Dear AEGEEans,

we wish you a very happy 2013 and hope that you have had a positive start into the new year.

To kick-start a new year of AEGEE-activities, we have some news for you! Find in the first newsletter 2013 the confirmation of our legend, the fact that AEGEE played a crucial role in the establishment of the ERASMUS programme, by Domenico Lenarduzzi, former head of the DG Eduation and Culture of the European Union.

You can also check out the winners of our InterRail competition, catch a review of AEGEE in 2012 and find many external opportunities.

Have a good reading!

Yours,
Comité Directeur

The origin of the ERASMUS programme: Interview with Domenicco Lenarduzzi

After the passing away of AEGEE’s founder Franck Biancheri in October, we have started researching on his history and the history of our organisation, and particularly the legend around Frank Biancheri convincing François Mitterand, president of France at the time, to support the ERASMUS programme in 1984. At that time, it was vital to convince the members states that ERASMUS was an initiative which students would take ownership of. AEGEE was the student stakeholder who convinced the president of France to invest in this programme.

After France changed its position, also other countries like Germany and the UK gave their support. Find here an interview with Domenicco Lenarduzzi, former Head of the DG Education and Culture of the European Commission, under whose leadership the ERASMUS programme was drafted. In the interview, he confirmes that Franck Biancheri and AEGEE were crucial for setting the ERASMUS programme on its way. This proves that successful cooperation between policy makers and youth organisations can have a powerful positive impact.

Competition Winners: How would you promote sustainable travelling!

In November, InterRail offered two locals the unique opportunity to win 1250€ sponsoring their project or event for their creative video or poster on how to promote sustainable travelling. After careful evaluation of many creative entries, the jury consisting of Willemijn from InterRail, Iris from the Environmental Working Group, and the Comité Directeur, has chosen the two lucky winners! Congratulations and thank you once again to InterRail for offering this opportunity!

1. AEGEE-Helsinki: “Sustainability is to Travel Green”

2. AEGEE-Mannheim: “We would do anything for Green Travelling”

Read More: /competition-winners-how-would-you-promote-sustainable-travelling/

AEGEE in 2012 video

Retrospective video which shows important moments and events of AEGEE-Europe / European Students’ Forum in 2012.

Sustainability on track?

During december, Mathieu Soete, Policy Officer on Sustainability, has been travelling all over Europe through the Europe on Track project. Just back from the tour, he shares with us what people around the continent think on the topics of sustainability.

You can read it here: /sustainability-on-the-track/

Policy Officers need your input!

This month, the Policy Officers of AEGEE-Europe are launching their questionnaires in order to receive your input on the topic chosen.

You can still contribute and give your valuable input on the topic of human rights: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J5XMBRP and on the topic of homophobia: http://goo.gl/R8ek8

Beyond AEGEE

Vote for the changes that would make the most  difference to your world

The United Nations and partners want to hear from YOU! MY World is a global survey asking you to choose your priorities for a better world. Results will be shared with world leaders in setting the next global development agenda.Tell us about the world you want, because your voice matters.

Read more: http://www.myworld2015.org/

European Youth Forum’s Youth Policy Watch

In this first issue of the Youth Policy Watch of 2013, read why 2013 is a crucial year for the youth guarantee and investment in young people. Also in this issue read about the European year of citizens, the Irish Presidency and much more!

Read more: http://intranet.youthforum.org/newsletters/node/45599/ypw

The European Parliament: Why should I care?

Young citizens from EU member states and Croatia are invited to express in an innovative and convincing manner why the European Parliament is important to them, and why there is a need to vote in the next EP elections. They can write, sing, paint, dance, film or use any other creative ways to present their opinions to us by 28 March 2013.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/ep.competition

External Opportunities

Service Civique in Paris

ANIMAFAC, a french network of student organisations, is looking for a young person to carry out a 6-month-mission in their organisation, who has a sufficiant understanding of french (both orally and written), and is free to start working on February 15th 2012.

There is no requierements in terms of education or competencies. We encourage any of our members who is looking for an exciting experience in a youth organisation and who is interested in developing his or her experience in the field of active citizenship and youth issues with a European focus.

As volunteer, you will receive 571,79 EUR a month to cover your costs. The mission is taking place in Paris, France, with possible travels in Europe.

In case you are interested, please send your motivation letter and CV to headoffice@aegee.org as soon as possible and we will forward your application to them.

