Europe on Track is a project run by young volunteers who aim to raise awareness, to create a space for discussion and to capture the opinions of youth in Europe on important social issues. Thanks to Interrail, the  ambassadors in teams of 3 (one videographer, one photographer and one interviewer per team) will travel by train across 20 countries in one month to deliver workshops, interview young people and organise events in cooperation with 200 volunteers from 30 cities in Europe. Let’s take a closer look at this amazing project!

The AEGEEan: What is your definition of Europe on Track? 

Erifyli and Ola: For many people Europe on Track is the most exciting AEGEE project, also quite often called the “dream” one. The idea is that selected ambassadors travel by train across Europe for one month to deliver workshops, interview young people and organise local events in cooperation with AEGEE antennae about the main topic of each edition. But the aim of Europe on Track is not only to travel and have fun but above all to raise awareness, to create a space for discussion and to capture the opinions of youth in Europe on important social issues while having an amazing time and connecting different parts of our continent (or even further!). This is an unbelievable journey for everyone involved in the project – ambassadors, project team and local organisers. One month full of adventures, events with great content and visible outcomes.

Tell us more about the project’s past achievements. 

Erifyli and Ola: We are working now on the fifth edition of Europe on Track which means the project is already known by some AEGEEans (but not all of them and we want to change it!) and has many things
to be proud of! Each edition of the project tackled a different civic topic, relevant for European youth. The first edition of the project, launched in 2013, won the European Charlemagne Youth Prize which is awarded annually to a project that fosters a shared sense of European identity and integration among young people.
Last edition, Europe on Track 4, was the winner of the Franck Biancheri Award and organised an amazing kick-off conference in cooperation with AEGEE-Budapest and the Civic Education Working Group. During their journey, the ambassadors were able to reach 1000 young Europeans in 26 different cities. After last edition’s success, many people became interested in the project and decided to continue the journey with Europe on Track 5!

How is the team being formed?

Erifyli and Ola: Our Project Team, consisting of 16 people, was already selected in June and has been working on the project for six months! In August, three assistants joined our team to help us in specific areas – Fundraising and IT. Since the beginning we can count also on our CD appointed member Maria, who was the Content Manager of EoT 3 and 4, so she’s a really great help for us! In October we found 34 awesome AEGEE locals which will prepare Europe on Track stops in their cities. The local organisers are a crucial part of our project because thanks to them we can engage different people and be present at universities, have meetings with local authorities, NGOs etc. Now we are looking for the last important part of the team – our ambassadors! This edition, we don’t need six, but nine travellers who will join Europe on Track. To have a bigger impact, we decided to create three teams, one more than in previous editions, and we are currently looking for the perfect candidates! If you know someone who’s inspiring, wants to have a life-changing experience traveling all around Europe while discussing and giving workshops about Sustainability and Climate Change, share our Open Call with her/him.

How and why did you choose the topic for the new edition?

Erifyli and Ola: Firstly we collected ideas from the network. Then we split inside the project team into smaller groups and researched each of the 32 submitted topics: possible activities, grants, cooperation, funds, etc. It took us more than one month to select the final one! The topic of ‘Sustainability and Climate Change’ under the motto “Can you hear the ECO?” is extremely important these days! We are dealing with an environmental crisis caused by irresponsible human behavior but we don’t want to only talk about it, we want to take action. That’s why we will make our project CO2 neutral, we will plant trees (also in your name if you donate to our crowdfunding campaign) and we will gather opinions of young people and inform them about how to act and how to have an impact on the Earth.

What plans do you have in store?

Erifyli and Ola: We said in the beginning that we will take Europe on Track to the next level and so far we think we are doing it! Three routes, nine ambassadors, 34 hosting locals and our crowdfunding campaign are just the beginning of big surprises. We are focusing now on the Open Call for ambassadors and the crowdfunding campaign. Then we will work closely with locals to prepare high level and contentful events and to make them use the opportunity to be a part of big European project. We are also planning our kick-off conference in Thessaloniki and the Environmental Action Week. We are constantly working on Fundraising and External Relations. We hope to reveal some more big surprises very soon!

