Lund, Sweden, November 13-15th, 2009

Transcription

1 Framsida Lund, Sweden, November 13-15th, 2009

2 Bringing the voice of Youth to COP15 As governments representing the whole world prepared to meet in Copenhagen for the fifteenth - and probably the largest of its kind - conference on climate change, youth from over 15 different countries met at KLIMATTING ETT, a three day Climate Gathering in Lund, Sweden, the November, COP15 aimed to unite all countries in their efforts in reducing global warming and to produce a successor of the Kyoto Protocol as it expires in 2012, and for the youth participating in Lund, KLIMATTING ETT was their means to amplify their voices, to work out a joint message to the COP15 meeting and to provide new knowledge and possibilities to act together locally in a global context. As an initiative of Ungdomsforum för Agenda 21 (UFO), Youth Forum for Agenda 21, and Lund Youth Council, KLIMATTING ETT gathered a total of around 300 young people from all over Sweden, Europe and globally from four continents. KLIMATTING ETT was recognised as an event connected to Sweden s presidency in the EU, 2009, and also received the status as a Regional Centre of Expertise on education for sustainable development, from the United Nations University in Japan. 2

3 A word from the Project Leader: Working with the Climate Gathering has been an incredible experience. The commitment and the energy put in by the youth in the workgroup, especially during the final weeks before the gathering, made this project a great success. It felt like the start of something big. Hjalmar Nordén In this report... Introduction to the Climate Gathering Acting Globally Acting Locally Acting Individually Youth Forum for Agenda 21 (UFO) and Lund Youth Council The reference group and the work group Closing Ceremony Outcome The next steps Contact information For more information, enter Project Leader Project Manager: KLIMATTING ETT - Yeah! Towards sustainability there are lots of challenges. The youth are not afraid of taking on complex issues as the Climate Change. During the Climate Gathering in Lund, the youth proved that they want to take responsibility for whole processes designing activities for awareness raising and learning for sustainable development. By arranging meetings with different actors in society holding various experiences and competence, a rewarding outcome of knowledge formation, new ideas and solutions on how to diminish the negative consequences of the Climate Change was developed. Another crucial aspect, fulfilled in the Climate Gathering, was that the young people were heard as they presented arguments. The youth were recognized as they contributed to society in a respectful way as citizens. Understanding collaboratively creates the foundation for well-developed competence to act democratically towards sustainability locally and globally. Birgitta Nordén Project Manager 3

4 KLIMATTING ETT, Lund, November 13-15th, Expectations were ozon layer high as the great hall of the Academic Society in Lund filled with young, curious people on Friday, November 13th, Among the expectations heard were to learn, discuss, learn the truth about the climate, create a message to COP15 and to make words action. But also to network, share opinions and knowledge and finally, have a lot of fun! As the gathering started, more and more of these expecations became reality. Starting off with a Lund Youth Council meeting, the delegates from outside of Lund got insight in the strong youth influence in the Municipality of Lund since It was very interesting and rewarding. I have learned a lot of things. I hope you arrange something similar as soon as possible! Three tracks - Three approaches to the climate issue! To get thoughts and work started on more than just the global level and the climate negotiations, the Climate Gathering workgroup had decided that the participants should be split up into three tracks, all focusing on the climate issue, but approaching it in different ways. The participants got to choose between: Acting Globally Focusing on the Climate Negotiations and working out proposals to COP15. Acting Locally Acting together by forming groups and starting local projects, but across country borders. Acting Individually Raising awareness about the impacts of climate change and gaining competence to act. 4 At the end sessions, all tracks presented the conclusions they had reached, and then a final voting between all participants decided on what messages and projects should be focused on as we passed our main findings on to the rest of the world. The following pages are about what happened at each track and what conclusions we reached. I will always buy fair trade food when there is Julia Nielsen, Lund, Sweden I will plant more trees together with friends Stas, Ukraine

