How did you end up in Wageningen?
‘I have wanted to study Zoology since I was a kid, but you can’t study that in Greece. I went to Bangor, a small town in Wales, to get my bachelor’s degree. Going there was probably the best choice I ever made. Bangor is much smaller than Wageningen, with about 10.000 people living there. Studying there was fantastic, and the people I met there are probably still the closest people in my life. It was the beginning of a journey full of beautiful, intense experiences and learning.
‘During Corona, I started looking into forest conservation as a concept. I wanted to look at nature protection from a holistic approach, and Wageningen was the only place that offered a broad diversity of courses that matched my wishes. Here, you can dive into ecology, sociology, politics, and more and combine all these perspectives into one degree. I was amazed when I looked at the rankings: how can a place without real forests offer such great education about forest and nature conservation?’
How is your experience here so far?
‘Very full, both emotionally and intellectually. It’s almost like I literally feel my brain expanding. That is amazing and exhausting at the same time. The people I met and my connections with others have made it a special time for me. It is going by super-fast, but I’m trying to make the most out of it.’
In the end, it is all about justice: both for the environment and for the people
‘Last year, in my first year in Wageningen, I had a transformative moment. One of our lecturers, who is both philosopher and ecologist, said: ‘This environmental crisis, and any crisis for that matter, is ultimately a crisis of the soul, of humanity itself. It extends not just to how we treat nature but also to how we treat one another. So we have to change the way we relate to each other in this world.’ Since then, it has felt as if all the pieces of the puzzle fell into the right place. Let me give you an example: if we want to protect a forest, a common approach in conservation is to ban all human access to that forest. But when you forbid access to the people who have been living there for centuries, you are impacting their well-being, their culture, and their survival. That is why we need to look broader. We need to speak up for all those people that haven’t had their voices heard for too long and listen to their needs. In the end, it is all about justice: both for the environment and for the people.’
What are you going to write about?
‘My first column is about how worries about money can block your ability to enjoy. I write from my own perspective, but I know that it is an experience that more students share with me. In the future, I plan to write about topics related to holistic well-being, human connections, socio-environmental injustices, and anything else that might touch my heart. I hope that my writing helps to make people feel seen or maybe makes them think or rethink something. I hope it will contribute to bring us all closer, even if we never meet each other.’
You can read Nefeli’s first column here.
