#4days4future – actionmeeting 2019

The CO2 emissions created by 5 mail is as important as the CO2 emissions of 1kg non-seasonal tomatoes. You can do a lot more on a parking lot than only park your car. Filter coffee is the cheapest hand peeling.

Written by Nora from youngCaritas Switzerland

We learned all these things at the Actionmeeting 2019 in Lenzkirch (GER). A long weekend organized by YoungCaritas in Europe, an european partnership funded by Erasmus+ and the swiss foundation Movetia.

36 young people from 7 countries arrived on thursday, the 14th of June 2019, in the Black Forest, to discuss for 4 days, topics relating climate and solidarity. The goal of this meeting was not only the exchange and sharing of knowledge but also to live sustainably and  to perform common actions for a green and solidary world. During the meeting we were accompanied by Irene L. Bär, the head of youngcaritas Germany, and Bettina Joa, environmental scientist and moderator.

At the beginning the participants stayed in groups by natonality but the timidity was already overcome after the first get-to-know game. The people gathered in play teams, jogging groups and new friendships were built.

Friday – Plan day

How can I produce less waste? What does circular economy mean? Climate politics – where do the problems reside, and what are the solutions? It was shown in the discussion groups ans presentation, what an incredible knowledge these young men and women already had on this subject.

Actions should follow these spoken words. One group wanted to be friendly activists and do a small demo on the street, another one wanted to create their own natural beatuy products from filter coffee or plan an excursion to a farm.

After dinner it’s stage time! The participants were able to show their more or less great theatrical performances to present us how far they came in their research and what they were going to do for actions on the next day. What we truly memorized between all that laughter is doubtful.

Saturday – Action day

The teams left the house shortly after breakfast. The programm was pretty wide: hike to Titisee, visit of the natural museum on the Feldberg or parking day. Parking day? Yeah, I had never heard of it before either. Parking day is a form of activism, which shows, that parking lots are taking a lot of place which could be used otherwise. The group built a living room in the middle of Neustadt on a (paid) parking lot. Elena ran up to the first pedestrians and motivated them to pass a short quiz on ecology, while  Dario decorated the sustainibility tree with tipps and tricks. Bettina was already unpacking her guitarre to accompany us on this action with music. As the day went by we won more courage and at the end we    started a draw and sind action on the crosswalk. Sara ran to the stopped cars and distributed eco-tipps. In the evening it was once again show time! The groups presented their  projects. Zias group showed us how much electricity our unread emails are consuming. Another group presented us their new animal friends from their farm visit. And Riaan revealed our sutainability tree, completed by the pedestrians with a lot more tipps & tricks on how to live eco-responsably.

Sunday – Time to say goodbye

Last breakfast, last round together. We are sitting in a circle and laying our experiences and adventures in a backpack. It’s Priscas turn, and she speaks from all our souls when she says, that after this meeting she does not feel alone anymore, because she knows, that there are young people in all Europe who are commiting themselves to sustainability.

~ Nora Engler
youngCaritas Switzerland

Here more pictures: