Tag: yife

  • Intensive and fun days at Nya Malmö Latin with ‘Young Ideas for Europe’

    Students are working hard on a political manifesto for sustainable future
    Students are working hard on a political manifesto for sustainable future © IFOK GmbH

    It’s half-way into the project week with ‘Young Ideas for Europe’ and so far we have had tonnes of new information that the participants absorbed from expert presentations, videos, and watching the live stream of 24 Hours of Reality“, organised by Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project. At this very moment the students of Nya Malmö Latin are creating their political manifestos for the role-play, as well as working on their own positive vision for the energy and climate policies in Europe in the next 15 years that will be delivered to EU’s top politicians in Brussels in a month from now.

    We all learn new things every day. Not only the students, but the facilitators as well. Together we are doing the math and asking critical questions, trying to make peace with the fact that there are no definite answers, but only a definite direction we need to go, and an overwhelming sense of urgency to follow a sustainable path.

    On the project’s first day on Monday we had one of the lead authors of the IPCC’s latest assessment report, professor Markku Rummukainen, joining us at the school and delivering a brilliant and well-balanced presentation. Tuesday was filled with politics, inspiringly presented by Lorenz Tovatt, a spokesperson of the Swedish Young Greens, and Anna Bengtsson from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. Positive visions for Swedish and European climate and energy policies were brainstormed in the afternoon of the second day. Wednesday marked the start of the two-days long role-play.

    It’s half-way through the project week of ‘Young Ideas for Europe’ at Nya Malmö Latin, but only a starting point for these young people’s engagement with climate politics. And we are there with them to support them on every step along this way towards a climate-safe, prosperous, and just world for all.

  • “Election Debate” at the IEGS

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    Jens Holm, one of the project’s political patrons from the Left Party, discusses ‘young ideas for Europe’ with the ‘politicians’ from the People’s Party © IFOK GmbH

    The final day of the Young Ideas for Europe’s project week in Stockholm started off with a nice doze of excitement and nervousness from the participants of the project. After some last minute preparations and a sound check, this year’s political patrons and sponsors of the project entered the Aula at the International English Gymnasium Södermalm (IEGS) to mingle with the participants on stage. The Aula was filled with the vivid noise from the ideas and opinions being shared and discussed.

    We also got a big encouragement from our partner school in Lithuania:

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  • “It’s the End of the World As We Know It”

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    Anna Bengtsson from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation speaks about climate change © IFOK GmbH

    Michael Fichter
    Michael Fichter presents students’ ideas to the guest expert © IFOK GmbH

    “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” was the quote from R.E.M.’s song that the Day 2 of the Young Ideas for Europe at the International English Gymnasium Södermalm started with. Anna Bengtsson from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (Naturskyddsföreningen in Swedish) held a great presentation about climate solutions and a discussion with the project participants. The students discussed how we can actually change the world – as individuals and as a strong youth generation. We need to change our lifestyle, but we also have to get the politicians to act.

    During the previous day the participants developed their own ideas regarding how they want the future of EU’s and Sweden’s climate and environmental regulation look like. Today was the day filled with meetings with the experts in this field and the day’s main purpose was to discuss and test those ideas. Next to Anna, we also got to meet Maria Wetterstrand, a former spokesperson for the Green Party of Sweden, and Johanna Lakso, a founder of the Swedish Youth Climate Movement (PUSH Sverige).
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  • Young Ideas for Europe, pressmeddelande

    Student participants of "Young Ideas for Europe" from IEGS with their teacher, Helen Quested (front row, left)
    Internationella Engelska Gymnasium Södermalm i Stockholm utvecklar idéer för ett hållbart Europa tillsammans med Lundastudentföretag

    Stockholm, 16-19 april 2013 – Tillsammans med initiativet Young Ideas for Europe och Lundastudentföretaget Wake-Up Call arbetar Internationella Engelska Gymnasium Södermalm (IEGS) med att utveckla innovativa idéer för att möta Europas framtida energibehov. Under en vecka i april kommer elever på IEGS att tillbringa fyra dagar med att diskutera frågorna kring morgondagens energikällor.

    Varifrån ska vi få vår energi när alla kärnkraftverk stängts ner och det fossila bränslet tagit slut? Vilka energikällor kan bäst möta samhällets behov samtidigt som miljön bevaras? Vilka krav kommer morgondagens konsumenter att ställa på leverantörerna av deras energi? Hur kommer förändringar på energimarknaden att påverka samhället och vice versa? Dessa och många andra frågor kommer eleverna på IEGS att få tackla under veckan med det paneuropeiska initiativet Young Ideas for Europe.