5 Meet some of the speakers... Fredrik Hedenus Focusing on effective cutdowns on greenhouse gas discharges, Fredrik Hedenus, as a scientist in Physical Resource Theory at Chalmers in Gothenburg, heated the discussions with hard scientific facts. Åsa Knaggård Highlighting on how Swedish policy-makers manage scientific uncertainty in the climate change issue, Åsa Knaggård, from the Department of Political Science at Lund University placed the social dimension on the agenda. Erik Persson Bringing in Environmental Ethics and lifestyle, Erik Persson has a doctor s degree in Philosophy at Lund University and works for the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre. Linda Birkedal Linda Birkedal is an environmental strategist in the municipality of Lund, with specific responsibility for climate issues. She is also in the board for the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. I will stop driving so much and start biking more Anna Sigurgeirsdottir, Sweden/Iceland KLIMATTING ETT provided me with an unforgettable experience of being a vegetarian, even just for three days, and I do appreciate your effort so much! - Baiyu Chen, China Tired of environmental conferences not going all the way in their sustainable thinking and with the logistics, the youth of the workgroup found it crucial that every aspect of the Climate Gathering were adapted to reduce climate impacts. For one thing, the food served to all delegates at the Climate Gathering was completely vegetarian, as well as (as far as possible) ecologically and locally grown. One-time packagings, bottles and paper plates were not to be seen. Instead, using tap water was encouraged. I promise to take shorter showers Amy Brush, Germany 5

6 Acting globally Focusing on COP15 and the climate negotiations, the aim with the global track was to make creative proposals to bring forward to the delegates of COP15, as well as to discuss and learn about the alternative work that is being done for the climate, globally. Participants were introduced to the ongoing negotiations, their many obstacles and the possible solutions. Expectations were high and several questions arose about the progress and what possibilities existed to make the word of the people heard. I see hope in your eyes Jonathan Sundqvist, adopt-a-negotiator The fundamental conflict is between the interest for short term perspective from few people with lot of power and money, and the long-term life of billions of people and countless of other beings who don t have so much power. Oleg Izyumenko, Wake Up Call To get a better feel for how it is to be in the role of a negotiator, a role play was organised. The participants were divided into different fictional countries, where every country got 10 minutes to prepare, learn about their conditions, politics and goals in the negotiations. They then presented their country, their beliefs and thoughts on climate change to the other countries and the debate started. The youth found it an interesting and rewarding experience to see things through the eyes of a negotiator; I think everybody got in to this right, it was a very good experience In the end it was like we were getting nowhere. Everybody wanted different results... Everything is about money. We should focus and try to find financial arguments With these experiences in hand, the participants in the global track were ready to start forming proposals for COP 15 and the world. This was done in smaller groups, who after some brainstorming presented their thoughts to the whole track. 6 I will buy second hand from now on Maja Holm, Lund, Sweden I ll cook vegetarian food for my family once a week! <3 Astrid, Jönköping, Sweden

7 Suggestions from the global track: Global bank An idea that gained much support from the rest of the participants was to create a global climate bank, ruled by a council consisting of one person from every country, where each country contributes with 2% of their GDP. The bank is then financing and helping climate initiatives globally, for example by building solar power generators in developing countries. Information and education The youth decided that it s crucial to change the view of the climate in the media, since it takes an active part in fostering youth and raising opinions. Educating and engaging children practically and emotionally in all ages, all the way down to kindergarten, would also make a big difference in attitude towards the climate challenges. Making the treaty legally binding A widely spread opinion was that it was too easy to find loopholes in the past climate treaty. This time, there should be no frames; if a country breaks the treaty, it will have to pay for the consequences. The youth hoped that this would create a stronger commitment in the participating countries. Video Conference As the work started off in the different tracks, so did also the video conferences. Face-to-face meetings took place with participants in Indonesia, Namibia, Russia, Hungary, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and the USA. Oregon State University and CEI USA Oregon Chapter coordinated the video conferences, which were appreciated among the youth. Forum Theatre In two of the tracks, the participants were able to try out forum theatre - a creative tool for solving conflicts - arranged by Sara Engström from the workgroup. With forum theatre the Brazilian director Augusto Boal wanted to strengthen the oppressed in the society and to encourage them to combat inequalities. However, when applied on climate issues, it can be used on other types of conflicts as well. Some examples are civil disobedience and whether or not to act anonymously in an area of conflict. I will only buy ecological Christmas gifts Lovisa, Lund, Sweden I promise to share the knowledge with all my friends Nil Döerliolu, Turkey 7

