It’s been more than one month since AEGEE-Izmir was in the spotlight of the AEGEE network:  on 6^th – 10^th of February, the antenna hosted the annual European Planning Meeting (EPM), where new objectives for the organization were set out and relevant topics – “green sustainability” and “EU-Turkey relations” – were heatedly discussed. The AEGEEan talked to the main organizer Batuhan Çarıkçı to find out more about the event – and not only.

Thank you for talking to us, Batuhan! Why did you apply to host European Planning Meeting 2019 in the first place?

Basically, after the big positive development of AEGEE İzmir since 2016, the local needed a “good challenge” to strengthen its status in the network and keep the motivation of its members on top level. And actually, applying to host a statutory event wasn’t one of the objectives of the agenda during the previous local Agora, but after seeing a few open calls for the EPM 2019, we didn’t want to miss this chance to prepare our members for this challenge!

Are you a big antenna now?

There are currently more than 100 registered members, with around 40 of them actively volunteering.

How many participants and organizers took part?

There were 85 official participants, 20 AEGEE İzmir members partly as participants and partly as organizers and 20 national and international organizers, namely:

Refik Barış Özçelik as Vice Coordinator
Efe Ergüz as Treasurer
Melis Kılıç as Incoming Responsible
Gül Hira Turan as HR Responsible
Kayra Deniz Çetin as PR Responsible
Mehmet Ali Döm as Logistics and
Marie Claire Graf and Anne-Sophie Klein Gebbink as Content Managers.

You chose a highly relevant and quite controversial main theme for the EPM – green sustainability. Would you say it’s a big topic in Turkey?

To be honest, I don’t think people take “green sustainability” as a big topic yet, unfortunately. Turkey has currently many other issues to deal with, like corruption, social unrest and economic instability. Apart from that, there is the fact of “having been near the warzones of Iraq and Syria for many years” next to them, so the labyrinth is getting more complicated and year by year we have more military expenses, rather than investing into sustainable solutions for the environment.

What is the government strategy on sustainability in Turkey? They have passed laws to reduce the consumption of plastic pouches like the EU.

They are very rarely doing fine things, but this one was a good move, indeed. There’s still long way to go though, especially in recycling. They should cooperate closer with all the municipalities, but of course if they can find some time to cooperate with them, instead of seeing them only as “castles to conquer”. Apart from that, we should keep in mind that they are still trying to build fossil fuel plants around the country, as if we are in 20^th Century. Fortunately, most of those attempts were precluded by strong cooperation between activists and some NGOs.   

Let’s now talk a bit about the host city. What is particularly famous about Izmir? What is the historical importance of the city?

Its cuisine for sure! Sorry, I can’t continue without talking about food! Izmir has a great variety of seafood and mezes, with the combination of the traditional alcoholic drink “rakı”, which includes anis. Next to it, the most famous beer brand of Turkey “Efes” (Ephesus in English) is coming from İzmir. Apart from that, Izmir is a good destination for sun, sea and beach kind of holidays. She also has very rich options for history lovers, there are 15 ancient cities within her metropolitan borders, including the famous ones Ephesus and Pergamon! We can’t help mentioning the very special anthem of Izmir. In past, it was symbolizing the liberation of İzmir on 9^th of September 1922, but today, after almost hundred years, it’s symbolizing the political stand of İzmir, independent from its lyrics.  

How was the EPM? Are you satisfied with the outcomes?

It went much more comfortable and stress-free, when I compare to the preparation period. Here once again I want to highlight the perfect job of all our organizers and helpers during the event; their motivation and concentration was always high. Next to that, we had a very good group of participants, which I think did good job with creating an active vibe during the content part and drafting an impactful agenda for next year.

Do you have plans for organizing more events like EPM?

I think, we are done with statutory events in Turkey -for now-. But, of course AEGEE İzmir will keep organizing international events, and hopefully the number will get higher year by year.

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

Do you remember the article ‘Be the change’, which was published in The AEGEEan a few weeks ago? Did you have the chance to attend the workshop ‘Impact your university’ during the Agora in Patra? In case you didn’t, we got you covered with this article!

‘Impact your university’ was a workshop conducted by rootAbility, a social business that 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. Universities and colleges are educating the decision-makers of tomorrow on relevant sustainability competencies. They should therefore reduce their organisations’ ecological and social footprints and assist regions in their sustainability transition.

