Challenge Europe project

	Alžběta Kundratová Alžběta (19) is a student, starting Law studies at the Masaryk University in September. She is trying to keep her eyes open and notice what is happening in the world. She is anxious about the huge paradox between the developed and developing countries. She believes that we have all instruments to change current situation of our planet devastating.We just have to spread the knowledge and say our opinions loudly. She is the one who never gives up.
	Bára Semeráková Bára (27) is working with TEREZA Association. Since the end of 2006, she has been a member of the Carbon Cycle Project team in the Czech Republic which works under the international GLOBE Program (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment). Its mission is to enhance understanding of carbon cycle and global climate change at schools. ”I see the project as the unique opportunity to meet various people who work in the same field. I would like to bring my own experience of promoting ‘carbon’ topics to students and teachers.” Bára climbed a mountain more than 6000m high and spent one year in India.
	Boris Kaliský Boris (26) is a student of international affairs and security studies at the Charles University in Prague. Although still a student, he puts most of his energy into organizing events like conferences, festivals or trainings. At the moment he is organizing conferences at the Forum 2000 Foundation in Prague. Besides Boris is a sport and outdoor enthusiast. He is interested in science and technologies, especially in the environmentally friendly ones, and is eager to learn how to use their potential in practice.
	Eva Hralová Eva (25) is a landscape engineer. “As my area of study was the landscape as a whole I had the opportunity to learn about many components that make up the environment. It is this diverse and multidimensional approach that evoked an ‘amateur’ interest in the global climate change in me. I am interested in meeting people across a range of fields of expertise that are in any way connected not only to climate preservation but to the environment as such.” She holds in high regard specialists from all fields of activities and is aware of the benefit a discussion or even cooperation between such people can bring to the parties involved. The willingness to listen to one another is the first step in the search for a solution.
	Jakub Holovský Jakub (26) is a researcher working at the Institute for Physics, Academy of Science. He has always dreamed of becoming an inventor and now as he is working in the field of photovoltaic solar cells, he would like to be remembered for some solar cell innovation. ”I feel I am eager to do something. I have chosen the branch of solar cell in my studies because I want to contribute to solving the problem with carbon dioxide emissions. My current scientific work is definitely oriented towards this goal, but I feel it is not enough and some actions in public sphere should be taken. Unfortunately, since I am a student and a full-time employee, I was not yet able to start anything on my own. So I feel this may be opportunity for me.”
	Jan Kabrda Jan (28) is currently a postgraduate student and a scientific assistant and lecturer at the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague. He is interested in problems related to landscape changes, agriculture, and energy and material ’metabolism’ of societies. He thinks that the climate change will affect especially people living in developing countries, and that it is our duty to do something about it. He also believes that one of our main goals should be to raise awareness about the climate change and possible solutions among politicians and ordinary people, especially children and teenagers. Sir Winston Churchill and Václav Havel are the figures of his greatest inspiration.
	Jan Šrytr Jan (26) is working as a lawyer at the Ecological legal service. He understands that an effective tackling of the climate change, an effort to change the whole civilization habits, requires really holistic approach. The professional law perspective is in his opinion an inevitable part of this approach. He is proud that he had decided to quit his short conventional business law career and discovered that there are also other goals that can be pursued by this unique tool. “As for the Czech Republic, I hope we will be the generation that will substantially contribute to the increase of the civil society influence on the public decision making. I hope that we will convince people that it is not ’normal’ to be silent when public interest is threatened.”
	Josef Kvasničák Josef alias Pepa (22) is a student of climatology at Charles University in Prague. He is very concerned about the traffic issues in the Czech Republic especially about the country being a transit for European lorries and problems of cars in the cities. He actively participates at various activities of the School of Ecological Thinking – NGO organising seminars for students from secondary schools. Pepa is also working for scientific radio station called ČRo Leonardo.
	Lenka Parkánová Lenka (23) is a student of Environmental studies and Regional Development and Administration at Masaryk University in Brno. She is interested in alternatives to mainstream economics such as ecological economics and in environmentally friendly ways of doing business. Lenka is an external consultant of the Ecological Institute Veronica, department of eco-counselling. She helps people who look for any information related to ecology such as saving of energy in their households, washing and cleaning agents, ecological agriculture, the law concerned to the protecting nature and so on. Her motto: ‘If you want to change people’s behaviour, begin with yourself.‘
	Lucia Neméthyová Lucia (25) is a teacher and researcher at the University of Economics in Bratislava, specialised on transportation and logistics issues. Currently she is working at the University of Westminster UK (research project Green Logistics). She is a co-founder of Oikos Bratislava - students' organisation for sustainable economics and management. In 2006, she worked at the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe as a manager of national and international projects oriented on SD and environmental protection. Her friends describe her as a funny person, passionate for transportation and teaching, rushing all the time.
