Eight Reasons to Check Out HSE Green Fest

On September 24–25, the HSE Cultural Centre will host the ‘Circular Eco+Nomy: A New Reality’ festival organized by Green HSE, the Institute of Ecology, and the Student Development Office.

The organizers aim to shine a spotlight on the problem of excess resource consumption and ways of recycling. Read on to learn eight reasons why you should check the event out.

If you want to learn more about eco-friendly lifestyles, the zero-waste philosophy and helping the environment, visit the HSE Cultural Centre on 11 Pokrovsky Boulevard. Those who’d like to join the festival online will receive a personal link. All you have to do is register for the festival here (registration for the offline event is also required).

1.  Watch the festival from anywhere in the world

The festival will be held at the HSE Cultural Centre on Pokrovka, but all lectures will also be available online.

To watch the broadcast, just follow your personal link

2. Attend lectures on the circular economy and conscious consumption

HSE lecturers and invited experts will talk about how the world is changing and why the principles of the circular economy are spreading all over the world.

Learn how to reduce your carbon footprint, travel without harming the environment, run a responsible business and build a green career.

The EcoLab and ShukhovLab laboratories will share their own experience of material recycling, while invited speakers from Unilever, Tetra Pak and other companies will talk about how and why they are joining the circular economy. Ambitious participants can ask the experts how to launch their own eco-startups.

All lectures will be broadcast online.

To watch the broadcast, just follow your personal link.

Venue: Main hall of the Cultural Centre (11 Pokrovsky Boulevard), rooms R-201, R-204.

3. Take part in an eco-battle

Viewers of the eco-battle can enjoy the speakers' performances and hear their ideas about improving the ecology of cities, lifehacks for the home, and other creative solutions. If you’re brave enough, you can sign up to be a speaker by submitting your application, presentation and video presentation to economica.events@gmail.com with the subject line "ECO-BATTLE".

Venue: Main hall of the Cultural Centre (11 Pokrovsky Boulevard)

4. Hand over unwanted stuff for recycling

Visitors to the festival can also use the Ecoin point to recycle their old things, from plastic products and bags to rarer items like markers, small electronics and toothbrushes. After the festival, Ecoin will send everything to a recycling point.

Please pay attention to the rules before using the recycling point. Items that have not been properly sorted will not be collected for recycling.

Drop-off point: main hall of the Cultural Centre (11 Pokrovsky Boulevard), second floor.

5. Swap your clothes and books

Anyone can bring books and clothes (preferably bright-coloured clothes) that aren’t needed anymore and swap them for something else. Please bring something that you would be happy to take for yourself or give to your friends.

At the swap, clothing and books will find happy new owners, and their former owners will be able to choose something new. Swaps like this help to prolong the lifespan of items and reduce excess consumption.

Clothing and books that don’t find new owners at the swap will go to the Second Wind charity fund.

Visitors who bring a lot of items will get souvenirs from the organizers.

Place: dance hall in building Z (11 Pokrovsky Boulevard)

6. Breathe new life into your things in master classes

Visitors to the festival will have the chance to bring new life to their cotton bags by putting trendy prints on them. You can also learn how to make an ecobag—an alternative to disposable plastic bags—from an old T-shirt and decorate it however you like.

Venue: hall of the Cultural Centre, (11 Pokrovsky Boulevard), second floor – bag decorating workshop, dance hall in building Z (11 Pokrovsky Boulevard)— ecobag-making master class.

7. Attend an eco-friendly performance installation and a photo exhibition

Green Fest will also feature an installation demonstrating how useful recycled materials can be. The organizers want to show that sorting waste isn’t a waste of time, but a great contribution to the environment.

Not everyone sorts their rubbish. Some find it inconvenient, while others believe that all waste ends up in the same landfill whether you sort it or not. But that’s not true—yesterday's rubbish, which could have gone to the landfill, can be turned into all kinds of household items and even trendy clothes!

There will also be a photo exhibition dedicated to upcycling. Photographers and designers (99 recycle, jeans. revision, bannerbag and many others) will present a creative eco-project about breathing new life into old things and supporting global eco-friendly brands.

Venue: hall of the Cultural Centre, (11 Pokrovsky Boulevard).

8. Board games—including some with an environmental theme

Enjoy a cosy atmosphere and meet new people.

Venue: coworking area of the HSE Cultural Centre.

September 15, 2021