Advocates’ projects 2008/09

Project 1: AMICO2
The main idea is to initiate discussion on how to reduce consumers’ daily expenses with effective energy use by organising an exhibition to illustrate actual energy consumption by using thermo-graphic pictures. These images show, visually and emotionally, the extent of the problem.
The main goal is to make real energy waste visual and to show consumers how much energy is lost in the process, often caused by a lack of knowledge.

Project 2: Smart playground
The idea is to create a phantom tool - energy producing playground, which is going to be interesting for people of all life stages: attractive, funny and safe for children; smart and innovative for teens; educational and informative for adults. It will be movable, made from natural recyclable materials and will produce energy from movement.

The main aim of this project is to raise awareness about the issue of global warming and carbon emissions and show that anyone can make a change towards more sustainable development, even if it’s not a very big one, and that it’s all less complicated than it sounds.

Project 3: Green Bus
Public awareness about general environmental problems and climate change is very low in Lithuania. Climate Advocates have decided to run an awareness raising campaign, focusing on Vilnius, by converting an existing public bus to be a ‘Green Bus’, which will use alternative and environmentally friendly fuel, (used food oil), be visually attractive and have an informative/creative space inside the bus – a space for ‘eco art’.

Project 1: Cycling in the city
The ‘Cycling in the City’ project aimed to cut CO2 emissions by promoting cycling as an alternative means of transport. A cycling survey was conducted, which focused on the inhabitants of Prague and identified main obstacles which prevent people from using bicycles in everyday life. The on-line cycling survey was launched on 1 January 2009 at the website www.kolo-ve-meste.cz with the aim of reaching about 1000 respondents by the end of February 2009. The team (Matej Bajgar, Josef Kvasnicak, Alzbeta Kundratova) presented the results of the survey together with several recommendations to the media, representatives of the city council and cyclists’ organisations with the aim of proposing the creation of an internet cycle paths finder in the city.

Project 2: Change your clothes to stop climate change
The ‘Change your clothes, change the climate’ project dealt with the environmental impact of clothes production and responsible consumer behaviour. The team of five Climate Advocates (Lucia Nemethyova, Bara Semerakova, Eva Hralova, Lenka Parkanova and Veronika Solisova) were inspired by the Cambridge Institute of Manufacturing study, Well Dressed? The present and future sustainability of clothing and textiles in the UK. The results of the project were visually very attractive: an eco-fashion show! It started with an informal discussion with Cecilia Malvido de Rodríguez, a research Associate with Cambridge University’s Sustainable Manufacturing Group, followed by Kate Fletcher, a British Sustainable Fashion designer. For more information take a look at the project’s website: www.ekomoda.cz and www.ekosaty.cz. The team still continues on organising events and public debate on the topic.

Project 3: Green buildings
The Green Building project focused on promoting the construction of passive and low energy buildings. The project’s output was a web directory and two expert seminars. The panel discussions about Architectural, Technical, Social and Economic Aspects of Green Buildings took place on 26 March 2009 in Prague and contributed to the expansion of green building projects in the Czech Republic. The project also helped raise professionals’ awareness of possible incentives for green building projects that work well in other countries. Moreover, it opened a critical debate about their possible introduction in the Czech Republic. The Advocates team (Petr Kotek, Petr Vogel, Tomáš Kliegr, Jakub Holovsky) obtained funding for the creation of a web directory which went online at the beginning of July and provides comprehensive information on passive and low-energy housing for the non expert reader. For more information check the project’s website.

The contacts the advocates made during this period have helped them to realise their dream, which has been to do something more and create something new – and so the Czech Green Building Council was born. It is a non-governmental organisation aiming to motivate the market to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built, refurbished and operated to promote an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous built environment that improves the quality of life. The Council was established by 13 Czech companies and is open to all who would like to do more in the area of green buildings.
 

Project 4: TULES (Sustainable Local Energy Self-sufficiency)
This is the title of the fourth project involving Climate Advocates Boris Kaliský, Petr Novotný, Zdeněk Poštulka, Veronika Solisová and Jan Šrytr. The project addressed and joined two environment protection areas: sustainable landscape management and renewable energy production. The Advocates team worked on a publication providing an overview of existing economically and environmentally sustainable ways of landscape management and available technology for energy production from biomass. A significant part of the publication focused on the existing legislative and financial framework of biomass energy production in the Czech Republic and the major obstacles to biomass utilization at the administrative levels. The launch of the publication took place on 31 March in Prague together with an expert panel discussion.