Who can become an ambassador of Europe on Track 5?

Erifyli and Ola: First of all, we are looking for people for specific positions: photographer, videographer and blogger. Also, we don’t mind if you can do two or all things, in the end you always have to choose one role!
We want to find people who are inspiring, have experience in travelling and delivering workshops as well as knowledge about Sustainability and Climate Change. You need to be open-minded, responsible and, what’s very important, resistant to stress and physical fatigue. Travelling for one month, sleeping in trains, changing place every two or three days can be tiresome and we need to be sure that our potential ambassadors are prepared for it. And in the end, we are looking for candidates with initiative who will make this trip an unforgettable
experience both for themselves and everyone involved in the project.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Erifyli and Ola: We think that what makes this edition special is that we have so many extremely motivated people working on the project and we are really aiming big! Our project manager, Jorge, was an ambassador of EoT4 and has a lot of experience so he always pushes us to do more, think out of the box and do things that have never been done before like having three teams or the crowdfunding campaign. We had a live meeting in Brussels in October and the atmosphere inside the project team is just great! Although the most important thing is that we really want to bring Sustainability and Climate Change closer to AEGEE and young people.

Our initiative is needed and we, as Europe on Track, want to act and help the planet as much as we can. And with our motivation and your help we believe we can do a lot!

Are you curious to find out what young people really think about Sustainability and Climate Change? Are you passionate about travelling? Do you like giving presentations and workshops? Do you want to spend one month doing all of these around Europe?

Then join Europe on Track 5!
Become an #ambassador! We are looking for photographers, videomakers and bloggers/interviewers who wish to travel for one month and bring the topic of sustainability and climate change closer to European youth. You can find Open Call for ambassadors here:bit.ly/ambassadorEOT5
Support our #crowdfunding campaign! Together with Youth 4 Public Transport we will measure our carbon footprint and plant enough trees to make our project CO2 neutral. We need your help for that! Check out our perks and more about our project from the 10th of November.
Organise and participate in local events! You can get involved in organising activities connected with Europe on Track during our Environmental Action Week, or during the route of our ambassadors. You’ll see the list of events on our website soon.
Follow our journey in Social Media!

Facebook: Europe on Track
Instagram: www.instagram.com/europeontrack/
Youtube: Europe on Track https://goo.gl/w1PCcv
Website: www.europeontrack.org

Written by Aliona Sytnyk, AEGEE-Berlin

Each year, the Days Without Meat (DWM) campaign is organised in Belgium and lasts for forty days. During these days, people join each other to eat less meat and raise awareness about the impact our eating habits have on the environment. This year, AEGEE-Leuven thought it would be nice to join with a group of AEGEEans, and they invite you to join too! We spoke to Tom Etienne, President of the local, to find out more about this initiative and how AEGEEans can join.

The Days Without Meat logo

The AEGEEan: Where did the idea to join the Days Without Meat campaign come from?
Tom: The ‘Days Without Meat’ campaign (DWM) runs every year in Belgium for forty days. This year, two of our board members suggested we take part as a local. We came up with the idea to make this a European event that everyone can participate in from their own homes. It also serves as promotion for our awesome Summer University that we will organise together with AEGEE-Tilburg on the topic of sustainability. This is important to keep in mind: we’re not pleading for total vegetarianism, but for responsible eating habits!

When does the challenge take place?
It is a forty days campaign starting on the 18^th of February and ending during the Agora on the 4^th of April!

How can AEGEEans join you, and how many already have joined?
Joining is a very easy thing to do. In the event on Facebook you can find a detailed description, but you basically just have to make an account on the website and then join the AEGEE group in order for AEGEE to become the biggest participating organisation! We have nearly 100 participants in the Facebook event, but in the actual group there is definitely room for growth! We are currently fourth in the organisations category, but we could easily climb up to the first place!

Why should AEGEEans join you?
This is not a hard question to answer. First of all, it is a perfect opportunity to show that AEGEEans care about their environment. Second, it’s something that we can all do together, and to top it off, the campaign ends during the Agora, which will definitely make for an unforgettable closing party! There is one last thing: everyone who participates gets a free veggie meal in a Greenway restaurant in Leuven (or Ghent, Antwerp or Brussels). Another reason to participate and to visit us in Belgium!

