Personal Note from Patrick, the Editor

Hi Reader, you should invite your friends to our event next week.

Why?

While I was putting together some resources to help you set your freezer to -70°C, I was reminded of the importance of teamwork.

So, let me share what might be the most unique spreadsheet for laboratory sustainability with you.

Secondly, let me explain how this connects to inviting your friends.

The Freezer Spreadsheet & Teamwork

Why working together makes such a difference.

How We Want to Entice You

If you truly want to make your lab greener, you need someone to support you and hold you accountable.

This is why you should just send 4 messages to colleagues you like or contacts at your institute.

I really like this picture from the I2SL Annual Conference because this organization has an amazing community, including the University Alliance and the Lab Materials Management Working Group, which you should definitely check out if you need a few allies on your side.

Yes, four is more than enough – and doing so will have two unique effects:

It will benefit you – the people receiving your invitation will associate you with new opportunities, and naturally, they'll want to reciprocate in the future.
Beyond that, though, you'll have made a small commitment to sustainability that will help motivate you to take action.

Sending those messages means you've taken action – and identified yourself as someone who cares.

This matters because you now belong to a group. A group of thousands of scientists worldwide.

A Collaborative Spreadsheet

And this group is powerful – for instance, to help you decide whether you can change your freezer temperature, its members have worked on a special spreadsheet.

Please note that the spreadsheet contains several tabs. :) You can access it here.

Initially spearheaded by my beloved colleague and former speaker at our summit, Kathryn Ramirez, the group has put together a spreadsheet listing dozens of samples that have been stored at -70°C, some of them for years.

In other words, this spreadsheet should serve as living proof that -70°C is safe for many (if not all) samples.

As I mentioned yesterday, we need to experience things ourselves or see them in black and white before we take action.

This list should do exactly that.

And for completeness, I've compiled a lesson with tips to keep your freezer healthy too.

No Need to Venture Alone

Yes, you have me as your green buddy, but imagine having one or two of your friends or colleagues join you, too.

You'll always have someone to talk to.
Always someone to discuss things with.
And always someone venturing alongside you.

Speaking from experience, they'll give you energy when things feel stressful and challenging.

But hey, I know how weird it can feel to send an invitation like this. I've done it often enough …

This is why I've put something together for you.

Here are two ready-made scripts for you – PS: one of them puts the blame for the invitation on me ;)

Decide which one you like better.

Now, you don't even need to spend time writing anything – everything is ready.

Here's our flyer and the landing page in case you want to share either of them.

Again, it's never easy, but we're here for you!

See you soon.

How We Feel Today

References

Freese, T. et al., 2024. The relevance of sustainable laboratory practices. RSC Sustainability, 2(5), 1300–1336. doi:10.1039/d4su00056k.

Kilcoyne, J. et al., 2022. Reducing environmental impacts of marine biotoxin monitoring: A laboratory report. PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, 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 23 rd : )

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

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Green Education – A Resource to Support -70