Project 1: GreenForce
The GreenForce team came up with the idea of a bottom-up, user driven platform for environmental innovations and problem solving, especially because environmental issues haven’t exactly been approached from this angle. On the GreenForce platform consumers could post their everyday problems or raw ideas of carbon free products to be solved and/or developed further, always in the overarching ‘open source’ spirit. The project will be entirely virtual and registered users from different fields will bring in their expertise and experience into this cross-sectored community where they can undertake any challenge they are attracted to. When the developing process starts to require heavier investments (in terms of time or other resources), any participant can “take it home” and proceed in a closed environment. When the product is mature enough, the highest bidder may buy it and embark the process of production (see for example http://www.sahkoauto.fi/).

In the second phase of the project, GreenForce will bring together companies and businesses offering them a platform for their “green problems” that they haven’t been able to solve in house. One company brings in the challenge and other users tackle it – and hopefully solve it. In comparison with typical corporate R&D units and their slow and rigid processes, GreenForce will be a forum for truly innovative, open source, communal problem solving.

Project 2: Make a Plan!
People are well informed, now it’s time to take action. Recent studies have shown that people need simple, practical advice how to hinder climate change; what products to buy, how to warm our houses, what to eat – the list is long and tiring. Sure, there are tips and guides out there, but we believe we can make a real difference by helping people in distress – they need to Make a Plan!

The initial idea evolves around the themes of mercy, optimism and “yes, we can!” attitude and avoids the dominant guilt-driven discourse of the climate change debate. Our aspiration was to create an inspiring green website taking a fresh and positive form. The basic idea is to offer an inspiring and inviting on-line service, a web page www.makeaplan.fi, where they can make a plan to cut their personal carbon emissions and invite their friends to do the same in Facebook.

Besides the website we have already cast anchor to the very roots of attitude building and education – primary schools. Their “Make a Plan” project will be developed and applied through the school year. The children will create and implement their own projects and set targets in recycling, saving electricity and cutting emissions.

Project 3: Operation Earth
“Operation Earth” represents a new genre of TV series featuring three separate celebrity teams with different environmental causes to raise funding for. The 6 episodes of the series were aired on Finnish Channel Four during the fall 2008 culminating in the finale just before Christmas.In the TV show one of the teams works hard to get a windmill for an isolated village deep in the jungle in Madagascar, the second team strives to set up biogas ovens and help prevent deforestation in Nepal. The third team, "The Pirates of the Baltic Sea”, sails our own shores determined to raise the necessary funding for a wetland project. All projects are executed in close co-operation with the WWF.

To support the design and implementation of their campaigns each team had a Godfather and a professional PR agency in their corner. As one of their Challenge Europe challenges, the Finnish Climate Advocates had a role in the series as experts - they got the chance to spar, criticise, and encourage the celebrities in their efforts to raise money. Our aim was to keep the big picture in mind, give them a reality check if needed and push them to the right direction. In addition, the Advocates played a crucial role on the programme’s web site by taking responsibility for answering viewers’ questions regarding climate change and by writing a blog.

The production has received a lot of positive attention. To date ‘Operation Earth’ stars have walked the red carpet twice – first to pick a Golden TV award (in the category of “Multimedia 360 grades”) and a week later the highly appreciated Venla award for the Best Music or Events Show. We also take pride in being part of the first ever carbon-free TV production, as all the emissions were scrupulously calculated and compensated through Gaia Consulting Ltd.

Project 1: Understanding Energy
The aim of the challenge is to provide a general understanding of how energy works, how it is produced, transformed and wasted in order to encourage its efficient use and that of the resources associated with energy.

The project aims to:

• increase the understanding of the general public (including children) on energy, energy efficiency and energy policy
• provide objective neutral information to as many people as possible across a broad spectrum of ages and cultures. Specific objectives we will be pursuing with this project;
produce content documents explaining and reviewing energy, energy efficiency and energy policies
• produce a feasible, high impact communication plan (for the general public and specifically for children)
• generate a high quality project proposal and gain funding

A document with the key energy issues to be covered will be prepared and this content subsequently communicated to the public though a communication campaign including a specific plan targeting school children.