Model European Union Strasbourg

Every year, MEU brings together a significant number of highly-skilled and motivated young Europeans and gives them the superb opportunity to have a first-hand experience of the functioning of European institutions right on the premises of the European Parliament. The project is thus completely original in the world of simulations and is already extremely popular among young Europeans from diverse backgrounds and studies spanning from Law, International Relations, Political Sciences and European Affairs to History, Media Studies, and Interpreting.

Deadline: 31th January 2013

Read more: http://meu-strasbourg.org/index.php/how-to-participate/application-guide

St Gallen Symposium

Every year, the competition for the St. Gallen Wings of Excellence Award offers graduate and postgraduate university students throughout the world the unique opportunity to qualify for an expenses-covered participation as ”Leaders of Tomorrow” in the St. Gallen Symposium.

Competitors are invited to submit their thoughts and visions on the theme of the St. Gallen Symposium. All contributions will be evaluated according to specific criteria by an independent jury, composed of professors, corporate executives, entrepreneurs and politicians.

The authors of the 100 best contributions qualify for a participation in the St. Gallen Symposium. The following highlights await the qualifiers:

• Meet 600 top decision makers and 200 of the world’s brightest young minds
• Expenses for travel, board and lodging covered, travel service provided
• The three winners will present their work in front of the assembled plenum
• The three winners share EUR 20,000 prize money

Read more:http://www.stgallen-symposium.org/

Cash Prizes for Short Films on European Citizenship

The European Economic and Social Committee invites creative young people from 18 to 30 years old to join this video competition and show what means to be European and how it feels about being a citizen of the European Union. This annual challenge encourages video creativity and the use of social networking, within youth across the 28 member states in Europe (including Croatia who will be joining the EU in 2013).Participants have to create a short video clip, between 30 seconds to 1 minute, on the theme “”European citizens”.” The video can use any EU language but should have English subtitles.

Deadline: 20th January 2013

Read more:http://www.eesc.europa.eu/

European Charlemagne Youth Prize

The European Parliament and the Foundation of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen invite young people from all the EU Member States to participate in a competition on EU  development, integration and European identity issues.  The ‘European Charlemagne Youth Prize’ is awarded to projects, which:

• promote the European and international understanding,
• foster the development of a shared sense of European identity and integration,
• serve as a role model for young people living in Europe and offer practical examples of Europeans living together as one community.

Applicants should be 16-30 years old.
The prize for the best project is €5000, the second, €3000 and the third, €2000.

Deadline: 28 January 2013
Read more: http://www.charlemagneyouthprize.eu/view/en/rules.html

First, there is good news when it comes to the general awareness of sustainability. Most young people have some notions of sustainability and its main challenges, quoting our societies’ oil dependency, increasing use of resources, and enormous production of waste, as their principal points of concern. Too often, however, it stops here, as they do not know what to do about these problems, beyond using public transportation, sorting their trash, and paying attention to the amounts of energy and water they use. The main barrier to taking further action seems to be a lack of readily accessible, easily understandable, but—with an eye to the growing awareness on the practice of greenwashing—also reliable information on how to live more sustainably. Other obstacles mentioned, include the extra time it takes to pursue more sustainable ways of living and, obviously, the extra cost it still involves—both resources which most students lack.

“It doesn’t make sense that I would have to pay more for sustainable products and services if I don’t see that it changes anything. — Lise (25)

Young people have solutions as well though. One of the most-cited concerns of students is that mainstream formal education pays barely any attention to the topics of sustainability, giving them no tools for a more sustainable lifestyle. This is where non-formal education comes in, teaching young people almost everything they know about sustainability, but across Europe people have been pleading for an increased inclusion of Education for sustainability in curricula from primary school to tertiary education. In Zagreb, for example, we spoke with people at the Croatian Youth Council who took matters into their own hands, and were cooperating with the Ministry of Education to provide this kind of civic education to schools around the country. A second suggestion is for greater support for—but also control of—companies which show and promote sustainable behaviour. Young people clearly recognise the important role the market has to play in the realisation of more sustainable lifestyles, and want companies that make efforts towards this to receive better support in the form of subsidies, so the price for more sustainable products can be lowered in comparison with standard products and services. Being young is not an excuse for stupidity, however, and they are aware of the use of greenwashing—meaning the deceptive use of green marketing to promote the perception that a company’s aims are environmentally friendly. For this, people want also better control of such companies, and a periodic reporting by them on the real efforts they undertake and their impact on the environment and society.