8 Acting locally The aim of the local track was to give the participants the tools needed to start climate related projects and to help them think of creative ways to help the climate from their home town. It started off with an inspiring session with Elinor Hallström and Per-Anders Jande from The Swedish Food And Environmental Institute, SMMI, raising consciousness about the participants food habits, informing about food and emissions and giving examples of food related projects. The biggest transport threat isn t the transport of food to the stores, it s our transport from the stores to our homes Elinor Hallström, SMMI We use all farming land in Sweden, plus another half Sweden in other countries Per-Anders Jande, SMMI The participants were inspired to act like true citizens; use the media, get organized, promote change, talk to politicians, organize seminars, cooperate, and use social medias. For the participants to get to know each other in order to form effective project groups, there was a short speed dating session with Oleg Izyumenko & Sven Heijbel from Wake Up Call, after which Social Entrepreneur Richard Lindeberg gave several valuable tips and tricks on forming projects. Think, live & breathe your project. Sell, sell and sell Richard Lindeberg, Social Entrepreneur After a short break, a brainstorming workshop quickly got the ideas flooding. Soon, the room was bubbling with proposals of things to do, from yearly held ecological festivals, computer games on the climate theme and ways of making public transports free, to saving energy in schools and putting taxes on garbage. The youth were then encouraged to create detailed step-by-step plans for their projects, and were given tools needed to follow through with their ideas. 8 I will buy more locally grown food Pauli Lydausen, Denmark I will donate a tree! Agnes Oredsson, Lund, Sweden

9 Your project shall be Desirable, Sustainable, Achievable and Relevant to target groups! Sven Heijbel, Wake Up Call Suggestions from the local track: Plastic bag kills A project with the aim to convince people and stores to stop using plastic bags, an unnecessary impact on the environment. The participants set out during an hour to perform a survey in the local stores, finding out that a majority of the customers actually thought stop using plastic bags a good idea. Green canteen School food plays a big role in a school s climate impact. This project was created to start sharing knowledge about food throughout schools via canteen networking, where the youth will be the link between canteens. YIN Youth Inspiring Network The final project that drew a lot of votes were to form a local network with the ambition to facilitate inspiring lectures and cooperate with organizations. Through this network, youth would be able to recommend speakers (for example on the climate issues) to each other. I ll walk to college Guilheme Santos, Portugal Cultural events In the evenings, between the serious discussions and the creative workshops, things got a little bit more relaxed, in order to recharge committment and the creative batteries. Local bands like famous singer and poet Emil Jensen, along with singer-song writers Ellen Oredsson and Sara Vikström, created a soft mood for the hard-working participants. Theatre Barbara, a theatre group from Stockholm, held high class and their climate play Freeze was much appreciated by the participants. At the end of the second evening, a brilliant fire show were held by local fire artists, lighting up the dark winter night. I promise to walk more than to take the bus Yu Ching Yee, Hong Kong. 9

10 I ve gained many friends, and now I am more interested in the environment Participant from Eslöv, Sweden Acting individually Negotiations and global issues aside, it s incredibly important that we all do what we can for the climate, even in our every day life. At the individual track, focus lay on our individual efforts, with the goal to produce lifestyle recommendations as a part of the message to the world and COP15. The first day started off with the workshop Everyday environment THINK! DO! & LISTEN!, which was opened with the question How do we inform people?. Many ideas came up on how to reach out to the public. Even though the youth were all committed to helping the climate, when asked about their thoughts on global warming, responses varied widely. The opinions went from Media is exaggerating the threat and It s quite bad I guess to Very serious and It s urgent!. Next on the programme was Erik Persson from the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre, with his lecture Climate and life style; from awareness to action. Up for discussion were carbon footprints How much CO2 does your lifestyle cost and climate ethics. Everyone agreed that they could reduce their footprint by saving energy, going by bike, sorting and recycling garbage and buying locally produced food. But even some more creative solutions came up, like connecting exercise machines to a generator and someone boldly stated that I could invent more environmentally friendly flying fuel. One of the quickest ways to get results is to just stop eating meat, which many participants vouched for. After the discussions, it was time to do something more hands-on. To compensate for the travellers who had come to the conference by airplane, a special tree planting had been arranged by the Nature School of Lund. Part of the ceremony took place outside the Cathedral of Lund, where Rt. Rev. Dr. Antje Jackelén held a short speech. 10 I ll get better at pulling the plugs and turn off lamps! Sara, Lund, Sweden. I ll plant 10 trees, our planet dream is not over yet! Santiago Ramirez, Colombia