Project 2: The Road to Copenhagen
The key aim is to collect and present experiences and stories of communities already affected by climate change to decision makers in the run up to Copenhagen in 2009.

Millions of people across the world are already being affected by climate change. In order to help these people adapt and to prevent more people being affected, governments need to work together to agree how to tackle the problem. It's not something one government can do on its own. Our aim is to help communities that are affected by climate change tell their stories and share their experience with people who make international decisions about climate change. The people who are most vulnerable and worst effected by climate change are often under represented at international climate negotiations. It is vital that their voices are heard and their stories are understood by decision makers. Therefore we aim to document the experiences of these people using a variety of media and allow them to tell their own stories to the people who are making policy.

In December 2009 world leaders will meet in Copenhagen to discuss the replacement of the Kyoto protocol. It is vital that the leaders involved in these discussions understand how people across the planet are already being affected. Our aim is to present these stories to the key decision makers in the run up to the Copenhagen event in 2009.

Project 3: Grow Your Own
This project has two strands. The first strand of the project aims to produce a booklet which would be distributed to every household in Wales. The booklet would contain three main sections: ‘no garden’, ‘small garden’ and ‘large garden’; in each section would be simple step by step tasks to start producing fruit and vegetables. We are also looking to include an encouraging DVD of people in Wales already doing this, and possibly a chrondala/biocalendar.

The second strand of the project aims to introduce a grow your own initiative into student housing at Nottingham University, with excess produce being distributed out into the community to increase the sense of community between students and locals.

This project is very apt considering the changing climate, the need to reduce emissions, and the credit crunch, which has left people short of money to buy healthy and organic food. We also think it’s a skill that’s largely been lost but that will be very important in the future. At the moment allotment provision is not adequate for demand, and schools are starting to install vegetable patches as part of the eco-schools programme. Universities tend to have lots of green spaces, but no gardens for producing food.

Project 4: Creating Media Space to Promote Low Carbon Communities Network
The aim of the challenge is to promote Low Carbon Community Living by securing media space including newspaper advertising space and video production skills. This project will involve Advocates creating a programme that secures media publicity in the form of newspaper advertising space and video production skills to promote the Low Carbon Communities Network. We aim to go from the local to the global scale, starting with local advertising organisations that, firstly utilise media types that require less production skills (e.g. print media), moving towards more national and complicated media (e.g. cinema and television). In order to co-ordinate this content most effectively the aim is to engage with a low carbon community co-ordinating body. This also means the project can live on beyond the current cohort of Advocates. It is given a dimension of depth through linking members of the public who have the potential to reduce their impact on our climatic system, through behavioural change towards a low carbon lifestyle, with their local low carbon community, who are an important source of knowledge and support for those wishing to make the first steps towards sustainability.

Project 1: Carbon Club Community
There is no doubt that many businesses are working to galvanise their employees into taking action to reduce the impacts of climate change. Likewise, experience shows that such employ engagement can and does deliver significant carbon savings as demonstrated by the model developed within BT. However, there is no one organisation or mechanism in place to detail the various initiatives, to share best practice and enable the cross fertilisation of ideas. 

‘Corporate Carbon Club Community’ is a timely project in view of the real threat posed by climate change and the current negative global economy. It is exciting and ambitious, having the potential to ripple out into homes and local communities across the UK and Ireland. The group has achieved much in 2008-2009 and shows excellent potential moving forward.

Project 2: Climate Change Exchange
As the fifth highest carbon emitter per person in the industrialised world, the island of Ireland has an important role to play in bringing about change. As a country we need to act now and effective communication, education and public awareness are essential if we are to achieve our objective of a lower carbon future.

In 2008-2009, the ‘Climate Change Exchange’ group members became effective communicators for ‘Challenge Europe’ and the pressing issues of climate change across Ireland/Northern Ireland and further a field. They used a wide range of innovative multimedia and education initiatives to raise awareness of this global crisis and the required responses by individuals, business, government and media (Youtube, Facebook, radio, press, events etc).

http://www.justmultimedia.com/climate_champions/Home.html

Project 3: Ireland's Climate Challenge 2020
Policy is a key driver of change but such change is dependent on appropriate evidence and strong leadership. With this in mind, ‘Climate 2020’ aimed to develop 2 simple and useful visioning and mapping tools which would serve as a good practice database for policy development.

