HSE & adidas: Helping Clean the Planet of Plastic
On June 3, a meeting with Chris Thaller, Head of Creative Projects at Runtastic by adidas and founder of the Parley Foundation, who is involved in a project to gather and recycle oceanic plastic, will take place at HSE University.
This story began in June 2017 when the first global charity race, Run for the Oceans, was held. The race was organized by the Parley Foundation, which aims to clear plastic from the world’s oceans. The idea of the run belongs to the foundation founder Chris Thaller, who came up with it in Sydney during a kayaking tour.
Since then, the run has been held each year and is open to anyone who is interested. Each kilometre run by participants is converted to $1. The raised money is invested by adidas in the Parely programme, which helps recycle plastic waste from the ocean into high-tech materials for sports equipment. For example, last year, the event, which brought together nearly a million runners from around the globe, helped raise a million dollars. This money was spent helping people who live in regions damaged by plastic pollution.
‘There is a lot of plastic around. Every minute 1 million plastic bottles are purchased around the world. If you add up all the plastic packaging and plastic bags that are thrown away each day, you can imagine how much waste we produce in just a single day,’ Chris Thaller wrote on his blog.
The scary thing is that plastic doesn't go away. It simply breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces. Plastic even gets into our bodies
Sooner or later those small pieces — microplastics — get into our groundwater or into our oceans, where fish start eating it. ‘We eat the fish, so the plastic we once bought goes straight into our bodies. Unfortunately, a lot of people are still not really aware of the scope of the problem,’ Thaller emphasized.
As a responsible company, adidas has made a promise to its customers that it will use only recycled plastic for its products by 2024. At his talk, Chris Thaller will tell the audience how realistic it is that the they’ll be able to achieve this goal, what else is being done to clean the world’s oceans, and about the Runtastic app.
See also:
Communication Can Increase Public Concern about Climate Change
An international team of researchers including scientists at HSE University have tested 11 communication strategies aimed to encourage pro-environmental behaviours. The sample included nearly 60,000 individuals from 63 countries. While interventions aimed at reducing psychological distance from climate problems proved to be effective, those targeting behaviours which require more effort, such as tree-planting or reducing one's carbon emissions, were not as successful. The study findings have been published in Scientific Advances.
Service Learning Programme Launched at Russia’s Universities
On September 5th, which is the International Day of Charity, the Service Learning programme was launched at many of the country’s universities. HSE University hosted a meeting with deputy deans and faculty project managers, followed by a large NGO fair, where both students and HSE University staff got to know more about partner NGOs and planned further joint projects.
‘Ecology Provides the Best Opportunities for Professional and Personal Development of Young People’
In early May, the HSE Institute of Ecology and the International Children's and Youth Award ‘Ecology is Everyone's Business’ held a joint seminar in Dagestan, where they discussed the launch of youth environmental projects for federal and international competitions. At the meeting, the Institute's experts presented methods of organising project activity in the field of ecology and sustainable development for educators and young people in Dagestan. Teachers and students from more than 50 schools, colleges and universities of the republic took part in the event.
To See by Touch: HSE Students Raise Funds for the Project ‘The World Through the Eyes of the Blind’
Students of the Bachelor's programme in Business Administration at HSE Nizhny Novgorod are implementing ‘The World Through the Eyes of the Blind’ public initiative as part of a project seminar. The students are holding exhibitions and workshops to raise funds through the crowdfunding platform Planeta.ru in order to install a radio system in a boarding school for blind and visually impaired students and to draw attention to the problems of people with visual disabilities.
‘Earth Is Our Only Home; We Must Preserve It’
The Green HSE student organisation recently held the ‘Green Conversation’ festival at the Cultural Centre on Pokrovsky Bulvar. At the event, participants discussed the planet’s main ecological problems and the steps required to start building a green future today.
Road of Kindness: HSE University Students to Hold Charity Run in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod
On September 4, the Road of Kindness charity run will take place in Gorky Park. The event is timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of HSE University, and was organised by the university’s students in cooperation with the Student Initiative Support Centre and the Centre for Leadership and Volunteer Work. The event is also being held in Nizhny Novgorod.
‘Very Little Money Can Solve Very Big Problems’
Mariam Margaryan, a graduate of the HSE University Economics and Statistics programme, HSE University lecturer, and the Fundraising Director of the Friends Foundation, says that she got into philanthropy by accident. As a student of the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences, she planned to forge a career in a large consulting company. She spoke of her path to NGOs, her favourite social projects and her work at the University in an interview with the HSE University Project-Based Learning Laboratory of Economic Journalism.
Researchers Explain How Massive Methane Emissions Affect Warming in the Arctic
Expeditions to the Eastern Arctic and Kara Seas investigated the thermal properties of bottom sediments. Numerous zones of bubbling methane flux were discovered in the shelf of the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea, which researchers believe is affecting climate warming in the Arctic. The study has been published inMarine and Petroleum Geology.
Salt Eats Ice: Researchers Name the Reasons Behind Underwater Permafrost Vulnerability
A team of researchers has studied ice-containing sediment on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf. The researchers proved that the melting of underwater permafrost is caused not only by the warming of sea water, but also by migrations of its salt ions (mostly NaCl). The HSE News Service reports on this and other studies conducted by the HSE Institute of Ecology.
Scholars Gauged Energy Inequality among Eurasian Economic Union Member States
The UN member states pledged to achieve 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 that are aimed at saving the planet’s resources and increasing overall well-being. One — Goal 7 — sets out to “ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy.”