Friday 22 May 2015

Our planet needs you!




Sina Develioglu


From the Kyoto Protocol to the upcoming conference in Paris this December, governments, non-governmental organisations, people and also youngsters from all over the world have been working for some time on making the situation better about climate change. It was very important for the parties to decide of a universal legal agreement on this matter as soon as possible, no later than 2015. 4 years have passed since Durban COP17, but still the problem remains. There has not been any significant change, and by postponing the important decisions we will endanger our future.

As the young people of our world, we should feel equally responsible , as the world leaders are for saving our planet. We should push our governments to make cuts on their carbon emissions and encourage them to invest more on renewable energy than fossil fuels or nuclear energy. Nearly everything depends on the energetic choices being made today. Creating false or temporary solutions will only slow us down. In order to really make a difference, all of the countries in the world must act as one team and reach a final agreement at the end of year. We really don’t have much time.
Although it looks bad, I personally think that there are still things we can do but we have to act fast. People who care about the planet unfortunately rely on politicians (decision makers) and if they are not willing to cooperate with us, then everything we have done (recycling, protests against nuclear energy, workshops, conferences etc) would not matter anymore. To save Earth we need everyone. To save Earth, we need to take responsibilities. To save Earth we need to act. To save Earth, to have a future on Earth we need to become the decision makers itself to take the decisions some leaders nowadays won’t take. A man has a lot of potentials, both good and bad. All we have to do is to believe that all of us have the power to do well and to reach others.
Think big. Act big.
I would like to ends my words with the main question of our youth conference in Brussels:
If not us who and if not now when?

The Conference is over. And now what?


Ana Sofia Henriques

The conference “Let’s Take Care of the Planet” has one big objective: to change the world. But how can we do that?
The first step to change is awareness. We must share the results of the workshops and activities of this European conference in order to inform other people about the ideas and principals of the meeting. In that way, everyone can be informed of the environmental issues concerning the planet.
The second step towards change is to set the options so that we may solve the environmental problems we already identified. After having identified the multiple solutions we must choose the most appropriate ones.

Next step: action!

The only way we can really make a difference in the world is by being active and by influencing the people next to us to act in order to create a cycle of participation.
Therefore, after the conference, as delegates we need to continue to have an active voice and attitude when it comes to the environment.
This conference is only a small part of the path we must follow to have a healthy and sane planet, it is an important part since in this conference the delegates wrote a chart of responsibilities that will be presented in the COP 21(Conference of Parties 21) that will be held in Paris, 7 and 8 of December.
The COP 21, also known as 2015 Paris Climate Conference has a great impact in the environmental decisions made by the different governments, since last year’s conference attracted over 15000 official delegates.

Another very important conference is the International Conference of Youth or COY, where more than 110 countries will address climate change sustainable lifestyles and that it is specifically for young people who want to make a difference in the world.

What is happening in Brussels?



Malkolm Banker

The Let’s Take Care of the Planet Conference is a project aiming at creating dialogue between European youths and their counterparts from other countries in the EU. This dialogue will strengthen our already existing knowledge, and teach us new things that we can later share with our classmates and friends in our respective countries.
To accomplish this we delegates have participated in a number of activities that aim to teach us new things and enable discussion and debates between us, the teachers and others. These activities include discussions between the delegates about urgent environmental problems in their own countries, discussions and debates with an expert on environmental problems, production workshops and more. 
During the first activity we talked about environmental problems in our countries and later placed them on a map to get a view of where most problems concerning one issue are located. The activity culminated in group discussions about a few general environmental problems, where we then wrote “responsibilities” that we thought, and actions that could help us become and remain responsible.

Many people who work at the Committee of the Regions are experts on many fields of environmental issues. Small groups of delegates got to talk to one or two of these people about essentially whatever they wanted to, related to environmental problems and the function of the EU. This resulted in discussions that targeted the subjects of climate change, working for the EU and so on. I also believe that the experts got a useful view of the opinions of the young Europeans.
The last major activity that was conducted was the production workshops. There we got to make all sorts of creative things regarding the environment and solving problems connected to it. The result of these workshops can be seen here.
As a delegate, I can personally say that this conference has been incredibly giving and will be remembered for long, not only by me, but by everyone. We delegates believe that this has been an amazing opportunity to learn and discuss about environmental problems, and also plausible solutions. After the conference we will all surely bring back our new knowledge to our own countries, and share it with our classmates, friends and family. We have been given the tools to continue the work we started before the conference, and can now do it with newly found motivation.