Project 4: Project Better Place
Emissions from private vehicles account for a growing portion of the world’s carbon footprint and the changing climate, growing markets and diminishing supplies of fossil fuels require a major shift to low emission vehicles.  Renault and Nissan are already developing electric car models to be mass produced by 2010 and sold in countries equipped with an electric charging network by their partner 'Project Better Place'. Israel is the first country to be targeted and is in the process of installing 500,000 charging points. Denmark has also joined the scheme in a strategic move to remove transport dependency on oil and facilitate increased penetration of energy markets by renewables such as wind and solar.

Project 5: S.O.U.L. Food Growing Communities - (Seasonal, Organic, Unprocessed, Local)
Put simply, the S.O.U.L Food group sought to unite and strengthen a network of growers in NI and Ireland through information, action and policy. Recognising the huge potential for promoting food growing by sharing best practice and inspiring others to get involved, the group decided that the initial focus of their project would be to set up an all-island network of community garden groups. Over 25 organisations attended an initial network meeting, with a programme of talks by experts as well as concrete action planning in order to build momentum for the project.

Project 1: Class Act - Taking the lead in promoting environmentally-friendly schools
The need for environmental education for our children and youth is gaining urgency, and more schools are incorporating climate change into their curricula. Sustainable thinking, it is often said, should be integrated into all levels of education. But what about the built environments in which education takes place? The determining factor in the design and construction of school buildings is cost, rather than comfort or environmental issues. In a tender competition, low investment costs are prioritised over design quality and environmental performance. It seems this is a typical case of the ancient proverb – “Do as I say, don’t do as I do.”

The Class Act project aims to influence decision makers responsible for school buildings, such as politicians, municipalities, and design teams. The aim is quite simply to raise awareness on the role the school’s built environment itself plays in educating children and youth on climate change and the challenges that lie ahead for them. The underpinning belief of the project is that without sustainable school buildings, the increasing attention environmental issues receive in school curricula are just hollow words.

Project 2: Agriculture and climate change: the move towards friendly farming
Agriculture stands for major contributions to climate change, chiefly through emissions of methane (from digestive gas of farm animals) and nitrous oxide (from fertilizer use). These gases constitute the 2nd and the 3rd largerst single emissions sources.

Agriculture is in Norway and Europe one of the most regulated sectors, and significant subsidies are transferred to agriculture annually. These subsidies acknowledge indirectly that the agricultural sector provides added value beyond the food it produces, such as national food security and the preservation of local cultural landscapes. Yet, no environmental requirements have been agreed upon as a prerequisite for receiving subsidies despite the fact that the sector is very much regulated otherwise. We believe that the added value from agriculture must reflect the values and needs of society and must thus address climate change. In short, subsidies and transfers to the agricultural sector must be linked to documented decreases in greenhouse gas emissions stemming from the sector.

Project 3: Standard Oil: Benchmarking a Barrel of Oil
The world will consume 60 per cent more energy by 2030 and developing nations make up two thirds of the demand growth. 80 per cent of the energy we use today comes from fossil fuels. In a couple of decades this share is estimated to reach 90 per cent. We will need more energy to help developing countries grow out of poverty, not less. Given the present rate of technological development there seems little chance that renewables can replace the role of fossil fuels, although renewables is the long term solution. How to meet this challenge and still combat climate change?

The world’s oil producers should agree on a CO2 benchmark, an upper CO2 emissions limit, for the production of one barrel of oil. Over time this benchmark should become stricter and when carbon capture and storage is in place, it should be put to near zero. Such a benchmark would encourage the development of more efficient technologies and yield higher economic output per unit CO2 emitted from oil production.

The international steel industry has voluntarily proposed similar measures to prevent carbon leakage and to pre-empt government regulation. In the ongoing climate negotiations, Japan has proposed to regulate carbon emissions per industrial sector which has received support from the US and Norway. A sectoral approach is not entirely unlikely and the most likely industries to be included are steel, aluminium, cement and energy production.

We want to persuade oil companies to actively promote carbon benchmarking of oil production. This would be voluntary, but the entire oil industry would need to support the initiative for it to be effective. If all companies abide the same standards, this would make competition fair, reduce CO2 emissions, not only from oil sand but from the production of all unconventional oils, and it could pre-empt potentially harmful regulations.