What do you think will be the biggest challenges for people joining you?
I think the name of the campaign might sound rather frightening, because it’s called days without meat, even though that is not the main objective at all. We’d like to raise some awareness about our eating habits and their consequences on our environment, not to rule out meat in its entirety.

Do you have any tips for people who want to eat less meat?
Sure, it might seem like a hell of a job to cook vegetarian if you have barely ever done that before, but it’s totally fine to simply leave out meat for once. If you’re skipping meat for several days in a row, there are very tasty meat replacements, but for instance eggs would also do the job (and they’re so much cheaper!). We will keep the campaign very active during those forty days, so you can expect lots of information, motivation, suggestions, recipes etc. so that you will never feel discouraged! No worries, AEGEE-Leuven will take good care of you.

Since your challenge takes place during both the EPM and Agora, are you thinking of some kind of cooperation or actions to bring attention to the challenge?
We have only recently contacted AEGEE-Oviedo and AEGEE-Burgos to see what it is that we could do to cooperate, but we are aware of how big and difficult it is to organise such a huge event, so we don’t want to interfere with everything they’ve done. We’ll try to make sure you can eat vegetarian though! We would very much appreciate if locals could post this wonderful campaign onto their pages and into their groups, so that we can grow to become a big and friendly group of caring and engaged people. Oh, wait… A big and friendly group of caring and engaged people? This sounds like something we all know. This sounds like AEGEE! So I have only one more thing to say to you! Show that AEGEE cares!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

It is said that usually you don’t know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Now that the summer is over I can confirm this quote.

“Play Hard, Meet the Green(s)”, the summer university organized by AEGEE-Niš and AEGEE-Novi Sad focused on eco-friendly lifestyle, has made my summer one of the most unforgettable ones. In the following lines I’ll try to put my memories to words – at least the ones I still remember in spite of the rakia.

This story begins on a Friday night. After a journey of more than fifteen hours, some other Spanish and me finally got to Novi Sad – a Serbian city famous, among other reasons, for being the place where Exit festival takes place. Although the festival has ended, there was still live music in the city. The rest of the participants have been singing in a karaoke bar for hours. Luckily their voices were not completely destroyed, because they would need them the next morning during the city rally. The fortress, the catacombs and the Liberty Square were just some of the places visited in Novi Sad. That was, -let’s say- the first contact with Serbian ground. For some, literally because the catacomb visit was full of accidental falls.

Of course, Novi Sad had even more to offer. We were able take a dive into the Danube river with its artificial beach, we learned some Cyrillic,  we tasted some local wines in Karlovci- a small city 5 km away from Novi Sad, we learned a little about ecology in Serbia and the terrible floods that took place some months ago, we danced traditional Serbian dances and we even survived an orinetation activity in the middle of the mountain the morning after a hard night of drinking.

Because yes, Novi Sad was also all about nightlife. The first night during a pub crawl we discovered the countless kinds of rakia. After that night, we learned more about others participant’s (drinking) traditions and cooking in the European night. And finally, the last night in the sex change party we discovered that some participants (names are removed to keep their privacy) seemed more comfortable disguised in clothes that belong to the other sex.

The morning after, with the mascara still on some participants’ eyelashes, we headed to Belgrade. Fortunately the train was comfortable enough to take a little nap – that situation was taken advantage of by others to make a wonderful sleeping beauties album. The visit to the city was short but sweet and did not consist of only sightseeing. The capital of Serbia is well-known not only for its centuries of culture but also for its nightlife. So to fully get to know the city, we spent the night on an incredible party boat situated at the river bank.

Next morning we changed the boat for a bus, and hit the road to Rtanj, a small village 200 km away from Belgrade which gets its name from the nearby mountain. This mountain has an unusual appearance which resembles a pyramid and is a topic for many local legends. Among others, it is thought to house a ‘pyramidal’ structure left behind by alien visitors. That was precisely one of the reasons of our visit. We were supposed to climb the mountain at midnight and meet our green friends on the top. But unfortunately we did not leave a great first impression and they sent us some rainy clouds. Therefore, the plan had to be rescheduled to the morning after (which proved to be a blessing for our physical integrity).