    Pressinformation

    Fredagen den 19 april klockan 11.00 kommer eleverna på IEGS i Stockholm att i form av ett rollspel presentera resultatet av sina idéer kring energins framtid i Europa. Rollspelet utgör kulmen av fyra fängslande dagars diskuterande och överläggande med bland annat Maria Wetterstrand (f.d. språkrör mp), Anna Bengtsson (Naturskyddsföreningen) och Johanna Lakso (PUSH Sverige) och kommer att besökas av politiker från EU- och riksnivå samt inbjudna gäster och journalister. Det kommer att finnas möjlighet att intervjua elever så väl som övriga deltagare och projektledare efter presentationen.

    Young Ideas for Europe är ett initiativ från en av Europas största stiftelser Robert Bosch Foundation, designat för elever mellan 15 och 18 år. Initiativet skapar ett paneuropeiskt nätverk som ger unga över hela EU chansen att aktivt delta i dialogen kring Europas framtid. Under fyra dagar kommer eleverna att utveckla idéer för hållbara energiplaner som kan möta Europas framtida behov. De bästa av idéerna från hela Europa sätts ihop till en gemensam handlingsplan, “New Energy for Europe”, vilken kommer att presenteras för EU:s ordförandeskap och beslutsfattare i Bryssel.

    Elevernas arbete under projektveckan stöds av politiker och experter från universitet och ideella föreningar. Under rollspelet kommer eleverna att skapa sina egna politiska partier, utveckla en politisk plattform och sedan diskutera och debattera frågorna kring klimat- och energipolitik med andra grupper. Projektveckan kommer att äga rum i alla 27 EU-länderna, med två stycken som pågår samtidigt där videosamtal och utbyte av upplevelser på till exempel Facebook och Twitter sker kontinuerligt mellan de två länderna. En parlamentsdebatt utgör på fredagen veckans höjdpunkt. Där presenterar och debatterar eleverna sina partiers manifest innan de diskuterar idéerna med politiker och därmed får en direktlänk in i den politiska sfären. Ett videosamtal med den Litauiska partnerskolan under presentationen stärker ytterligare ungdomarnas arbete på ett interkulturellt sätt.
    Samarbetspartners

    I år samarbetar Wake-Up Call med det Skånska innovationsföretaget Knycer som med sitt energisnåla smarta torkskåp utan värme utsågs till “Årets Framtidsföretag 2012” av Energi Effektiviseringsföretagen. Knycers VD entreprenören Monica Hallworth sitter i styrelsen för Sustainable Business Hub i Malmö och brinner för hållbarhet och energisnåla lösningar. ”Jag är imponerad av arbetet som jag ser görs i Wake-Up Call och jag är mycket stolt över att vara en ny sponsor till projektet,” säger Monica Hallworth. “Att ge våra ungdomar möjlighet att fördjupa sig, att diskutera och engagera sig i miljö och klimatfrågorna tycker jag känns otroligt värdefullt.”

    Årets andra samarbetspartner 350.org är en världsomspännande rörelse vars mål är att bygga en global gräsrotskampanj för att förena världen kring rättvisa lösningar på klimatkrisen. 350 ppm (parts per million, eller miljondelar) är den allmänt erkända vetenskapliga säkerhetsgränsen för koldioxid i vår atmosfär. Startad av sju amerikanska ungdomar 2008 leds 350.org idag av miljökämpen Bill McKibben och har siktet inställt på att göra det möjligt för varje världsmedborgare att säga sitt i klimatfrågan.

    Presskontakt i Wake-Up Call, Skåne: Maja Cronert
    Telefonnr.: 0730-69 55 11
    E-post: yife@wakeupcall.se


    Young Ideas for Europe är ett projekt från Robert Bosch Foundation som i Sverige arrangeras av ungdomsledda samhällsföretaget Wake-Up Call (www.wakeupcall.se) på Internationella Engelska Gymnasium Södermalm. Målet är enkelt: att skapa entusiasm bland europeiska ungdomar över det europeiska projektet, engagera dem i meningsfulla dialoger och ge dem en chans att skapa sina egna visioner för Europa. Sedan starten 2008 har fler än 2 200 ungdomar från 26 EU-medlemsländer deltagit i projektveckorna som en del av Young Ideas for Europe. Från att i sin första fas ha växt från 26 projektveckor i 6 länder är nu Young Ideas for Europe i sin fjärde fas och genomförs i samtliga 27 EU-länder. Ett 40-tal projektveckor erbjuder ungdomar en röst i framtidens Europa.

    Mer information finns på www.youngideasforeurope.eu och www.bosch-stiftung.de

  • Countdown to the ‘Young Ideas for Europe’

    Student participants of 'Young Ideas for Europe' from IEGS with their teacher, Helen Quested (front row, left)
    Student participants of ‘Young Ideas for Europe’ from IEGS with their teacher, Helen Quested (front row, left) © IFOK GmbH

    For 25 students at the International English Gymnasium Södermalm (IEGS) in Stockholm this week will be quite extraordinary. They won’t have their normal curriculum with Math, History, and Swedish on the schedule, but instead will work full-time with developing visions for Europe’s future energy policies. The project week, happening simultaneously at IEGS in Sweden and at a partner school in Lithuania, is a kick-start for this year’s cycle of the EU-wide project called Young Ideas for Europe and will be facilitated by Wake-Up Call for the third time in Sweden.