Project 1: Ecological education
2 climate change portals that go well together!
2 Ecological web portals, created and managed to raise public awareness in the area of climate change.

The first portal is already up and running, it addresses hot issues in the global climate change debate and targets audiences with diverse views, backgrounds and scientific knowledge. It is available at ziemianarozdrożu.pl.

Created in co-operation with Our Earth Foundation (Nasza Ziemia), thanks to the project partner’s strong support, it is a unique place on the web. Polish citizens using the Polish language do not have an easy access to more advanced climate change resources, and the portal solves part of the problem. It contains highlights of the most valuable pieces accessible on-line, news, as well as original articles by co-operating authors.

The second portal will have a different profile and will concentrate on every-day behaviours that can reduce our carbon-footprint. Climate advocates recognise the importance of multimedia in addressing the general public. The vital content of the portal is to enhance practical skills, such as ecological cooking. It will contain educational resources: training materials, lessons’ scenarios, best practices, e-books and films.

Project 2: Ecological transport
Renting bikes to students and Green Zones in the city
Renting bikes to students and Green Zones in the city
Polish advocates are planning to organize renting of bikes for students. This pioneer solution in Poland would first be implemented as a pilot project.

Bikes available for students (50-80) can become an alternative means of transportation between university and campus. Additionally, we would like to arrange “green zones” to reduce air pollution in the centre of the city. Entering the ecopass areas would be payable.

Support is needed from universities, foundations and companies. Agreements with student organisations will help in promotion of the solution, and defining such details as places for bike-rents, payments, forms of selling the tickets. Media element is very important – to reach the student community we need to communicate the new possibilities in eco-news, magazines and newspapers.

Project 3: Energy efficiency
Is saving enough? CAMPAIGN
Energy consumption by the households is shaped by various factors. The most significant are
price level and economic situation of households which is reflected in so called behaviour changes resulting in different intensity of household appliances.

Awareness raising campaign includes several steps. We need to determine, which energy use practices are in place. Members of the community shall be surveyed about their current energy-use practices (control of temperature settings, use of window coverings and fans, lighting, etc.) and actions they are already taking to be energy-efficient. This information can then be used to help identify desired behaviors and actions to emphasize in the program. Second, this can be used to gather other types of information, such as opinions on communications channels, logos and slogans, and possible incentives.

Using the results of surveys, focus groups, and interviews we conduct, we identify the energy- saving actions we will ask the community members to take.

Changing people’s energy-use behaviors must go beyond one-way education. The campaign must address barriers to change, as well as making the behaviors easy, convenient, relevant, and socially desirable. We make awareness raising interactive and personal. We use personal interaction and new communication means, such as internet or community events. We shall use the following channels: traditional: posters, brochures, articles in organizational newsletters and local newspapers updates at all-hands-meetings, booth/displays at events and electronic: video chronicles, e-mail reminders, web pages.

Project 1: A Green New Deal for Sweden
The global economy is facing accelerating climate change, soaring energy prices and financial crisis. These overlapping events threaten to develop into a perfect storm. Drawing inspiration from the courageous programme launched in the wake of the Great Crash in 1929, the Swedish Climate Advocates are proposing a Green New Deal, a strong political and economic programme to be adopted by the Swedish government:

- the development of a long-term climate plan and vision for a low-carbon energy system;
- the introduction of a Climate Department, Climate Minister and Climate budget;
- the introduction of a new financing system for climate investments (taxes, fees, legislation, subsidies etc.);
- the introduction of a an annual Climate Impact Assessment of the state budget (leading to the phasing out of investments that increase carbon emissions).

Project 2: Climate News – because the world needs to know!
The events taking place within the environmental field today have crucial significance for the future of our nature and the civilization we know. In spite of their relevance, environmental issues are not prioritized in society, including by journalists in the media. Reports about the oil crisis, emissions trading and environmental friendly cars are described as economic news instead of environmental news. If public media could describe the complex connections between the environmental problem’s scientific and social dimension more effectively, the public might better understand the nature of the sustainability issue. Signalling to society that this issue is of equal importance for civilisation as economic development might make the public more willing to change. Our aim therefore is to work on the labelling of Swedish public service news and programming and through the project increase people’s knowledge and inspire them to change their behaviour. We think the Swedish public service media can do better in showing people what the reality looks like, what affects the development, and how the problem can be solved.