Us before the Conference



Alex Turmanidze

A planet inhabited with very different species of animals, plants and microorganisms. But there is one species that harms this planet more than any kind. Humans have been destroying nature a lot, more and more since the Industrial Revolution because that event has led to many things, like increase in world population, scientific developments, more carbon dioxide emissions etc.
Nowadays, the world’s population increase rate gets higher and higher every minute. Scientists estimate that by 2025 our population will reach 8 billion but it could also happen sooner. This also brings problems with it, which are mostly environmental problems.
Environmental effects on world’s population could be listed in general as public health, food supply, freshwater and deforestation. Air pollution and unclean water cause widespread health problems. Also, scientists say that by 2025 most of our freshwater supply will be gone, consequently approximately 3 billion people will have no access to fresh water.
We have also burned, cut and destroyed half of our planet’s forests and we continue to do this because of the increasing population and urban expansion. We consume Earth’s resources, sometimes more than undeveloped countries do and the next generation will have no clean air, fresh water and green areas such as forests. Also, there is another big problem which is shortage of food supply.
Global emission of CO2, which is also a very big problem, has reached very high levels. This is the major "greenhouse gas" responsible for global warming. An important part of the emissions come from the use of fossil fuels like petrol and coal and they are harming human health, animals, plants and marine organisms. Although its use has decreased significantly, it will take a long time before it reduces the problem.
To draw attention on environmental problems a lot of young students are doing stuffs in their hometowns and schools. For example, in my school in Batumi, Georgia, once a month all people who are living near the sea come together:  at first they clean the beaches and then they go by  walk on the streets and clean up all of the wastes. A friend I met in this conference who is from Sweden said to me they recycle plastic, glass and paper in their school and they also  teach children from smaller grades how to care more about the planet. So there are a lot of young people who try to raise awareness among their friends and family. I am one of them and I see that there are people like that in this conference, too.

Thursday 21 May 2015

The opening ceremony

This morning we have officially started the European Youth Conference "Let's Take Care of the Planet!" with the opening ceremony in the Committee of the Regions (CoR). This is the bridge between the European Union and the cities and regions. Delegates and teachers from all countries have listened the welcoming words from members of Monde Pluriel and CoR. 
A facilitator of 2012, Lærke Vejsnæs, and a former delegate, Nacho Sánchez, who this year are both participating  as facilitators, gave us a testimony of their experience three years ago and encouraged delegates to take part and engage themselves: If you want to change something, you cannot wait for anyone to do it for you […] Henrik Ibsen said «one of these days the youngest generation will come knocking at my door». And we have already arrived!"

Moreover Edith Sizoo, International coordinator of Ethnics and Responsabilities Network and one of the initiators of the project LTCP, talked about the genesis of the project and delivered a really strong message for the delegates not to feel powerless facing with environmental issues. She claimed that co-responsability between young people and adults and other actors like politicians, businessmen and NGO is the key to achieve our purpose. Inspired by Gandhi’s famous quotation she concluded that “there is no way to responsibility, responsibility is the way”.

Article written by Nacho and Timta from the coordination team

Monday 18 May 2015

Young people educate young people



A meeting to discuss and generate commitment for a sustainable planet. This is the target of the second Let's Take Care of the Planet European Conference. From 19 to 22 May, in Brussels, this event will bring together about 90 people, including students, teachers and researchers from 15 countries. Achieving the main goal of the conference it takes a lot of organizational and educational preparation. That's why a team of 15 young facilitators are already working, two days before the event. They are coordinated by the team of Monde Pluriel, a French organization which has been promoting the initiative since 2010, along with dozens of other organizations.

Nacho Sànchez, 18 years old, for instance, comes from Spain, which this time brings its largest delegation to Brussels: 16 students and teachers, representing around 150 schools. During this school year, the schools have conducted discussions and promoted awareness on climate change and on other major environmental issues like renewable energies, air pollution, water use, energy use and soil use. “I feel responsible and I’m happy to be part of the project with a different role. This is the continuation of a process began when I was only 12”, says the student of Philosophy, Politics and Economy at the Pompeo Fabra University in Barcelona.

For the Dutch Mariska Bos, 26 years old, instead is the first time at the conference. “In these two days we’ve worked a lot, and we’ve managed a lot of information in such a little time. But it’s worth because I think it’s a moment to exchange experiences and knowledge and also an opportunity to grow personally. We can learn a lot from the children we are going to manage, the majority of them are in the last years of the middle school.”

To Lydia Nicollet, Monde Pluriel's co-coordinator, having young facilitators throughout the conference process is important because "this is one of the pillars of Pedagogy: young people learn from young people. The alliance between them is much stronger, because young people understand each other and can develop issues more easily."

The facilitators of the Let's Take Care of the Planet European Conference, thus, propose educational activities aimed also at reinforcing, along with young people, the knowledge, the attitudes and the skills that allow us to make more responsible and environmental aware choices.

It's also really important to share the project to the great number, so this year, a platform has been created, gathering link to Facebook, Tweeter, to a Webstreaming, Instagram and a blog edited by the Youth Reporter Agency. All the communication process turn around a hashtag #careplanet2015 which will be used has a signature.