Apart from the unexpected weather, our time in Rtanj was great and relaxing. We had time for workshops, games, tell scary stories at the camp fire and even become actors and cinema directors for a couple of hours (we hope our independent films win a lot of awards at the next Sundance Film Festival).

And slowly but surely we approach the end of this story. Our last destination was Niš, one of the oldest cities in the Balkans and the third-largest city in Serbia.  Many moments come to my mind when I think about our stay there. The city rally, the day at the swimming pool, the pub crawling, the delicious dinner at the “kafana”, the relaxing day at the spa or the always bustling student dorm. The same student dorm that filled itself with “goodbyes” and “hope to see you soon” and an emotional roller-coaster of happiness and sadness.

Now that a little more time has passed since this adventure ended, I have been gathering all my memories for writing this article. And I am feeling lucky for the decision I made at the end of April choosing this summer university.

I guess that like me, most of the participants didn’t know so much about Serbia or had a wrong impression about the country. However, Serbia proved itself a beautiful, hospitable and open-minded country with a lot to offer. Needless to say that the experience wouldn’t have been the same without the 27 participants and organizers who were part of this adventure.

So I just can say, Hvala (or koala) to all those who made it possible.

Written by Irene Arregui, AEGEE-Zaragoza

We wanted our summer to be greener

To meet new friends, to climb the tops, to feel like winners

To ride horses, to hike and swim, to laugh and love, enjoy here dinner

That’s why we chose SU: One step greener

Each of us lives a unique and unforgettable story during AEGEE Summer Universities and after that there are certain phrases, simple words or objects, music and , of course, photos which will always take us back to the special moments of SU.

Our story started like this: The members of AEGEE-Yerevan met a group of 14 young and active participants who arrived in Yerevan on the 1^st of August 2014, full of expectations to spend eleven crazy and “Green” days in Armenia. It was the beginning of a nice story of new experiences, discoveries, adventures and inspirations.

We spent four days in the countryside and a week in Yerevan: in the pinkest city (the capital of Armenia is called “The pink city” because of the color of the stone used for building ed.) of the world which is 2795 years old. The city is old and very young at the same time: only here you can see the beautiful mix of old and modern architecture. Our participants had city tours, visited Museums as well as the famous Ararat Brandy/Wine factory and enjoyed the evenings in the Republic Square near the singing/dancing fountains.

During eleven days we managed a lot together: we did workshops and city games, discussed environmental issues in our countries, had horseback-riding classes, spent a nice day near the lake, tried the traditional Armenian cuisine and spent three days camping in the forest, far away from civilization. Also, we danced in a bus on the way back to Yerevan, we played and laughed together like children, danced and sang our traditional music through which we became very good friends.

Now the SU is over, but the friendships we made and the moments we lived will stay with us forever.

Written by Haykuhi Tang, AEGEE-Yerevan

“If you do not know what Flunky Ball Game is and did not visit a German wedding, you wasted your summer”
– SU “Get trashed the green way!” participants

 AEGEE-Aachen Summer University “Get trashed the green way!” was organised as a rare combination of three types of SUs – a Language Course for those whose passion was the German language, a green SU for those who take care of nature, and a travel SU for lovers of traveling and exploring new cities. One may think that it is impossible to find a perfect participant for such a three-dimensional event, however 24 ideal participants arrived to Aachen in the middle of June. At that moment, 24 strangers from ten different countries started their amazing travel-green-German-speaking competition for broccoli points.

First week – Aachen, Rohren, Cologne, Monschau, Brussels

In the first days, all participants underwent an extreme teambuilding in Rohren, living in one house in the mountains, learning German, and playing Flunky Ball. Wait, you do not know what Flunky Ball is? Find AEGEE-Aachen people at the nearest AEGEE event to learn their favourite game, break barriers and fall in love with them once and forever.