Project 3: Climate Education
The climate crisis of our day will undoubtedly affect the lives of our children. It is important that as many teachers as possible are fully committed and equipped to provide pupils with a sound understanding of climate issues. There are numerous examples of fantastic work being carried out in schools in Sweden and a multitude of initiatives from teacher networks, NGOs and institutions. But in many cases these success stories are the result of enthused individuals and local initiatives. There is a need for a more coordinated approach and readily available resources that lower the threshold for teacher involvement. Challenge Europe Climate Eduction,“CECE”, is an initiative to become more climate advocates by engaging environmental student to visit schools and meet teachers and inspire them to integrate climate change perspectives in their education and also give them tools that fit their specific needs.

Project 1: Act on climate awareness
Climate change is not a priority issue in Ukraine. The level of awareness about climate challenge is very low among all sectors of the society and there is a lack of government will to implant environmental policy in decision making processes. Generally, people are ignorant of the impact that their everyday life has on the climate and are therefore reluctant to take personal responsibility for changing their behaviour and attitudes to the environment.

The Climate Advocates’ aim with this project is to improve overall awareness of climate change issues in Ukraine by changing the perceptions, attitudes and habits of young people in Ukraine, leading to a potential reduction in carbon emissions and to a change of state policy. To achieve this goal the advocates were involved in organising the first Climate Action Day in Ukraine. This included public activities such as demonstrations, eco performances, exhibitions and competitions, to inform the public and mass media about climate challenge and encourage people to take personal action to decrease their carbon emissions. In addition, the Advocates are involved in setting up an Information Centre on Climate Change in partnership with National University Kyiv Mohyla Academy. The centre is to be used to promote climate change issues in the educational sector and to the wider public.

Project 2: Act on eco-transport
The cycling movement has been growing in Ukraine over the last several years. The number of cyclists in Kyiv has reached 15,000 in 2008, however it comprises just 0,4% of the population, which is a tiny proportion. The reason for this is an absence of infrastructure and general predisposition of people to using environmentally friendly means of transport. Unfortunately, big cars with powerful engines are very popular in Ukraine.

To deal with this challenge the Climate Advocates have decided to promote and support the development of a cycling movement in Kyiv and in 3 selected regional centres of Ukraine. They are achieving this by directly working with local authorities and public groups to make cycling a popular means of transportation. A series of local training workshops have already been delivered in the target cities in order to support the establishment of a self-sustainable network of cyclists’ associations for representing cyclists’ needs and interests. A manual is being put together by the climate advocates with the support of expert partners, which includes examples of successful European initiatives on eco-clean transport and cyclists’ movements, as well as recommendations on how to communicate with the city authorities in order to lobby cyclists’ rights. Climate advocates also participated in a bike ride held on “Car Free Day” to support the cyclists’ movement in Kyiv.

Project 3: Act on energy efficiency
Energy security has become one of the hardest challenges that the global community faces in the 21st century. Fossil fuel reserves are depleting and, according to different analytical forecasts, can run out by the mid-century. As an implication, global fuel prices are rocketing. Yet, a great part of this energy is wasted in Ukraine - up to 40%-60%. The housing and public sectors are among the biggest consumers and wasters of energy in Ukraine. Much of this waste could be avoided by greater energy awareness about the ways in which to achieve energy saving and improve the energy efficiency of buildings.

The Climate Advocates have decided to run an information seminar on how to improve energy efficiency and energy saving in communal and residential buildings in Lviv, located in western Ukraine. A key partner of the seminar – The Association of Energy Efficient Cities - will be encouraging estate managers to participate in a European exhibition and campaign that visualizes energy use within buildings. The best positive practices of other partner organisations will be presented at the seminar. A separate event for students will follow, including a theatre performance on energy saving, quizzes with prizes and film demonstrations. Partner organisations will continue with similar awareness-raising activities across Ukraine.