    Last Friday we had a meeting with the students to introduce the coming project week and discuss broad energy trends and issues with them. Next to discussing practical questions – What each day’s agenda will look like? What will be happening? Who is Wake-Up Call? – we took a first glance at the need for new European energy policies. Also, the students got materials about the EU, its political institutions, its decision-making procedures and its role in the modern world, for further preparations at home.

    Then on Saturday Wake-Up Call’s project team met for the final and thorough briefing before the project week. To ensure a smooth process we went through the week’s schedule and made decisions regarding each team member’s individual responsibilities and discussed what is left to do before the project’s kick-off on Tuesday. And as this week will be all about energy, we will try to keep the students “energised” throughout the entire four days of the project. We are called Wake-Up Call for a reason, you know… 😉

  • Morning of the Final Day with the “Young Ideas for Europe”

    Good morning! I’m in the Aula at Spyken with the rest of the Young Ideas for Europe-folks and you can really take on the excitement in the air. The blinds roar behind me as Oleg and Adam, our Wake-Up Call colleague from Stockholm, are letting them down.

    We are about to watch a promotional video, made by the poitical advisors/election consultants. It’s made just in two days and I am truly amazed!

    Also I am very proud to present to you our three smoking hot parties:


    Environmental Initiative! © IFOK GmbH, 2011. Foto: Maja Cronert


    Party of Planet and People! © IFOK GmbH, 2011. Foto: Maja Cronert


    Green Market Party! © IFOK GmbH, 2011. Foto: Maja Cronert

    Finally, I want to encourage you to take a look at the media groups awesome new blog about the project: http://youngideasforeurope.blogg.se/!

  • We’re walking on sunshine

    Valter is happy about the Lester R. Brown's book "Plan B 4.0"
    Valter is happy about the Lester R. Brown’s book "Plan B 4.0" © IFOK, 2011. Photo: Maja Cronert

    This year Young Ideas for Europe can be called nothing less than a success story so far. Day one, two and three have passed and tomorrow is the grand finale. Like many old students, I still had a somewhat living connection to Spyken, my old gymnasium. But what I have faced in our “camp site” classroom this week has surprised me greatly. Young people, just a year or three younger than myself, have shown amazing insight, analytical skills, enthusiasm and compassion for the world that we live in. Through their own presentations and hard work, through the tools/knowledge given to them by the invited speakers Lars Almström and Thomas B. Johansson and through my fellow colleges facilitation, the “Young Ideas” participants at Spyken have done some incredible work within a very short time frame. Tomorrow they will spread light over the many issues and solutions that we have available, today and in the future. Tomorrow, we can all walk on sunshine.

    And for now, a word of inspiration and encouragement from one of our political patrons, a great role-model of an activist, a politician and a wonderful human being, Jens Holm:

  • And off we go!

    At last we reached the 8th of March! And so it was time for the first day of Young Ideas for Europe 2011 to take a start. Day 1 at Spyken, Lund, is now over and Day 2 is just about to begin. I, Maja, swung by the school after lunch yesterday to take some photos and check up on the students work. I happened to run into the bunch of brilliant young people just as they were about to start the brainstorming session.

    After discussing in smaller groups, the boys and girls one after one walked up to the white board, to put up post it-notes with criticism and things they didn’t like about the EU, as well as solutions for a sustainable future. I think we were all very happy to see that we got the double amount of post it-notes in the latter case. 🙂

    When I wasn’t dazzled by the students’ impressive understanding of and familiarity with these topics, I managed to take some photos. Enjoy! And check in the rest of the photos here, on our Flickr set.

    Julia Runeson in action. © IFOK GmbH, 2011. Photo: Maja Cronert
    Julia Runeson in action. © IFOK GmbH, 2011. Photo: Maja Cronert
    Oleg facilitates the brainstorm session. © IFOK GmbH, 2011. Photo: Maja Cronert
    Oleg facilitates the brainstorm session. © IFOK GmbH, 2011. Photo: Maja Cronert
    Natural systems are essential for our existence. © IFOK GmbH, 2011. Photo: Maja Cronert
    Natural systems are essential for our existence. © IFOK GmbH, 2011. Photo: Maja Cronert

    Hopefully we’ve all got a good night’s sleep and are awake by now, eager for this second day to take off. Today experts will join us in the class room to share their knowledge and give the students feedback on the work so far. It is going to be an exciting day!