During this time, the participants were explained the Broccoli Challenge game, meaning that during the whole period of the SU one could win broccoli points for “green actions”. The game was a motivation to stay “alive” during the whole Summer University, to take actively part in all activities and of course to be green.

As the most remarkable moments of the first few days, every participant would surely name night forest wandering, requiring strong nerves and iron self-control from each participant, and the wonderful Monschau city with a warm welcome by AEGEE-Aachen member Katja Sontag and her family.

“I feel like I know you all for ages!” Cristina Rolli, AEGEE-Verona, said going back to Aachen after the days in Rohren. And this was 100% true. The feeling that in Rohren everybody acquired a new precious friend did not leave participants in the next days of learning German together or traveling to Cologne in that special, already, family atmosphere.

The next trip to Brussels deserves a separate description, simply resumed by one short word: “mix”. Indeed, since Brussels is a big mix of everybody and everything in one city, our two days of SU there included all possible things: from typically observing both the old and new town and dancing/singing at The Grand Place, to a serious role-play in the European Parliament where each of us could try on the role of a member of parliament and feel how hard it is to follow (political) party guidelines and take contradictory decisions. At that moment, no one knew what a surprise expected us at the second week…

Second week – Rursee, Maastricht

The halfway point of trashing ourselves the green way started with a 44-km bike ride to Rursee, a wonderful lake in the Eifel National Park, where the participants spent their time relaxing, playing at a improvisation workshop…and a wedding! That day at the lake nobody expected to finish dancing at real German wedding, however all SU participants were invited to a local wedding celebration at the lake, which ended up with a small live rock concert and amazing fireworks at the lake side. That night was later unanimously voted as the best and happiest night of the whole Summer University.

What can be better than a Summer University? Only two Summer Universities together! A trip to Maastricht and meeting with forever-bicycling AEGEE-Maastricht and AEGEE-Tilburg’s Summer University “Burgundian bicycles”, and their return visit to Aachen provided the new blood, which one needs in the middle of every SU to wake up, get additional energy and once again understand how cool it is to meet AEGEE people everywhere.

Final – tears, hugs and kisses

During those two weeks of “Get trashed the green way!” with the AEGEE-Aachen SUper team under Lida Deermann’s leadership, the participants have managed to live a whole short life together, with weddings, injuries, love and friendship. Needless to say, that after constant talking in German, all participants became quite fluent in German. And after the Broccoli Challenge competition even the most “no-green” participant became a little bit more ecological. After all, within two weeks a group of 24 people who weren’t strangers anymore, but good friends, were leaving Aachen with tears in their eyes. Leaving home with a extremely strong wish to come back.

Written by Olga Iatsyna, AEGEE-Dnipropetrovsk

As part of the new action called GO GREEN, organized by the Environmental Working Group (EnWG), several locals all over Europe took part in the AEGEE Bike Week. The AEGEEan spoke to Elise Bessieres (AEGEE-Brussel/Bruxelles), HR responsible of the EnWG and therefore one of the initiators of the Bike Week, to find out more about the story behind this event and the specific actions performed by the antennae.

The main goal was easy: to raise awareness of sustainable methods of urban transportation. And, in the best case, to combine it with sports and fun for the locals, of course. Instead of giving long speeches about the disadvantages of travelling by car, AEGEEans were therefore asked by the EnWG to set a good example and hop on their bikes.

The time frame was set for the end of June, a month in which the focus within GO GREEN was set on green transportation anyway. It fitted perfectly, being “an easy and fun activity during summer, where a lot of people are outside and travel”, Elise tells us. To activate more members, especially taking into consideration that June is quite often in the middle of the exams period, the AEGEE Bike Week actually lasted for two week, giving the locals more time to organize their activities.

In general, the locals were quite free in their choices concerning what exactly they were going to organize. Ideas given by the EnWG ranged from smaller events just for the members of the locals to bigger events that might even involve the public. Encouraging members to use their bikes to go to university, bike trips to nice landscapes, exchanges with other antennae by bicycle or “free rent AEGEE bikes”, meaning that locals offer people the possibility to rent their bikes for free instead of driving, were just some of the inspirations given by the EnWG. As long as the events centered around this sustainable method of traveling, everything was allowed and new ideas were welcome!