Do you believe that you can change the world with a simple students’ project? Perhaps it sounds a bit difficult, but if you start small you can have an impact! As university students we are one of the biggest stakeholders in our society. With this manpower behind us, starting with our own institution can be a smart idea when changing the way we live. Later on you can always make it bigger. When rootAbility started, it began with the Maastricht University’s Green Office in 2010. They took sustainability matters into their own hands, the student’s hands.

In the workshop, rootAbility communicated the tools and steps you need to implement your own project. We learned that it is not so much about having ideas but more about executing them. Concrete planning should therefore play a major role before jumping right ahead and try to change things. Thinking about possible problems, strategies to mitigate them and ideas on how to engage the stakeholders for the project are necessary activities to ensure later success.

Photo by: Elise Bessieres

Using a project canvas, sustainability projects were identified through problem analysis, planned according to their needed resources and activities that were mapped corresponding to the desired outcomes. However, no one can plan a whole project in such a short period of time completely. Learning that further steps such as writing a project plan or proposal are required to move on was also a part of the workshop.

We can learn a lot from the business world, even when implementing sustainability projects. Taking the tools you need from different disciplines and working together with students from various study backgrounds further contribute to a project’s realization. With resources that are accessible at your university such as its infrastructure, the knowledge from professors and peers, its reputation or the university’s network, every student is in a unique position to impact their direct surroundings, while also improving your university experience.

Besides, the life skills learned in project management are widely applicable, and more and more employers are seeking graduates that have such additional skills. So, the knowledge acquired when executing a sustainability projects can be used later on and complement university curricula. At the end of the day you have the power to have an impact on the society! Think big, start small and change the world for the better!

In case you have any questions regarding student-driven and staff-supported change projects for sustainability, do not hesitate to contact iris.hordijk@aegee.org, or visit Rootability.

Written by Iris Hordijk, Policy Officer on Sustainability

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

Have you ever thought about who earns money from the use of local plant species from South America for a commercial medicine produced in Northern Europe? Or who possess these plants the medicine is made out of and the way the plant is used? To be honest, I didn’t before I attended the Master class of Sustainable Development in Belgium organised by the environmental organisation Act4Change.

Participants of the Masterclass on Sustainable Development

When you can’t earn money with something, it isn’t attractive to start with it. That particular idea was the main inspiration to introduce the system of patents in Europe. Although the ancient Greeks already started with something that is related to our patent system today, it is a hot topic nowadays. Patents are mainly introduced to stimulate the creativity and inventiveness of companies and people. A patent is a form of protection that provides a person or legal entity with exclusive rights for making, using or selling a concept or invention and excludes others from doing the same for the duration of the patent. You can buy a patent for transgenic modified animals, plants or single human genes, but not for specific plant breeds for example. A product or idea has to be new, inventive and be able to be used in some kind of industry in order to be patented.

To come back to the question that opens this article, I would like to present the biological view of the world as a gene pool. The genetic sources we have on this earth are in fact the health insurance and security for our future. Every single gene available can help us find a medicine against diseases now, and especially in the future. In the Northern hemisphere, most of the genetic richness of the Earth is collected in certain gene banks. Those banks can become very important in the future. Perhaps a disease will break out and affect all the corn of the world and the corn disappears, than we can make new corn out of the genes we have. Most of the genes in the genetic bank come from the South, because that hemisphere has a higher level of biodiversity in comparison with the Northern hemisphere.

Do patents protect ideas, or rather steal them?

The link with patent rights is that researchers from the Northern hemisphere can come to the rain-forest and bring back plants with traits that help them to find a medicine against a disease. By getting a patent, they can earn a lot of money by producing the medicine, because no one else is allowed to produce that particular medicine. At the same time, the local people in the rain-forest didn’t get any money from a treatment they may have been using for ages, and that is now copied by the researchers. The question is if and how the local people should benefit from it as well. Who owns the world and who should benefit from what is growing on it? In the case I described above, it should not be allowed to get a patent for it, because it is not a new kind of medicine, but a treatment already used for ages. Still, the patent is given is many cases. A lot of times the discussion within the group ended with: is it ethically justified that our economy is purely money and benefit based?

Well, that is quite a big question to answer and I won’t burn my fingers on it right now. But there is something changing for the good in this process of granting patents. Recently there is a Protocol composed that aims for the equitable and fair share of the benefits arising from the using the genetic resources. This international agreement is named the Nagoya Protocol, and is part of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The European Union is now in the implementation phase of the Nagoya Protocol, and we should make sure that the practical outcome of the protocol will be fair for the whole world.

