First World Youth Sustainability Summit

The international initiative “youthinkgreen - jugend denkt um.welt" organises the 1st World Youth Sustainability Summit in Berlin between the 10th and 20th May 2013. The international educational youth initiative is under the patronage of the Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Christiana Figueres as well as the former President of the European Parliament, MEP Dr. Hans-Gert Pöttering. The members of the youthinkgreen movement currently numbers 220 youth from 10 countries. Together they campaign against the climate change and for the environment as well as more sustainable ways of living. 

 

The 1st World Youth Sustainability Summit will revolve around the evocative theme of “Youth and Sustainability in Everyday Life - Challenge, Reflect on and Develop New Global Ways of Living” seen as a great, worldwide challenge and collective task. More than 150 young people from industrialised, emerging and developing countries will come to Berlin to participate in the conference, along with top-class speakers from the scientific, cultural, economic, political and media world to analyse, question and develop the topic through speeches, discussions as well as various workshops. 

The objective is to draft a common, activity-oriented position paper in which the young people from the whole world will develop collective suggestions, impulses and demands for a more responsible future by which they will stand. 

Which lifestyle do I support for today – tomorrow – the future?

Fundamental questions are raised everyday about all kinds of aspects of our social existence throughout the world: how can the individual live, how does s/he orient her/himself? What are the responsibilities of politics, economy and civil society in the organisation of a humane life? Where lie the limits of individual freedoms? Doesn’t the wish for a future socially and ecologically secured belong to the catalogue of human rights? 

youthinkgreen calls for an “open competition” and with this invites young people, who would like to enrich the 1st World Youth Sustainability Summit with their personal experiences, to get involved in dialogs among one another and design common solutions. 

Formal conditions/requirements

The participants must meet the following formal requirements to apply:

- be aged between 15 and 20,

- possess basic knowledge on the fields sustainability and environmental policies,

- have a good command of English (the language of the conference will be English, simultaneous interpretation between English and German will be offered),

- be in good and healthy physical condition for the length of the stay,

- be in possession of a valid passport.

Both applications from individuals and groups are possible. However, in the case of group application, only the representatives of the group can be invited. 

Application procedure

To participate, the applicant must provide the following documents:

1. Résumé including personal information and annotation on the education as well as extracurricular activities

2. Cover letter (1-2 pages): state and explain your reasons for applying to take part in the Summit.

3. Topic-specific key points of your application: select one or more submission possibility that you would like to use to present yourself:

a. Presentation of a distinct, exemplary sustainable project (see youthinkgreen website – Summit 2013 – Project Presentation youthinkgreen – jugend denkt um.welt (PDF))

b. Position report on the topic “Youth and Sustainability in Everyday Life - Challenge, Reflect on and Develop New Global Ways of Living” in the form of: a comprehensive experience report, interviews, structural model, wish list, a contribution video (at least 10 minutes), cartoons, a caricature, a drawing or a comic strip. Research and question the ways of living in industrial, emerging and developing countries. Take the position of a world citizen and try to develop ways of living that would fairly address the big challenges of our time related to the topics “climate change and sustainable development”. Draw on the postulates sustainable mobility, sustainable consumption and sustainable use of energies and resources. To do so, you can base your reflection on the basic existential functions: live, work, support oneself (food, clothing etc.), educate oneself, get well, procreate, live collectively, recycle, contribute to commerce and get involved in communication.

c. Draft a concept “Environmental school: school of the future”. Describe the stepping-stones of your environmental school and create a model out of it.

d. Presentation of a script (idea, treatment, storyboard) for an environment-oriented advertisement (see http://www.youthinkgreen.org/project-news/).

e. Performance of songs that you composed on the topics sustainability and/or climate change.

Please send your submission in electronic format at: info@youthinkgreen.org

Selection procedure/financing

The winners will be selected on the basis of their submission by the jury of the project, composed of experts in sustainable education and who are invited to come to the summit in Berlin. The conference and tours programme, accommodation, catering along with the travelling expenses during the ten-days stay in Berlin are free of charge. In justified cases, travel and visa expenses can be subsidised. 

Closing date for applications

The closing date for applications is February 28th 2013.

For more information go to: http://www.youthinkgreen.org/1st-world-youth-sustainability-summit-2013/

For contact and questions: info@youthinkgreen.org