The Climate Change Train

This project saw the Climate Advocates from the two countries working together successfully to promote the need to reduce carbon emissions and to highlight the fact that climate change crosses borders and in order to tackle it, people need to work together.

To raise awareness of the benefits of railway transportation a team of Climate Advocates decided to board the train themselves and travel from the Northern Greek city of Thesaloniki to Istanbul and back. They arranged educational and art events at major stops along the way: in Northern Greece (Thesaloniki and Alexandroupoli) and in Istanbul (European and Anatolian side). The project was fully embraced by a number of partners, including the Greek Ministry of Transport, the Hellenic Railway Organisation and the Municipality of Evros in Northern Greece. The Climate Advocates engaged with passengers and passersby with quiz games about climate change. Back in Alexandroupoli, Greece, the Climate Advocates welcomed local students aboard train wagons to play a specially designed board game. Concluding the trip on 22 September 2010, European Day Without a Car, the Climate Advocates, academics and cultural and administrative stakeholders discussed climate change with Green Drinks in Thesaloniki, Greece, with the participation of world renowned scientists. Media interest in the project was remarkably high with TV crews from a number of primary agencies peppering the platforms with cables, cameras and audio equipment, taking both live streaming and recorded interviews, while a local radio broadcast live from the train platform in Alexandroupoli.