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  • CAREER COLUMN

How we set our lab on an environmentally sustainable path

Leading a drive to lower your lab’s carbon footprint alongside your PhD research is tough. Start by celebrating small successes, says Caroline Giuglaris.
By
  1. Caroline Giuglaris

    1. Caroline Giuglaris is a biophysics PhD student and carbon consultant at the Curie Institute in Paris.

After starting my PhD in biophysics at the Curie Institute in Paris in October 2020, I was startled by the amount of waste that comes out of a laboratory: sterile packaging, excess chemicals that can’t be reused and all kinds of plastic containers. And I became more aware of this issue thanks to the School Strike for Climate, in which secondary-school students, inspired by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, skipped Friday classes to participate in demonstrations demanding climate action.

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Nature 621, 215-216 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02736-w

This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged.

References

  1. Mariette, J. et al. Environ. Res. Infrastruct. Sustain. 2, 035008 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. De Paepe, M. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/krf5 (2023).

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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