In the end, many locals indeed became quite creative. For instance, AEGEE-Kastoria co-organized a bicycle trip around lake Orestiada on 15th of June together with other voluntary groups to raise awareness of violence against women. Many other locals arranged trips with their members and a lot of pictures of cycling AEGEEans popped up on social media within the last weeks. The precise number of participating antennae is not known, but every single event surely earns the Network’s respect.

All in all, the AEGEE Bike Week was quite a success, Elise tells us. “Especially because we organized a picture competition. It was a nice way to also promote the locals who participated as we posted their pictures on Facebook”. These photos are the best proof to show that promoting a sustainable way of transportation does not have to be boring, but can offer lots of fun.

It is not definite yet if the AEGEE Bike Week will become an annual event, but Elise assures us that the current board of the EnWG will definitely suggest the idea to renew the event during every summer to the next board.

Written by Katja Sontag, AEGEE-Aachen

The locals that cooperated: AEGEE-Bakı, AEGEE-Bologna, AEGEE-Gdansk, AEGEE-Gliwice, AEGEE-Kastoria

A few months ago, the Environmental Working Group (EnWG) launched their new action, called GO GREEN, with asking for environmental issues as its main goal. To do this, the EnWG organises a social Skype meeting about a determined theme. In the meeting they share advices and ideas, which locals can use to organise their own workshops, discussions or seminars or any other activity fitting with the monthly topic. The AEGEEan talked to Dasha Onohova (PR Responsible) to find out more.

For the months May & June the working group wants to focus on the topic of ‘Green Transportation’, so they launched the idea of a Bike Week. “Sustainable transport options make a positive contribution to the environmental, social and economic sustainability of the communities they serve”, Dasha says. “The most pleasant and healthy way of green transportation is actually bicycling!” For this reason, all AEGEEans are encouraged to go to work or university by bicycle instead of bus, car or train from the 16^th until the 30^th of June.

“It’s a fun activity for a social members meeting, that will also help out the environment”, Dasha points out. “Getting together and advertising your antenna with your flag and/or mascot in the streets sounds like a good time to us!” To join in on the good time, locals are encouraged to follow the example of AEGEE-Kyiv and AEGEE-Voronezh by organising a bike tour in their city. The working group has created posters and badges for those who want to join and let the rest know too, which can be found here. Pictures you take during the event can be shared with the EnWG by sending them an e-mail with two or three pictures!

For the locals who want to do more to contribute to a greener world, the EnWG has thought of more ideas to do in June: showing members what blablacar and carpooling are about, organising a hitchhike competition, doing a treasure hunt in public transport or watching a video on green transport together. “We want to encourage AEGEE members from all over the Network to go green”, Dasha says. “A greener you, is a greener world!”

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Just close your eyes for a few seconds and think about nature on our planet. Do you see the glistering of the oceans in the sun, the colourful flowers in the fields and can you hear the birds in the forest? Amazing, isn’t it, what our planet looks like today? A source of life and diversity on all different levels and in different appearances…

From the beginning of our existence the human race has always put its stamp on the earth by changing the environment. With the growing world population and the consumption based economy there is no spot on the earth which is not influenced by us. Nowadays, humanity consumes the resources of 1.8 planets and we will need 3 planets by 2050 if the present trend continues.

A solution for this problem would be a more sustainable lifestyle and mind set. Sustainable means that the things we do right now could go on forever and don’t deplete the resources we have. Sustainability will increasingly determine the way we live, do business, vote and understand ourselves as a human species. The change to a sustainable way of living in this world therefore is the challenge of our generation.

University of Lund , Sweden

What could be a better place to start with the change to sustainability than universities? They are the institutes where our knowledge and understanding expands every day by research and teaching. Universities create knowledge to solve sustainability questions. Universities should practice what they preach, so be sustainable themselves as well.

