The second of the Sustainability Week Events of Istanbul Medeniyet University were held on 19-23 December 2022 in our campus areas for our students and staff members. Organized by IMU Sustainability Office, our Sustainability Week 2022 featured a different event for each day of the week including conferences, talks, and workshops on topics varying from sustainable energy and art to zero waste, responsible consumption, and sustainability in healthcare.
On Monday, December 19, the first day of the events, which were open to the participation of our university staff and students, “Sustainability in Energy: International Energy Storage Symposium” was held. Organized by IMU Project Development and Coordination Office on 18-21 December 2022 as part of the “2nd World Energy Storage Conference (WESC-2022)” organized jointly with the Institute of Clean Energy Technologies of Yıldız Technical University, the symposium was attended by scientists, academics, researchers and engineers from different countries of the world, where energy storage technologies, energy efficiency and clean energy solutions were discussed in detail. In the symposium, where the main themes were physical energy storage technologies, chemical energy storage technologies and energy storage applications and policies, many innovative applications such as innovative energy storage systems for sustainable communities, battery energy storage systems such as lithium ion batteries and solar systems, green hydrogen production, heat storage for thermal comfort in buildings, decarbonization of buildings, biodiesel production from waste oils, solar and geothermal based integrated energy production and storage were discussed with the papers presented for three days to the attention of policy makers. The conference proceedings book is available on the conference web page.
On the second day of the Sustainability Week, in an event organized by our .artimu. Culture and Art Platform, we hosted artist Deniz SAY in the first part of the .artimu.talks program with a talk on “Art and Sustainability”. In the event held at IMU Ziraat Bank Central Library, Deniz SAY, who has been collecting materials that many people classify as waste since her childhood, showed examples of the waste materials she collected and the works she produced from them. SAY, who makes three-dimensional paintings using a wide variety of discarded wastes such as pieces of fabric left over from old clothes and shoes, unused accessories such as glasses and belts, bottle nets, flower tulle, packaging cartons, papers and materials collected from nature such as tree bark and leaves, stated that in her works, she tries to create an effect as if these various objects are part of the canvas cloth and that she has exhibited her works created through the upcycling of waste materials in seven solo exhibitions. Stating that she draws her inspiration from a material that impresses her with its texture, SAY said that there is no limit to the material in this regard. In this way, she said that she not only protects her own waste with an environmentalist approach, but also aims to make the audience ask the question “could you use the things you throw away somewhere else?” and that none of us should underestimate our individual power in recycling. You can reach the full interview here.
On Wednesday, December 21, we held the “Biodiesel Fuel Production Workshop from Waste Oils” with Prof.Dr. Turgay ÇAKMAK from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences of our University. In the workshop held in our BİLTAM laboratory, Prof.Dr. ÇAKMAK informed the participants about the history of biodiesel fuels, noting that the use of biodiesel fuel is as old as the first engines. Prof.Dr. ÇAKMAK then gave information about the chemical properties of oils and biodiesel fuels, and explained in detail the process of producing clean fuel from waste oil by showing the oils passed through various stages in the laboratory environment. Stating that Turkey’s current contribution to the total carbon emissions of the world countries is quite low, Prof.Dr. ÇAKMAK said that our country put the Kyoto Agreement into practice without signing it; currently, the mandatory biodiesel additive rate applied in motor vehicle fuels is 0.5% and this rate is planned to be increased. Noting that it is essential to produce biodiesel fuels from oils that are not used in the kitchen and that we are currently 60% self-sufficient in oils as a country, our faculty member informed that the production of biodiesel from waste oils is fairly limited in our country due to our dependence on foreign oil; however, high production volume facilities have started to be established since the beginning of the 2000s. Stating that green production, especially from algae, is recommended as an alternative to waste oils, but the production costs in this field are currently very high, he gave information about a project being carried out in this field within our University.
On Thursday, December 22, within the scope of the dinner organization titled “Zero-Waste Turkish Cuisine” organized by the Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts of the Faculty of Tourism of our University in our Orhanlı Campus, our students presented a special menu prepared with a zero waste approach to the guests. In the event, which was attended by our Rector Prof.Dr. Gülfettin ÇELİK and Tuzla Mayor Dr. Şadi YAZICI, our students introduced the products of zero waste kitchen practices that they prepared with the perspective of from theory to practice that they have acquired in the Turkish Cuisine course they have been taking for a year. Our students tried to become an inspiration to solve today’s widespread food waste problem with a solution from our tradition by adapting the understanding of “not wasting anything”, which has been practiced in traditional Turkish cuisine for centuries. They shared information about the main approaches they used while preparing the dishes and the recycling processes of the materials used, and personally served the menu to the guests, where no material was thrown away and recycled and cooked only with seasonal vegetables and fruits. You can watch the news of our event, which was also covered by the national media, here.
On Friday, December 23rd, the last day of the Sustainability Week, a talk on “Physiotherapy and Sustainability” was held with Asst.Prof.Dr. Gökçe LEBLEBİCİ from the Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, IMU. LEBLEBİCİ stated that sustainable development, which is defined as “meeting the needs of the current generation without eliminating the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”, plays a fundamental role in many fields as well as in health services, covering both environment, economy and ethics. Stating that the World Health Organization’s call for sustainable health in 2030 envisages “a system that improves, protects or restores health while minimizing negative impacts on the environment and takes advantage of opportunities to restore, improve and benefit the health and well-being of present and future generations”, Asst.Prof.Dr. LEBLEBİCİ underlined that global health services are the world’s fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions, which involve many factors such as energy spent in transportation, energy consumption of hospitals, hospital waste, and raw materials and waste used in the production of medical products. Stating that physiotherapy fulfills crucial functions such as reducing diagnostic tests and the use of hospital equipment, reducing the indications for surgery in the health system and reducing the use of pharmaceuticals in the context of its contributions to sustainability, our professor emphasized that we can contribute to the health and well-being dimension of sustainable development by using physiotherapy not only when we are sick but also to stay healthy. After the presentation, the event ended with a chair yoga session in which our professor guided the participants. At the end of the event, our Vice Rector and IMU Sustainability Office Coordinator Prof.Dr. Yaşar BÜLBÜL gave a short closing speech and talked about the activities planned by our Sustainability Office and emphasized that we should take part in each of the 17 main areas with our activities.
