Personal Note From Patrick, The Editor

Hi Reader, I hope you’ve marked October 15th and 16th in your calendar!

On October 15th, the only event where a bunch of adults meet to show you how to enjoy the path to greener labs.

I spent the last 3 months making sure the event is feels like nothing else you ever attended - and still educates you on all you need.

You’ll receive the link to join next week so you don't need to search.

While putting everything together, I realized that there are basically only two ways to make labs greener: desire or teamwork.

Today's Lesson: What It Takes To Drive Change

The two paths to make your lab more sustainable

Number Of The Day

In 8 short talks, we will share everything you need to make your laboratory more sustainable. Ideas, innovations, tools, and case studies. The special thing is: I selected each talk to share one concise key insight. I listed them here so you can decide yourself. However, being there live will allow you to engage with us, since several talks will not just be presentations but spontaneous dialogues between the speaker and me.

All It Needs For More Sustainable Labs

We have talked a lot about skills and techniques:

Whether it’s about reducing more than 65% of plastic waste, optimizing instruments such as HPLC, or finding ways to save water.

However, most people don’t take action because of a false assumption: they think they need to do it on their own.

Theoretically, you can - but you’ll miss out on so much fun, excitement, and useful shortcuts. Here’s how to do it differently:

Will Others Help You?

In the first educational series for the event on October 15th, we talked about the 10 fundamentals. And number 9 was:

“Many stay silent but eagerly support sustainability initiatives if you take action.”

Indeed, most scientists I’ve met were concerned about their colleagues. Will they join? Will they resent me? Will they be okay with changes?

I believe these are false fears because almost everyone you talk to will be happy about what you’re doing.

Most people get rejected if they ask others to start first.
> You go first.

Making You Go First

The key often just lies in finding those who inspire you to take action.

And this is exactly why we’ve put together an event for you.

I can’t tell you how often, in the past five years, people like Kathy (Kathryn Ramirez-Aguilar) have inspired me to keep going, thanks to the energy they share.

Kathy and I are part of the I2SL University Alliance group, which made up a big portion of the people in this picture from the annual I2SL conference. I posted about their launch of a Lab Materials Management working group that focuses on vendor vetting and life-cycle assessments. The point of knowing such people is that you’ll share your wins, and you’ll never feel alone, no matter how many people tell you change isn’t possible.

On October 15th, you’ll learn more about her work and how to connect with her.

Also, just today, I spoke with Jan Bebermeier, my partner at Eppendorf.

We’ll have a talk on October 16th, during which we’ll discuss the future of bioplastics and how they fit into your lab — not even a script, just a live conversation.

And our meeting was energizing! His idealism and ideas made me think about solutions I hadn’t seen before. Being up from 8:00 until 3:30AM. the night before to finish event organization didn’t matter anymore.

After I asked him where to present their products, he simply said he’d prefer not to mention them at all because the session should be purely educational - open and spontaneous. Have you ever heard that before - you should be excited for our chat! Of course, I want you to know about their products because I believe they’re innovative. Therefore, you can read about them here anyway (sorry Jan!).

Indeed, it just takes one or two people - online or in person, both work - to spark the passion that makes you take action.

My tip: just read, listen and join events, and you’ll find them.

The technical stuff can be complicated, but this inspiration is simple - which is probably why so many people overlook it.

This is why I want you to join the event live, so you can experience the same excitement I’ve had! It's so helpful!

Paving Your Way

After networking, I might be best known for being honest. And that’s why I’ll also say this: you don’t need a network to drive change.

I didn’t have one at the start. And I know several enthusiasts who made significant changes on their own.

My publication on saving plastic in cell culture has only me as an author. Another one on steam sterilizers, as well as the famous Urbina et al. article, only have three. It only takes a few right people.

The stronger your joy to do something new, to improve, and to optimize, the more independent you can be.

Therefore, I want to give you permission to be unscientifically “ignorant” of all the doubts you will hear.

Nobody told people they would be able to save more than 95% of waste, 60% of plastic, and over $10,000. And yet, they and others pulled it off.

However, most people go down this path alone because they think the right inspiration for them simply doesn’t exist.

I might be the best-connected green lab expert worldwide, and this is why the event hosts eight different people with eight different styles.

You read about the topics & speakers here.

If only one inspires you, that’s enough. And if you bring a colleague, you’ve already created the foundation for great cooperation.

Applying The Knowledge

Finding the right people is key, whether in your workplace or online. You’ll save a lot of time, have more fun, and build a network for the future.

And therefore, I also want to help you find supporters in your institution.

Here are my three steps to get their buy-in:

Talk to them personally — not necessarily for long, but address them in person or at least via email.
Don’t overwhelm them. Scientists are trained to be literally anxious about their protocols. Step into their shoes. Simply telling them how you’ve made sure there’s no risk to their samples is often enough.
Take the first step. Start yourself, and then make them understand not only what you did but why you did it! (A motivation they can emotionally relate to.)

Of course, not everyone will join in, but many will. Proof?

Ruben Vanholme earned his place in the ReAdvance Hall of Fame by leading his facility to stop running fume hoods 24/7.

Each of those cabinets used about 2.9 times the energy of a single household. All the reductions combined save the institute approximately €57,000 each year. Read more here.

To convince his colleagues, he simply took a few plates and tested how long it took the biosafety cabinet to achieve sterility after restarting, showing that even one minute was enough.

He got buy-in from 90% of the people on the floor. One PI didn’t join, even after another group repeated his tests. It happens — but that shouldn’t distract from the 90% who did.

Again, people won’t change if you just ask or tell them to. They’ll change if they find inspiration in you.

Upcoming Lesson:

We will see each other in the event!

How We Feel Today

References

Penndorf, P., 2024. Reducing plastic waste in scientific protocols by 65% — practical steps for sustainable research. FEBS Letters, 598(9), 1331–1334. doi:10.1002/1873-3468.14909.

Urbina, M., et al., 2015. Labs should cut plastic waste too. Nature, 528, 479. doi:10.1038/528479c.

McGain, F., et al., 2016. Hospital steam sterilizer usage: could we switch off to save electricity and water? J. Health Serv. Res. Policy, 21(3), 166–171. doi:10.1177/1355819615625698.

Kilcoyne, J., et al., 2022. Reducing environmental impacts of marine biotoxin monitoring: A laboratory report. PLOS Sustain. Transform., 1(3), e0000001. doi:10.1371/journal.pstr.0000001.

If you have a wish or a question, feel free to reply to this Email.

Otherwise, wish you a beautiful week!
See you again on the 15th : )

Find the previous lesson click - here -

Edited by Patrick Penndorf
Connection@ReAdvance.com
Lutherstraße 159, 07743, Jena, Thuringia, Germany
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