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Climate Action

2020-1-UK01-KA105-0786392020Youth mobilityfinalized
Countries: UK|TR|IT · Grant: €21,640.6
Civic engagement / responsible citizenshipEnvironment and climate changeCreativity and culture

Objectives

This project aimed to address climate change as it one of the most threatening issues in the world today and has been designated as a European priority area. Climate change is a prominent challenge across the EU, which will lead to multiple environmental hazards including: warming oceans, retreating glaciers, rising sea levels, more frequent and extreme weather events. This will displace millions of people and threaten the existence of some low-lying island states. The situation becomes more pressing each year as we see record temperatures, unprecedented floods and fires across the EU. We, as a group of young people and their leaders, have been eager to take measures to address this particular problem. Despite the growing interest in climate change there is a lack of action and we propose that more, education, awareness-raising and spreading the knowledge amongst youngsters needs to be implemented urgently. In Cambridge, we now see weekly protests calling for climate action by young people from schools, colleges and universities. We felt that, as the UK was set to miss EU renewable energy targets for 2020 and increasing loss of species across the EU, it would be important for young people not to feel hopeless about the future. We attempted to raise the ecological awareness of a group of young Europeans, most of whom with disadvantages, and educate them on the topic of climate change, environmental protection, and empower them to utilise new tools for action. Although we initially chose Brindisi as the main project location, after the APV we changed it to Antalya, Turkey as it is one of the cities facing the impact of climate change, and the partners in Turkey felt that they could highlight local issues and their own work there - in addition to some practical considerations. The local authority, governorship and Akdeniz University are supportive of the project and offered extra resources to the project. Another goal of the project was to involve young people in taking action and show them that they can have a real impact on policy makers in their own country. Partners educated the young people during this project with hands-on activities and theoretical knowledge that provided them with tools to become young climate advocates and activists. One of the outputs of the project has been the creation of a film by the young participants. The Climate Action Project is linked to the Erasmus+ priority of the environment and climate change. The project has also other dimensions involved in the topics important for the programme, notably; cultural integration, creativity and developing young people’s skills and competences including communication, reflection and debate. The project aimed to allow young people together to create a piece of film, where they expressed concerns in regard to ecological changes, and demonstrate the climate impact. By making the film participants were exposed to digital management, directing, script writing, team-work and organisation. It will also be a task of the participants to promote the film and ensure reaching the widest audience. We have aimed to expand all participants’ understanding and knowledge of European values particularly around the environment; facilitate intercultural exchange between all participants with a view to expanding understanding and vision - with several young people and leaders coming from minority ethnic backgrounds; and enable young people to find and express their own voice and contribute to playing an active role in building better communities. We have also promoted transnational youth activities and enabled youth workers to support more young people in their countries through cooperation with Programme and Partner Countries and others despite the UK no longer being part of Erasmus+ programme due to Brexit. Several organisations have expressed their desire to continue their relationships with us, and involve us as informal partners whenever possible.

Project partners (4)