 Written by Iris Hordijk, Policy Officer on Sustainability

Will the EU succeed in reducing plastic bags?

Who doesn’t accept a plastic bag at the supermarket when shopping and didn’t bring your own bag? Or when you buy a few tomatoes at the market and you don’t want to carry them loose in your bag. Or when the shop already put’s your groceries in a bag, how can you refuse this? Well, you are not the only one. In the European Union every person uses -on average- 198 plastic bags every year. A bit much isn’t it? Not in every country the amount of used plastic bags is the same of course. For example in Finland and Denmark the average inhabitant uses 4 bags a year, while in Poland this number is 499.

Plastic bags can be reused in art as well, source: Flickr, Creative Commons

Why would it be a problem to use plastic bags? Well, the waste of plastic in general is a problem. A lot of plastic is floating in the seas and the oceans. The light weighted plastic is easily taken by the wind, dropped into the water (rivers, lakes, creeks) and floats to the sea or ocean. When the plastic arrives there it takes a long time before it is degraded, about 15 years. These bags, floating in the sea, group together and form a kind of belt. In the Pacific ocean there are two of these big garbage belts of plastic with a total size twice that of the United States and with a depth of 10 meters. This is also known as ‘the plastic soup‘.

The (micro)plastics in the sea and ocean are eaten by fish and birds. 94% of the birds in the North Sea have plastic in their stomach and that is not healthy for these animals. Furthermore, the fish you eat swim in this waters as well …bon appetit. The Environmental Working Group also wrote an article about this plastic soup that is currently in our ocean (read more).

So it is time to reduce our use of plastic, and the European Commission has made plans for doing this. It has resulted in a plan to diminish the use of plastic bags by approximately 80%. The European Commission adopted a proposal that requires the member states to reduce the use of light weighted plastic, by -for example- the introduction of charges (paying for bags) or marketing restrictions (maximum of bags). It sounds like a very good law to reduce the pressure on our environment, but it is strange that the European Commission doesn’t set a specific target for the member states. It is hard to check if the member states are doing well in reaching this goal. Will for example the reduction of 1% for a member state be enough as long as they say they’re trying?

Colourful plastic bags, source: Flickr, Creative Commons

So are there ways to clear away plastics on the continent? Regular plastic can be recycled or burned. However, through burning of plastic unhealthy gasses are released, so this is not a real solution, and at the moment not all the member states are recycling plastic. Another solution can be found in a new initiative in the world of plastic: the development of bioplastic. This kind of plastic is biodegradable or made of plant material and is less harmful for the environment.

Why would we wait before the EU comes with laws and proposals? When the EU is not fixing it, we, the citizens, will do it. The best thing to do as a responsible inhabitant of the European Union is not only to reduce the use of plastic bags but to quit the use of plastic bags. When you go shopping and you always bring your own bag, you don’t need plastic bags any more. In the future it is cheaper to bring your own bag instead of buying a plastic one, and last but not least it will preserve the healthy future of our planet.

 Written by: Iris Hordijk, Policy Officer on Sustainability

“Are you a good lobbyist”? This was the central question to a simulation played at the Summer University of AEGEE-Delft, “Create your own world”. More than 20 participants and some of the organisers took part in this interactive workshop on European Union sustainability policy, getting a hands-on grip on the mechanisms of lobbying at the European level.

In order to facilitate the discussion, the workshop at Delft’s amazing modern university library was kicked off with a brief introduction to sustainability and the European policy-making process. With the adoption of the Lisbon treaty sustainable development became a fundamental objective of the European Union. This is partly operationalised in the Europe 2020 Strategy, though unfortunately limited to energy and resource efficiency.

Nonetheless, a number of sustainability topics outside this restricted scope remain hot items in European politics. One of them is of course climate change, which is being recognised as a strategic priority of the EU. The international deal is to stay within a 2°C temperature rise since pre-industrial times (say 1750), but this will of course require significant cuts in CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions: from 20% by 2020 to up to 95% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.

The EU has designed a cap-and-trade system to help achieving these goals, but due to the economic crisis and flaws inherent to the auction basis of this Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the carbon price is currently far too low to stimulate any investment into cleaner production. Still, European climate ambitions remain ahead of most other developed countries, making the EU a front-runner in international negotiations.