11 Suggestions from the individual track: CO2 points The specific amount of carbon dioxide released by a product is now easy to find on the Internet. From this, an idea came up to create a simple point system to calculate and reduce your own emissions through the points, it s easy to see and compare our impacts on the environment and the climate. Education As in the local track, the individual track also found it very important to further spread information about the current climate situation. An education system in climate con behaviour should be created from kindergarten and up, which should be sustainable for all generations to come and make environmental thinking a habit. Taxes One easy way to reduce the amount of enviromentally harmful products would be to simply burden them with taxes. Many participants found this to be an easy and straight-forward way to avoid increased damage and further negative climate change. I will start to give away clothes that I don t use! Linda, Lund, Sweden Forum of Ideas All through the conference, there was an ongoing exhibition, called the Forum of Ideas, for climate concerned organisations and companies to present their projects. One exhibitor was Caretakers of the Environment International, Sweden, whose exhibition was a tree, where participants got to write their personal and concrete Climate promises for the closest future on the leaves (some of the green quotes in this report). The young delegates could also make refreshing ecological smoothies with a bicycle-powered blender from the Moss Garden. Other exhibitors were Aktion Skåne-Miljö, Klimataktion, Lunds Energi, School of Nature, Nils Nyberg, The Swedish Food And Environmental Institute, and the Church of Sweden. I promise to turn off all my stand by - things every night! Maja Almqvist, Växjö, Sweden 11

12 Youth Forum for Agenda 21 (UFO) UFO was formed in 1998, as a youth intitative with the aim to let the young influence environmental issues in the Municipality of Lund. At the United Nations summit for sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro, 1992, world leaders acknowledged youth as an important resource when building a sustainable future. Since its start-off in 1998, UFO has arranged a lot of different activities; courses in ecological cooking, exchange visits in Spain and Scotland, an ecological café and fashion show. The will of youth have always been the guideline for the initiative and its activities. No membership is necessary to become active in the group, the only requirement is that you are between 12 and 20 years old and either live or go to school in the city of Lund. The UFO project build on the ideas of the youth attending meetings initiated by youth for informal learning to develope competence to act towards sustainable developement. Lund Youth Council The Youth Council (UT) has been amplifying the voices of the young people of Lund since 2003, with its three ground bolts; dialogue, affect and own activities. With the dialogue, the council wants to avoid bureaucratical detours between youngsters and adults. Since youth are not allowed to vote, they need other ways to affect politicians and officials in the matters that concerns young people. The third bolt, the own activities and projects, is where youth can take responsibility and make their ideas implemented. That makes the engagement grow. The Youth Council is a forum, where young people meet adults and discuss, with the aim is to make youth s opinions heard. 12 I ll use my bicycle more and my car less Alejandro Bravole, Bogotá, Colombia

13 The reference group While the initiative for KLIMATTING ETT came from the young people of Lund, many key persons have been involved in creating and supporting the project. The reference group consisted of: Birgitta Nordén, Project Manager KLIMATTING ETT, Youth Forum for Agenda 21 (UFO) Linda Birkedal Environmental Strategist at Environmental Strategy Dept. Hjalmar Nordén Project Leader, KLIMATTING ETT Tor Ohlsson Process Manager at Dept. of Culture & Leisure Anna Sigurgeirsdottir Youth Development Officer at Dept. of Culture & Leisure Karin Loodberg Head of Environmental Strategy Dept. Håkan Samuelsson Coordinator for Lund s cooperation with Sweden s Climate Municipalities The work group KLIMATTING ETT was an initiative of UFO (Youth Forum Agenda 21) and Lund Youth Council. The idea was conceived and created by a workgroup, consisting of young representatives from various networks, groups and organizations that have knowledge and commitment to the climate issue. They have had a free hand to develop the program, so that the conference is truly created by and for young people. The work group consisted of representatives from: - UFO - Lund Youth Council - Fältbiologerna - Hållbart Universitet - Caretakers of the Environment International (CEI) - Mykorrizha I will bike more even though the weather is bad Malin, Lund, Sweden 13

14 Closing Ceremony I. Handing over the youth s recommendations to COP15 Moderator: Ebba Sofiadotter Lepic A. Youth presenting their recommendations of each track towards COP15 Acting globally - Minou, Lovisa & Leo Acting locally - Lovisa & Joel Acting individually - Sara & Caroline B. Adult respondents 1. Mr Mats Helmfrid, Mayor and Chairman of the City Executive Board. 2. Ms Karin Loodberg, Head of Environmental Strategy Department. 3. Mr Håkan Samuelsson, Coordinator for Lund s cooperation with Sweden s Climate Municipalities. 4. Mr Tomas Björnsson, Naturskyddsföreningen, Klimatnätverket. 5. Ms Dimitra Papoudimitriou, Greece. Caretakers of the Environment International (CEI). II. Closing speech Mats Helmfrid, Mayor and Chairman of the City Executive Board. Municipality of Lund. III. Sum up & Thank you - Keep the good work up! Birgitta Nordén, Project Manager KLIMATTING ETT. IV. Certificates Moderator: Linda Nihlén Handing out: Birgitta Nordén Hand shakers: Mats Helmfrid, Tor Olsson & Karin Loodberg V. The Final Count Down: the Globe Game Outdoor activity in the SPYKEN school yard coordinated by Birgitta Nordén. 14

