Recognition of environmental leaders

The Girardot branch administration, in conjunction with the local Environmental Management System, recognized its environmental leaders during the 10th annual Corn Festival. These leaders were selected through a survey of the university community, which included three categories: Administrative Staff, Faculty, and Students.

After this process was carried out, the following results were observed:

for the Administrative category:

Lucía Timotel Jiménez

“I reuse raw materials considered waste such as plastic bottles, cardboard, plastic caps, CDs, among others, in this way I contribute to the reduction in waste generation, as well as contributing to extending the life of landfills by preventing their over-pressure.”.

New uses are found for these materials, such as making bird feeders and waterers for birds, cats, and dogs from plastic bottles. I also create planters, flowers, tool holders, pencil holders for children, toys, and more. With soda bottle caps, I make flowers and decorations for Halloween and Christmas. There are many crafts that can be made with this type of recyclable material. For some of my colleagues, I made a motorcycle out of beer bottle caps, costumes out of paper and cardboard, and photo frames out of cardboard and pieces of foam. By using the 5Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), I contribute to the care and preservation of the environment.

Teachers Category:

María Nieves Ávila Ávila

“First-semester nursing students take the Health and Environment core course, which aims to provide environmental education by exploring how environmental problems affect the health of humans and nature. This begins with calculating their personal carbon footprint, fostering awareness and a commitment to modifying attitudes and behaviors by adopting good environmental practices that care for, conserve, and preserve natural resources. Students have participated in various activities on the university campus and in their residences, such as planting fruit and ornamental trees, recognizing the benefits plants offer humans, from which they obtain a vital element like oxygen. They have also applied the 5Rs by participating in recycling drives, creating and donating Love Bottles, making crafts using solid waste generated at home, and participating in ecological walks where they plant native trees and collect plastic waste from stream banks.”.

Furthermore, they should replicate the exercises, from calculating their carbon footprint to other activities, with their families, friends, and neighbors, promoting good environmental practices in their communities.”

Diana Marcela Meneses Molano

“Through my work as a knowledge manager for the Environmental Engineering program, I aim to empower students to contribute their academic knowledge to the community, enabling them to address diverse socioeconomic and cultural realities and make a positive impact. Seventh-semester Environmental Restoration students, groups 702 and 703, successfully developed various landscape restoration and vegetation loss projects in Girardot during the 2023 IPA (Integrated Project Area). I guided them through the process while also empowering them to work independently, facing challenges and successes along the way, ultimately achieving successful project implementation with the support of the Girardot Mayor's Office, Ser Ambiental SA ESP, CAR (Regional Autonomous Corporation), and local recycling organizations.”.

The restoration of these spaces involved the use of heavy machinery, environmental management workshops with the presidents of the community action boards (JACs), and activities with children and young people from different neighborhoods in Girardot. These types of activities reinforce the commitment that the students and the University of Cundinamarca have to the region. In addition, I have also supported all the environmental processes of the Girardot branch and students from different semesters in their environmental activities, especially when it comes to interacting with the most vulnerable communities.

I believe that our knowledge should not remain solely within the academic sphere, but rather we should be willing to support all students, and especially the most vulnerable populations, to achieve the socio-environmental balance we so desperately need, and thus continue to have UDEC students who are recognized by the community as transhumanist professionals.”

Student Category

Ivan Leiva Alonso

“I am a fifth-semester Environmental Engineering student at the Girardot campus. I was selected as an environmental leader among the students for my commitment and dedication to the research group where we actively work on some research projects, but especially for my environmental entrepreneurship and innovation project, which is a device that condenses water molecules and deposits them to accumulate water and make it potable for human consumption, all powered by solar energy.”.

Leonardo Andrey Falla Ochoa

“While researching global warming, I realized that one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases is landfills. In these places, organic matter is wrapped in plastic and then exposed to solar radiation, generating countless polluting chemical reactions. Later, weight is added, and all the resulting sap leaches into the soil, while the gaseous material is released into the atmosphere that we all breathe.”.

I wanted to do my part, so my family and I filled plastic bottles with leftover packaging from the groceries we use. These bottles are then converted into plastic lumber, which is very useful and durable. I also added a bottomless bin to a degraded area, and for about two years we have been depositing all the organic waste generated in our home into it. This has been a very efficient process because the container has never filled up.

This work is done by the larvae of the black soldier fly. To date, the soil is already able to support the life of some plants that I use as an indicator of soil health. These simple actions reduce the amount of trash in my house by more than 80%. Now we only take out a small bag once a week. We also have the opportunity to recover degraded soils and increase the chance of producing trees or plants that provide food for the community. A small action that has the power to transform.

With these actions, the Girardot branch contributes as an institution to promoting good environmental practices for the reduction of environmental impacts, in addition to the training of professionals with a sustainable vision for the transformation of the department of Cundinamarca, thus living in balance with nature.

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