to learn and relearn concepts that are key in the climate change discourse. The voice of the youth who are inheriting this crisis and whose future is in jeopardy is often sidelined but nevertheless the most important in this conversation. SfS’ therefore aims to amplify these voices while generating information for people from all over the world - people who ultimately become students once again. 

Being that you started your digital platform in 2021 in a time where times were chaotic and a lot of life was in majority on the internet, what challenges or opportunities did you gain or was presented with during the start, middle to now of sustainability for students.

Creating an online presence is definitely a challenge when you do not see people. SfS depends on social media, while our outreach is dependent on the 24/7 accessibility that online blogging offers. Despite this, the first day I was allowed to go to my university classes in person, I had the opportunity to talk to my classmates and explain to them what SfS is all about - paradoxically, a physical presence became a necessity when trying to market an online presence. 

COVID-19 definitely opened the doors to remote working as well as global work, without the know-how that we acquired during the pandemic, I don’t know if I would have had the chance to meet the amazing team of writers we have at the moment. COVID-19 also normalised online learning - another important characteristic that gives SfS its unique identity. I, therefore, think that COVID-19 definitely came with some challenges in terms of our social interactions and the ways we interact with content online, but it also gave us the opportunity to expand our horizons while learning to work and socialise in different ways. 

Now that we are all in a post covid world, what is the long term goal, growth and bringing about engagement and exposure?

In a post COVID world, I am excited to partner and collaborate with organisations who share our values in conference organising such as the Renewables Greece 2022 conference that we are curating for April. I am also looking forward to meeting people who carry out his line of work in person and online through similar events. In terms of engagement and exposure, I believe that SfS is the ideal platform to create online courses that discuss climate change and individual activism - something that I will be working on next!

Feature image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.