Project 1: Climate Office – Szent István University, Gödöllő
The initiative was to renovate an office which becomes a zero emission climate information centre at Szent István University which is one hour from Budapest. The advocates have together designed the centre (one of them was an architect, one was an interior designer, one was a product designer), which is run by a set of 5 volunteers (the Director is one of the advocates, based at the university). The centre is used as a base for a number of initiatives, including conferences and events for students as well as showcasing climate friendly practices. To set up the centre, the advocates have got funding and support from the University, and grant from the Ministry of Education and Culture. The long-term plan of the advocates for the coming 2-3 years is to establish a network of climate offices in more universities. A corporate sponsor was contributing to setting up the computer server background of the office. The office opened on 17 March after a press conference held on 10 March at the British Embassy. Four other universities have expressed an interest setting up similar centres as a result.

Project 2: Low Carbon Guide
The advocates were working on the development of a carbon guide (free magazine), which had the support of several Hungarian celebrities and was circulated nationwide to students and young people (estimated reach of 300,000). Issue date was 5 March.

It was planned  to be an awareness raising publication with lots of humour but based on valid low carbon related research.

Two Hungarian celebrities and one of the advocates contributed to the magazine showing good examples of low carbon living through a 2-4-page photo story. One of the two celebrities is a very popular celeb, musician, actor, director who is committed to environment protection and low carbon lifestyle for a long time. The other one is a young singer whose band has dedicated songs to climate change.

The publication also included games, quizzes, climate office promotion and lots of practical advice on how to maintain a low carbon lifestyle.

The magazine was a „pass-it-on” issue to avoid generating more and more waste. It was sponsored by the British Embassy.

Project 3: Climate Office blog
The advocates have set up a blog, which is regularly updated, with profiles about the project, the British Council and the advocates, links to resources and information as well as webcam so the public could view the renovation of the climate centre. Since the opening of the blog it has been one of the primary sources of Hungarian-speaking people who care about climate change.  http://klimairoda.blog.hu

Project 1: The Zero Effect - exposing the advantages of going carbon neutral
The challenge is to create public demand for a highly ambitious and effective climate policy in Denmark. This project will expose the long range of opportunities and advantages that Denmark will receive if we take global leadership and loudly declare that we will be the first carbon neutral country in the world and back it by a substantial amount of initiatives. The timeframe is 2025.

Through a series of expert video statements we will show that it is doable for Denmark to be carbon neutral in 2025 and what opportunities and advantages it will create. The positive effects are divided in four main categories: public health, export and jobs in climate related sectors, brand value, and finally a secure, steady and affordable flow of energy.
All the expert video statements will be gathered on a website and to get the public’s attention to the site, a range of video statements from celebrities and a PR campaign will be pushed into the media world.

Project 2: Trash to Table
We aim to organise a range of “trash to table” events, where famous cooks will cook food for the general public out of pre-expired and/or expired food collected from supermarkets and serve it for free. Our focus is to raise awareness of irrational food overconsumption and overproduction. Measurable benchmark is how much CO2 can be saved by consuming responsibly.

Danish supermarkets and grocery shops throw out approximately 2 million tonnes of perfectly edible food products due to expiration dates and sometimes even before they expire every single day. This amounts to approximately 10 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every day.
The situation is not better with households: 1/3 of food supplies get dumped. In Denmark it became customary to buy more food than we can consume, and then throw away part of it because we can always buy more. Sparing food became less important to the average Danish consumer because of increased buying power in the recent decades. We went to get people to think before buying and consume responsibly!

Project 1: 3Rs of plastic bags

Plastic shopping bags are widely used by shoppers who are accustomed to getting complimentary ones or paying a minimum price for them all over in Slovenia. Used shopping bags often end up being used as rubbish bags that end up on a landfill site. The notion that plastic bags can and should be recycled is the same way as other waste and the fact that plastic bags need 1.000 years to decay hasn’t penetrated consumers’ minds and behaviour in Slovenia yet.

The aim of this challenge is to decrease the use of disposable plastic bags in Slovenia and to encourage people to lead a greener life-style. The Slovenian advocate group working on this project wants to make one step further towards a sustainable lifestyle in Slovenia by influencing people to bring their own reusable bags when shopping, to reuse every disposable plastic bag as often as possible and to throw plastic bags into recycling bins.

This project aims to address the principle of 3Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle in the everyday usage of plastic bags. The team working on this challenge is focusing on all three fields by:

• Working with a well-known Slovenian designer to produce a reusable designer bag for everyday shopping and introducing the idea that a reusable bag is an indispensible item in one’s purse, suitcase, notebook-bag, car, etc.
• Launching a plastic-bag-free day in shops, that would happen at least once a year with the aim of promoting the reuse of bags.
• Organising a raising awareness campaign for consumers and informing them that plastic bags should be disposed in a bin for recycling waste. The aim is to build a critical mass of consumers who are more conscious about the use of plastic bags.