Another topic currently under discussion is the protection of biodiversity, which in recent years has reached alarming levels of destruction. With extinction threatening 1 in 4 mammals, 1 in 3 amphibians, and 1 in 8 birds in the near future, the EU’s initiative to translate the Nagoya Protocol into European law is more than welcome. This international protocol aims to preserve biodiversity by sharing some of the profits generated by its uses (e.g. in medicines or foodstuffs) with the inhabitants of the regions it originates from.

With such powerful players as the pharmaceutical or agricultural industry, and such huge amounts of money concerned, it comes as no surprise that the Members of European Parliament (MEPs) working on the new rules are constantly being approached by lobby groups, both from industry and civil society. What are their demands? How do MEPs deal with them? And who is the best lobbyist, using the best arguments to protect his/her interests?

Based on personal work experience at the European Parliament, a simulation of the lobbying activities was developed, with each of the participants receiving a specific role, ranging from French small-scale farmers over Peruvian indigenous populations to big industry representatives. Of course a couple of MEPs from various political parties were added to the mix as well, with the difficult task of judging the lobbying efforts and taking a final decision on the proposed European legislation.

After a cautious start, arguments started flying up and down the circle, with people adding new elements to the discussion to refute claims made by other lobby groups. The representative of the agricultural industry, for example, proposed the French small-scale farmers to switch to his more lucrative, genetically modified crops, but saw his argument countered by a particularly stubborn scientist from Germany pointing to the threats such crops can pose to local biodiversity.

At the end of the debate the lead rapporteur from the European Greens, acting as moderator, consulted with her colleagues and they then delivered their verdict: a percentage of commercial profits to be used for supporting small-scale farming, additional funding for research into the effects of GMOs on biodiversity, and a number of industry-supported and NGO-monitored projects to conserve biodiversity on site. A reasonable and balanced deal, applauded by all parties — though in reality things are not always that easy.

Written by Mathieu Soete, Policy Officer on Sustainability

What do AEGEE members understand when talking about sustainability? Where did they learn about this? And how would they like AEGEE to be involved with this topic? Finding out the answers to these questions was the aim of the survey on sustainability which was completed by almost 120 people from over 60 locals all around the network. Both multiple choice and qualitative answers were analysed and quantified, and will serve as input for AEGEE’s position paper on sustainability.

Sustainability is…

… a buzzword/often misunderstood/a way of thinking/ a clear path for action/ all of the above. One thing is clear: ask 120 people about their understanding of sustainability and you will get 120 different answers. This can however only enrich the debate, as a concept as complex as sustainability can only be understood and operationalised by looking at it from multiple angles at the same time. So — at risk of generalisation — what do AEGEE members think of sustainability?

Sustainability is the way of living, creating public policy and economic growth that takes into account environmental issues and will help to preserve natural resources for future generations.”

This explanation by a respondent from AEGEE-Poznań perhaps succeeds the best at capturing the wide range of ideas and definitions collected through the survey. For when analysed the answers fell broadly into a number of categories, of which the most important keywords are (in order of frequency): Future, Resources, Green, 3 elements, and Balance.

One in two respondents focus on long-term thinking and planning, preserving our planet and quality of life for future generations. This requires a different approach at resource usage and the introduction of closed-loop production and consumption systems. While many respondents mentioned the classical 3 components of sustainability — economy, society, and environment — and the balance between them, over 20% however, still see sustainability in a predominantly green light.

Education for sustainability

So even though 91% of respondents have at least some notions of sustainability, there is still some room for improvement. How much do AEGEE members — and youth in general — know about sustainability, and how much of this did they learn at school? It is true that the basics are being discussed in primary and secondary school — think water cycle and geography field trips —, but this “decreases as you pass to the next level of education, as the education becomes more specific and ‘serious’”, says a member of AEGEE-Valladolid.

Almost three in four respondents feel there is not enough attention for sustainability within formal education and 48% even estimate that sustainability-wise their time at school was a waste of time, with another third only learning a little about it.

On the other hand less than 25% believe they don’t know enough about the topic to do anything themselves. So where do people get their knowledge from then? This is where non-formal education (NFE) comes in, says Bogdan from AEGEE-Bucureşti: “I only found out about this from my AEGEE local.”

For one in three respondents, NFE is also a more suitable method for teaching sustainability than formal education. “Non-formal education is better in showing people ways to live more sustainable instead of simply telling them what to do”, says Wieke of AEGEE-Leuven, and Nolwen (AEGEE-Toulouse) continues: “Sustainability is about reforming our societies deeply and fundamentally, it therefore requires non-formal education, out of books, it requires to learn by doing, by discussing.”