Being a sustainable university goes further than separating the garbage and insulate well, education is a very important factor too. Students are important agents of change to steer the sustainability transition of universities and colleges. As Europe’s largest interdisciplinary youth organisation, AEGEE has a huge potential to sensitize students for the opportunities that the sustainability transition offers and how they can positively contribute to it.

Logo RootAbility

Are you challenged to make your university more sustainable? At the Agora in Patra the organisation rootAbility will conduct a workshop on how to make your own student driven change project possible. RootAbility is a social business which drives the sustainability transition of the European higher education sector, by establishing and coaching student-driven and staff-supported sustainability units, teams and projects. They believe that universities and colleges should create new knowledge to solve complex sustainability questions, educate the decision makers of tomorrow on relevant sustainability competencies, reduce the ecological and social footprints of running the organisation and assist regions in their sustainability transition.

Ever thought your university could do more with sustainability? Learn how to actively impact your university’s transformation process with your own student-driven change project!

Be the change!

What: Workshop Impact your university
When: Thurday the 1st of May
Where: Spring Agora Patra

Written by Iris Hordijk, Policy Officer on Sustainability

Pripyat, province of Naples. This, the one of a ghost town, seems to be the message you are supposed to get from the hype going on in Italy lately. As usual, in Italy it’s always hard to distinguish between reality and conspiracy theories. This article has no arrogance of being able to solve the eternal dilemma, but it’s just the point of view of an expat Neapolitan still in love with his City.

What I can assure beyond every reasonable doubt is that the surroundings of my city have been filled with any possible poison for at least the last 30 years. In the countryside around Naples, you can easily find industrial solvents and ashes, scrap paints, asbestos and nuclear muds happily mixed with worn tyres and rubbish of every sort. Not bad for a city that has a poor industrialization level in a country that banned nuclear power plants in 1987. This can only mean that the biggest part of the wastes are coming from other cities and European countries. Some companies have just chosen the cheap way. Instead of paying for expensive disposal services for their industrial wastes, they have paid organized crime to truck it and “lose” them somewhere in the South.

Lago d’Averno

Every single hole in the ground, every drain, every lake, every plot of land and sea has a story to tell. I can recall seeing mountains which look made out of albestos on the side of highways, waking up in the morning with my head exploding and being unable to breathe because someone has been burning god-knows-what all night long. Burning everything is the ultimate solution when the illegal landfill is too full to accept other wastes. A couple of days ago I read that also Lago d’Averno, one of the most enchanting places I’ve ever seen, just hundred meters from my old house, has been found full of toxic wastes, paying its crime of being deep enough to accept barrels.

Ancient Romans used to call this area “Campania Felix”, Happy Campania, because of an incredibly fertile land and a sea full of fishes. Campania Felix is currently providing leukemia and various kinds of tumors, let alone allergies and headaches. The local food industry is obviously at stake. People will no longer eat pizza or mozzarella without asking themselves some questions. There are no official numbers, but the incidence rate of tumors is up to three times the national average. What I can tell you is that everyone of us has a young relative or a baby fighting for life in his/her family. Everyone of us lives with a bomb inside their bodies ready to explode, because the ultimate disposal place is our bodies. No one of us knows of much time we have left with the people we love.

There are not even official studies about such a disaster. The only one is a research conducted by NATO in 2009 to evaluate the conditions of life of its soldiers living in the province of Naples. Even if it has no statistical value, since it examines air, water and soil only were soldiers live, the general recommendations include not using tap water for cooking or washing teeth and avoiding living in some areas. NATO soldiers are not considered at risk only because they spend less than 6 years in the area. Italian Ministry of Health has never created a dedicated research on tumors incidence in Campania, even if it is clear to see something is wrong there.

On November 16th the streets of Naples were invaded by 100,000 peaceful but angry protesters (only 30,000 officially) asking for the truth about their land, showing pictures of deceased relatives, blaming their politicians for what happened and asking for a recovery of their land. The hype started after mass media published the declarations of the “pentito” Carmine Schiavone, who declared all you can read in this article in 1997. His allegations have been kept secret until a few days ago, as usual in Italy.