Project 2: Energy efficient homes

Slovenia has a lot of single family houses and majority of them is still build within old standards and without proper isolation and with inefficient heating systems. The goal of the team working on this challenge is to persuade house owners, that with better insulation and better heating system in their homes, they will not only contribute to a cleaner environment and the reduction of carbon emissions, but they’ll also save money.

Within the project they want to develop a web portal that will include the following:

• an online calculation tool which will help current home owners to calculate their carbon footprint and it will give them insights what are those measures that reduce energy consumption and environmental impact.

a comprehensive list of experts that could help them, supplies providing the required materials and technology, examples of “good-practices”, etc.

• financial aspect which should give its users a sense of magnitude and possible savings when deciding on the investment.

The aim of this challenge is to educate customers on energy efficient constructions, thus also resulting on lowering the carbon footprint and reductions of energy costs. It also leads to a better quality of life as well as to broader societal impacts.

Project 3: Cycling to work

This Slovenian team is focusing on the daily transportation of people to and from work in the challenge they are working on. A decrease in the usage of cars to and from work has multiple positive effects – in addition to less CO2 emissions -, such as better air quality, revival of open public spaces (streets for people, not for cars), as well as educational effects (a switch from a car to other means of transportation as a moment of reflection and growth of environmental awareness).

The aim of this challenge is to promote cycling as an alternative means of transportation to/from work especially in spring and summer months.

The team is organising a competition for companies in Slovenia which they will encourage people within their organisations to take part in. As part of the competition, companies will enter groups of employees consisting of three people that will then cycle to work each day for a month. By cycling to work the team will collect points that will end up in a prize-draw in June. All members will also receive a certificate as a small gift as a reminder of the initiative.

The amount of petrol saved as a result of the initiative will also be calculated.

Our Climate Advocates have therefore decided to take the initiative and create CLIMATE&ENERGYEDU PORTAL - a tool to help themselves and fellow teachers and educators. The portal will contain lesson plans, classroom activities, projects and useful contacts or training opportunities.

“We want to involve young people in the design of the portal. While providing them an opportunity for self education and cooperation with other students, we wish to put to good use their creativity, IT skills and understanding of what their age group needs,” says Zuzana whose school has taken responsibility to lead this initiative and keep it sustainable. “It should be also space for their ideas about how to reduce CO2 emissions. Their input and feedback will be encouraged. Creating an interactive portal on quite a serious topic does not
mean that using it cannot be fun. We believe that our young partners will help make the site informative, useful and entertaining at the same time.”

The group are convinced that it is essential to implement Environmental Education at a very early stage, when pupils are very young, open and enthusiastic. As there is a low level of environmental consciousness in our country and many people do not view climate change as a problem, they also hope to target parents through their committed children.

Project 2: “Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air”

The second project from the Slovakian team is the translation of the book Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air by David J. C. MacKay. They aim to increase the knowledge of university and secondary school students about sustainable energy as well as efficient ways to save energy. Their challenge is not only the promotion of this worthwhile material but giving a lot of their time and energy into its translation into Slovak.

“Changing people’s behaviour has the largest potential for reducing carbon emissions, without bringing new technologies”, says Alexander, the coordinator of the book translation team. They are convinced that a well written publication can lead to behavioural change and in the long-term it can make a contribution to the future with reduced carbon emissions.

A lot of information about this topic already exists on the market, yet the advocates think that this book will be the first of its kind in Slovakia. They find it exceptional as it is written by an authority in the field and offers a complex view about sustainable energy supported with practical examples, critically evaluating current limitations of sustainable energy sources.

Project 3: SCIENCEWEAR

The advocates are planning to organise a national competition for young people aged 15-19 interested in or studying design to create a T-shirt that would visually address climate change issues.

The invitation to enter the competition will include a short presentation on the main climate change issues prepared by one of the climate advocates to help raise awareness of climate issues in young people.

The best designs will be selected by a panel comprised of patrons of Challenge Europe, a professional designer and climate advocates. The winners will be displayed virtually. The advocates also aim to convince well known public figures to wear the T-shirts.