Time for action

While playing a big role in teaching young people about sustainability, NGOs (28%) score significantly lower than e.g. national government (33%) when respondents are being asked to rank 6 stakeholders in order of importance to take initiative in making life more sustainable (weighted average 30%). It is therefore crucial to cooperate with all stakeholders in pursuing sustainability, including national and local government, business, youth and other NGOs, citizens’ initiatives, and individuals.

What role do respondents then see for organisations such as AEGEE?

Like many things, sustainability starts at home. For Guillermo Garcia Tabares of AEGEE-Barcelona, we should “first of all establish some obligatory criteria for all events. Secondly, create best practices which are easy to follow.” Only then, he says, should we start working on bigger projects. Again analysing the answers, we can see that respondents suggest a number of possible approaches.

More than one in five support Guillermo’s proposal for internal sustainability standards, while slightly more people would like to see Environmental Working Group and others to provide assistance to members and organisers to become more sustainable. Most respondents favour the raising of awareness and spreading of knowledge through workshops, but as this was not a multiple choice question, this serves mostly as a first step towards a more active engagement. Finally, remarkable are also the 15% who suggest raising our voice externally, by lobbying institutions for more sustainability or partnering with other youth organisations.

And now?

Credits to Jjpacres on Flickr

After defining the topic and conducting a survey to gather the first input, the next step is to launch an online consultation on the topic of sustainability — more in particular education for sustainability. This process will be informed by a lay of the land in Europe, and will define the basis for future lobbying for more attention for sustainability in both formal and non-formal education.

On sustainable entrepreneurship, the second subtopic proposed at Agora Budapest, not sufficient knowledge and outspoken opinions seem to be available within AEGEE at the moment. While I will continue to research the topic and share useful opportunities, it might be too soon for AEGEE to take a position on this. Rather, more time and efforts should first be invested in raising people’s understanding of, and experience with entrepreneurship as such, e.g. through successful projects such as the European School on Entrepreneurship or collaborations with Startup Pirates and other specialised initiatives.

Written by Mathieu Soete, Policy Officer on Sustainability

Sustainable development… Green growth… Sustainability… The air is packed with sustainable buzzwords and it is hard to open a newspaper these days without finding an article on some sustainability topic. Regardless of the many empty uses ofthe word, it cannot be denied that sustainability is thé challenge of our generation, as was confirmed by over 40% of respondents in the recent AEGEE Survey on sustainability.

Photo by Mathieu Soete

Realising this importance, AEGEE chose Sustainability as one of its policy fields for the term 2012/2013. Within this complex field, focus is put on the subtopics of Education for sustainability and Sustainable entrepreneurship, while also paying attention to making AEGEE more sustainable in its day-to-day activities and projects.

Education for sustainability

An endless sequence of campaigns has had some success in raising people’s awareness about the major global and local sustainability issues. People around the world are familiar with the 2°C rise in global temperature related to climate change, and many know that a lot of our food is being wasted on the way from farm to fork. Any system of Education for sustainability (ESD) with a chance of success, however, should be developed through participation of all stakeholders, including students. This subtopic therefore aims at finding out the perceptions and demands of AEGEEans towards ESD, and its place in their education.Sustainable entrepreneurship

“Sustainable entrepreneurship” generates just over 100 million hits when googled, but what is it exactly? If used without any significant changes to the company policy, it becomes “greenwashing”, not only fooling customers in their search for more sustainable products, but also spreading doubt about the credibility of genuinely sustainable companies.

Map of survey responses

Put simply, a sustainable entrepreneur is an entrepreneur with the explicit objective of improving a social or environmental situation. 42% of respondents agreed that, eventually, all companies will have to become sustainable, so we better get started today. It takes more than just a good idea to build a company though,  and with only 12% reporting any experience with entrepreneurship, there is still much to learn.

This is where both subtopics intersect, providing skills and knowledge training to future entrepreneurs, and surrounding fresh start-ups with the right environment for growth and development. This subtopic looks into existing best practices on education and support of young entrepreneurs around Europe, and discusses possible ways of improvement.

My aim as Policy Officer is to bring the opinion of AEGEE to the policy-makers, while sharing opportunities for learning and action. But for this I need your input of course. So contact me at mathieu.soete@aegee.org to share your ideas and questions, or join the mailing list Sustainability-L to start discussing!

Written by: Mathieu Soete, Policy Officer on Sustainability, for the NetCom Times.