15 15 Lund 15/ Sweden

16 OUTCOME: IDEAS, PROJECTS & SUGGESTIONS 16 For more reporting of the outcome of the Climate Gathering 2009 visit the GLOBAL FORUM (2010, Vol. 19, No 2, pp.2;17-22) at:

17 I promise to take the bus or train or walk or ride my bike more than I drive my car. Even if it s raining Abby C., USA I will not buy new clothes until the old have holes. Then I will look for second hand Linda Birkedal, Environmental Strategist, Lund I will apply the three R s in my daily life, buy a fabric bag and stop using plastic bags Sebastián Ardia, Colombia I will build a wagon, demonstrating that an environmentally friendly vacation s possible Robert Hammarsköld, Dalby, Sweden I will raise awarewess among young people in my community =) Anne Engelund, Aalborg, Denmark I won t fly over distances shorter than 700 km, neither privately nor professionally Lars Bergwall, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee of the City of Lund. Responsible for local environment issues. Our society is built on unstable rocks. Many of us know it, but only a few care. The most important thing we can do is work together. When we have contact across the borders and meet face-to-face, we can come up with many important, creative and good ideas. Even, if we are from different parts of the world with different ways to live, it s never hard to understand each other. It s amazing how much you actually can learn from video conferencing. It s important to talk. Video conferences make this possible, and we don t have to travel with expensive and environmental affecting things to be able to talk. Ideas can be shared in breakout brain-storming sessions and be brought back to the bigger groups. Some impressions by Agnes Olsson, Lund 17

18 The next steps On Sunday the 15th November, 2009, at the end of the conference, the messages and the results created by the three tracks were presented to local politicians: Mats Helmfrid, Mayor and Chairman of the City Executive Board Karin Loodberg, Head of Environmental Strategy Department Håkan Samuelsson, Coordinator for Lund s cooperation with Sweden s Climate Municipalities Tomas Björnsson, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and Climate Network as well as to Dimitra Papoudimitriou, Caretakers of the Environment International (CEI), Greece. Many of the projects started at the conference has continued, and plans are being made around the world to follow up with eco-weeks in schools, plastic bag reduction and other forms of commitment. Voices have also been raised, asking for a follow-up conference the coming year. After the conference, youth represantatives together with Project Leader Hjalmar Nordén handed over the messages to Fredrik Reinfeldt (see photo to the right), Prime Minister of Sweden, holder of the Presidency of the European Union during the autum semester 2009, when he visited Malmoe University, ahead of COP15. I ve learned so much more about the climate changes, and I ve been more incentevized to do something. For example, I ve become a vegetarian. I m also going to the COP15 meeting. I ve gained more knowledge about the climate issues and opened my eyes a bit wider. Now, I m trying to take the workshops from track 2 into the classes at my school. I brought hope and a strong mind from the Climate Gathering. I still can believe that we can change the situation and make the earth a better place to live. 18 I will go on my next vacation by train! Annika Nilsson, Lund, Sweden

19 A big THANK YOU to everyone who has been involved in the KLIMATTING ETT workgroup! Agnes Olsson Alexander Olsson Anders Lennartsson Andrea Evaldsson Caroline Oredsson Elin Johansson Eric Sporre Felicia Särlöv Joel Melkersson Johan Sandberg Julia Hillbur Leo Sundström Lovisa Lundgren Lovisa Måsbäck Maja Ekblad Minou Moon Patrik Roesberg Pontus Bengtsson Sara Engström Sara Vikström Veronica El Radaf Viggo Barmen Contact Department of Culture and Leisure Birgitta Nordén Enviromental Strategist & Project Manager +46 (0) or +46 (0) Hjalmar Nordén Project Leader Environmental Strategy Department Linda Birkedal Environmental Strategist +46 (0) I will be a school vegetarian Alice Gredeby, Lund, Sweden. 19

20 Design: Hjalmar Nordén. Illustrations: Jasmine Stolle. Layout assistants: Elliot Strandmark & Louise Löfdahl. Sponsors and partners