I cannot tell you if a recovery will ever be possible. What I am asking myself is where Neapolitans have been for the last 30 years, including the guy that is writing this article. Our politicians are democratically elected to represent us. To represent a population that chose to look to the other side too many times, that chose to stay silent in front of a disaster happening after their very eyes and that exploited organized crime when it came to receiving personal benefits. We are all to blame. Sadly enough, Nola, one of the most polluted municipalities close to Naples, gave birth to Giordano Bruno. He chose to be burnt at the stake by the Inquisition not to disavow his revolutionary ideas, including the one that Earth was revolving around the Sun.

I would like to close this article with a lighter and more AEGEEan note. Naples is still a marvelous place to visit and every single AEGEEan should visit it. Nothing will happen to you if you only spend a couple of weeks there, except meeting great people and having one of the best times of your life.  A united Italy and a united Europe have meant to Neapolitans only the freedom to receive Northern Italian and European wastes. AEGEE can play its little role in demonstrating that there is something else out there.

Written by Claudio Armandi, AEGEE-Napoli

For further reading:

– Article by The Independent
– Article on Wikipedia
– Biutiful Cauntry, a documentary on the waste-mafia
– The dossier by NATO: 1, 2 & 3

Do you know the story of the girl who silenced the world for five minutes? Her name is Severn Cullis-Suzuki. At the age of 12, she stood before representatives of all countries of the world, gathered in Rio in 1992, and told them: “My father always says ‘you are what you do, not what you say!’ Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown-ups say you love us. I challenge you, please, make your actions reflect your words…”

In 1992 in Rio the Janeiro a conference was organised by the United nations called the ‘Earth Summit‘ . The topic of the conference was the Environment and Sustainable Development. During this conference 172 governments and 2.400 NGO’s were present; and 17.000 people attended the parallel NGO Forum. This incredibly large conference resulted in Agenda 21, the ‘Rio Declaration on Environment and Development’, the ‘Statement of Forest Principles’, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Perhaps you heard once about one of these documents. All these plans, declarations and statements are intended to make sure that the people living on this earth will treat the earth in a more sustainable and environmental friendly way like Severn Cullis-Suzuki asked.

Now, more than 20 years later, how have we really responded to her call for action? Is Europe on track towards sustainable development?

We Europeans do live longer, eat more, enjoy technology and we travel like never before. But at what cost? In 2012 alone, each European consumed on average 14.6 tonnes of ‘stuff’ (roughly the weight of four elephants) and generated as much as 500 kg of waste. We recycle over one and a half times more than in the 1990s, and the share of renewable energy more than doubled over the same time. However, the electricity needed every year by a European household increased by almost one third and the number of cars in circulation by 40%. As a result, we now import more than half the energy we use and we are no more sustainable than we were before.

Last year, annual GDP per capita stood at 23.300  Euro. At the same time, the average government debt per person was 21.908 Euro (almost the fee for one year of Global Business studies at Oxford) and twice as much as in the 1990s. At the same time, almost a quarter of Europeans are at risk of poverty or social exclusion and roughly one in four young people don’t have a job. As this happens, the richest 20% of the population earns five times (!) more than the poorest 20%.

AEGEE takes sustainability seriously. Not only is it striving to make itself a more sustainable organisation, but with the milestone project Europe on Track, it has helped raise important questions with other young people across Europe: “what is sustainability?”, “are we on track towards a sustainable future?”, “how can we live more sustainably?”.

The survey carried out after Europe on Track has shown that three out of four respondents feel there is not enough attention for sustainability within formal education. Other respondents consider non-formal education to be better suited to provide people with the necessary knowledge about ways to live more sustainably.

For these reasons, at this Autumn Agora in Zaragoza, the Environmental Working Group (EnWG) will organise a workshop on sustainable development in Europe, with the participation of an experienced external facilitator from the European Commission. For more information see the Agora Booklet or contact them at enwg.aegee@gmail.com

So come and find out more at Saturday the 2^nd of November from 14:30 to 16:00 in Zaragoza!

Written by Iris Hordijk from AEGEE-Utrecht, Speaker of the EnWG

Pictures provided by Caio Macedo