Team:Lund/GoGreen

Go Green

Go Green

The iGEM Goes Green initiative was introduced by the TU Dresden 2017 team in order to encourage other iGEM teams to approach the competition through a green lens. Many teams make impressive strides in applying synthetic biology to solve complex environmental challenges. However, an often overlooked matter is that of the development of ecoconscious lab practices and tools for ecological footprint analysis to be utilized during the iGEM journey. Realizing this, TU Dresden set out to establish a movement among the iGEM teams of 2017 to critically evaluate their project methodology. They decided to facilitate this through composing an extensive guide consisting of examples and suggestions.

As we had joined the iGEM competition for the joint opportunity of contributing to the iGEM community and to create a channel for discussions on environmental sustainability, we were more than happy to join the Goes Green initiative.

Here follows a short list of the things we considered upon reading the Goes Green guide

In the lab

  • The laboratory freezer was defrosted and all old samples were disposed of after they had served their purpose.
  • A conscious effort was made to promptly turn off any lights and electrical devices after use.
  • The sash of the fume hood lowest level of for convenient operations possible when conducting experiments.
  • The autoclave was only run once properly filled. We encouraged this by autoclaving the materials from other scientists and by planning our experiments well in advance.
  • The scale of experiments was kept at a minimum to minimize waste and use of laboratory consumables.
  • Pipette tips were purchased in bulk.
  • Environmentally hazardous chemicals were avoided when possible.

Others

  • A conscious effort was made to minimize paper consumption. Communication and research was kept online to avoid excess printing. Articles were exclusively read online.
  • Our personal electronic devices were all turned off or put in energy saving mode when not used.
  • Everyone used the bike as the main source of transportation.
  • Public transportation was utilized when the team needed to travel longer distances.
  • Prior to ordering lab material, we researched different vendors to minimize shipping distances.
  • The choice of financial institution was based on their sustainability policy.
  • Throughout the project we continuously advocated environmental sustainability and made efforts to communicate it with the public.

We want to applaud TU Dresden for an excellent initiative and hope that many iGEM teams decided to rally behind them. #GoGreen