	Matěj Bajgar Matej (21) is a student of economics at the Charles University in Prague. His environmentalist friends say he is a ’cold-hearted calculating economist’ while his schoolmates consider him to be a ’clime-fighting weirdo’. He does not care and keeps trying to put their two worlds together. This is the first reason why he has decided to take part in the project. The second one is that he simply wants to protect polar bears from having to swim in the Arctic Ocean as the icebergs melt down. Do you know how cold the water is out there, with global warming or not?
	Petr Kotek Petr (28) is a building engineer. He sees Challenge Europe as a real opportunity to make the move in the contemporary industry, policy and the way how people behave. The stated objectives of the program are simultaneously his personal goals and this is why he sees very logically his role in the program. ’I believe my professional but also personal skills could be very inspiring for the program. I can mainly offer expert judgements related to the building energy performance, energy conservation measurements and engineering perspective in general.’
	Petr Novotný Petr Novotný (24) is a student of the Faculty of Economics and Administration of Masaryk University in Brno. His aim in this project is to find the best way to replace fossil fuels with locally made clean energy. Petr is inspired by a good Finnish example of making biogas from wastes and its using as a vehicle fuel on a local scale. ’Cut of carbon emissions can be reached through more efficient energy use and through decentralization of clean energy production at the same time. If we manage to create a system in which these changes will be comfortable and profitable for local stakeholders the success will be guaranteed”.
	Petr Vogel Petr (25) is finishing his Master Study Program in Architectural Engineering. He feels that construction industry has a strong impact on the environment, on the way how we live and how we behave. Thus his life-long goal is to produce clever, energy efficient, high quality and sustainable buildings in order to help people become more environmentally friendly. His huge interest is demonstrated by his contemporary job position in the company EkoWATT, The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Center, his interest is also shown by his participation in the Challenge Europe!
	Tomáš Kliegr Tomáš (25) is a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Informatics and Statistics at School of Economics, and he is also a researcher and entrepreneur. Over past several years, he always put the motto ’Contribute to bridging the global information divide’ at the top of his CV, wherever he sent it. ’I believe that computer science and information technology can contribute to sustainability and CO2 emission reduction, especially in terms of implementing sustainable policies in the IT industry itself and by utilizing advances in computer science for optimization of processes in other fields.’
	Veronika Solisova Veronika (25) is about to graduate in law and politics & international relations. She works as an assistant of a deputy (Greens). She co-wrote a book on the organized crime and her thesis deals with conflict solutions in Africa. She enjoyed her studies in Paris as well as her recent pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. She likes watching documentaries, taking pictures, giving presents, dreaming and singing. Being a zen-buddhist, Veronika respects and feels compassion with all beings (although it is tough sometimes:)) that is why she just HAD to participate in this project. P.S. ‘A big path has no gate.‘
	Vilém Vrzala Vilém (31) is a student of European law at the Palackého University in Olomouc. In the years 2005-2006 he worked as a lawyer at the Czech Inspection of Environment. The most satisfying part of his life was when he worked as a gardener and planted hundreds of trees. ’In future I hope I will work in public administration or in some non profit organization and I could use knowledge from Challenge Europe project for working for better environment.’ He wants to be remembered as a good man.
	Zdeněk Poštulka Zdeněk (33) is an environmental advisor. In the past he has been working for the Ministry of Environment and also participated at EU internship programme at DG Agriculture. He can contribute to Challenge Europe with ideas on the best management practices of ecosystems and ideas on how to make crucial inter linkages among sustainability policies of the EU on the national level. He would like to be remembered as a person who linked flood protection, biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.

Danish Climate Advocates chose to use the medium of film and the structure of a series of interviews with several wellknown Danish climate experts to offer suggestions for climate change solutions. Their basic question was, ‘Could Denmark be carbon neutral by 2025?’ This ambitious project became a short film entitled Denmark 2025. The title was chosen as all the climate experts interviewed agreed that it would be possible for Denmark to be carbon neutral by 2025.