Students:Kirstin Surmann

Hello,

my name is Kirstin and I was born in Germany 22 years ago. I study Environmental Science B.sc at the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg and am currently in my final year doing research in Northern Ireland for my thesis. When I finish my Bachelor degree this year I am planning to continue my studies with a Master degree in organic farming or sustainable agriculture. I believe that food will be an important issue in the future in order to feed the increasing population on earth. Sustainable farming is might be one solution to avoid exploiting the soil that is the basis for growing food.

During my studies I attended a lecture about sustainable food industry. It was very interesting and therefore I found this project that I think is great:  We waste tonnes of food and this project helps to minimize the waste and also provides jobs for the people in London. This could be an example for similar projects in your country too!

In my free time I like to watch documentaries and go out diving in the surrounding lakes of Oldenburg. Furthermore I am a fascinated geocacher and like to go on a 'hunt' with friends and family.

I expect to learn more about different sustainable development strategies and am keen to see the results of the EVS groups, especially the waste management case study.

Am looking forward to see you all in Prague,

Kirstin

Here is my reflection of the spring school:

For me the most interesting part of the international spring school was the topic about food and waste management in general. My first choice of the case study groups in the European Virtual Seminar (EVS) was the Urban Waste Prevention group that focused on the EU Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC) and analyses if the long-term goals of it are achieved in Europe. As I didn’t get the case study, I was very interested to hear what the result of the group work was and I wanted to learn more about this topic. The goals of the EU Waste Framework Directive are to protect the environment and human health by prevention of the harmful effects of waste management. During Dana’s presentation about Food and Waste we discussed the definition of waste and came to the conclusion that nature does not produce waste. Therefore waste is a manmade product and can be all kind of different things such as broken or useless objects, wrappings, litter, toxic waste, biological waste, etc.. One of the waste framework directive obligations that should be performed by the national governments is the separate collection of paper, metal, plastic and glass by 2015. That ensures a better recycling process and helps to achieve the goal to re-use or recycle 50% by weight of household waste by 2020. One of the recommendations of the case study group URB was the extension of the pay as you throw principle that raises the awareness of how much waste we produce every day. The first time I heard about it was in a documentary about waste management and who benefits the most of our waste in Germany. I believe that some problems cannot be solved by just raising awareness and hoping that the people will act responsible. For the types of consumers that have a low potential and are unwilling to act sustainable, policies and rules are the only effective way to change their behaviour. The consumers with the potential to do more should be given the opportunity and the information how to contribute to the society. As I am close to finish my Bachelor studies, I am still trying to find out what study topic is the most interesting for me to continue as a master course. In my current studies I learned about sustainable food industry but most of my lectures did not include the sustainability subject. That is why this seminar was very helpful for me to learn more about sustainability issues and find my interests. I would like to learn more about the organic production systems and do the World Food System Summer School in Switzerland (the one Dana mentioned she did last summer and the link is on the wikipage too just in case someone else is interested too ;)) Furthermore I think that I found the right master course for me: sustainable agriculture!