“Educate, educate, educate. We need to change people’s minds from the start. You can make grown-ups recycle, but they will still buy too much stuff in plastic bags. — Daniel (21)

Finally, in connection with our focus on entrepreneurship, we have seen an interest of young people in the development of small start-ups which could trigger a turnaround in society, as they believe existing, well-established companies are too slow to start this necessary shift to sustainability. As such, sustainable or social entrepreneurship—meaning opening a business with the goal to change society for the better—is actually viewed more positively than ‘regular’ entrepreneurship, as it is also giving back to society. But here again, it is argued that the topic needs to receive more attention at school and university, and young entrepreneurs will require more and better support, both financially and by setting up advice structures. And now? Collecting real-life information has only been the first step of course. Already, I have written some first posts on the discussions we had with young people in Berlin and Prague, and more will follow. As Policy Officer, I will soon publish an online survey to collect opinions on the topics of Education for sustainability and Sustainable entrepreneurship—but already now you can answer the questions on sustainability we have asked people during Europe on Track. All of this will then be collected in a position paper and presented to various stakeholders for further action. Want to know more on the process, share your ideas, or get involved?

Then contact me at mathieu.soete@aegee.org.

Mathieu Soete,
Policy Officer on Sustainability of AEGEE-Europe

1. AEGEE-Helsinki: “Sustainability is to Travel Green”

AEGEE-Helsinki says:

We would like to travel green whenever it is possible. Consequently, we find the competition really interesting, for it enables us to promote train travelling. This aspect, especially InterRail and using the vast track networks in Europe, is not so familiar to Finns than to other Europeans. This project would promote green travelling not just among our members but also among their friends and families. We believe that showing example to our other friends not just in AEGEE but in other parts of life would encourage them to use the train more in the future.

We are planning to organize our next Travelling Summer University in three different countries: Finland, Denmark and Sweden. Then, of course, how to travel between these three countries comes into question. We have to figure out how to travel between Denmark and Sweden, and then from Sweden to Finland. We could use the prize money for train travel from Copenhagen, Denmark to Stockholm, Sweden since there is an excellent railway connection between these cities. This way we could also emphasize the importance of choosing the green way of traveling whenever it is possible. From Stockholm to Helsinki we will travel by ferry because it is better option than flying when considering the carbon footprint.

2. AEGEE-Mannheim: “We would do anything for Green Travelling”

AEGEE-Mannheim says:

Our concept is designed to motivate participants to find the ‘greenest way’ to the Spring AGORA Rhein-Neckar. It will reward the ‘greenest travellers’ in a competition.We want to share the idea within the AEGEE network (mailing lists, Facebook, Twitter) before the EBM and AGORA and we plan to distribute the postcards during the EMB. We want to catch the network’s attention, make them aware of this very important topic.

This is the point where we want the participants to get involved themselves and suggest their own ideas on how to reach the Spring AGORA Rhein-Neckar in the ‘greenest way’. The two best ideas will be rewarded during the AGORA with 100€ each. Only those who put their ideas into reality will actually win the price money. Proofs can be videos or  photos.Furthermore we plan to invest the major part of the price money in the thematic structuring of a Green Spring AGORA in Mannheim, by using environmental friendly paper for all printings, reducing plastic waste to the minimum by making use of recyclable cups and eco-friendly packing for food.

The topic of our discussion in the technical University of Bilbao was Entrepreneurship and
the high unemployment rate in Spain. The participants acknowledged the difficult situation
and expressed their fear that the crisis will reach Bilbao as well. They are aware that the situation
is better than in most parts of Spain, yet they think it is vital to act now in order to ensure that
the tendency will not worsen on the long run. “By working on a better representational system
in the national governments – via national youth councils for instance – young people can ensure
their ideas are going to be taken into account. After all, innovations and development cannot
hapen without proper support. This is why young entrepreneurs should be ut first and foremost
in the line of help.” – says one of the participants during the discussion in Madrid.

After watching TED screening about Entrepreneurship, we discussed the topic some further
and more and more controversial thoughts were brought into light. “Although an entrepreneurial
attitude and the willingness to innovate are useful skills to obtain, they do not mean that these
can be the ultimate solution. Not everybody is a born to be an entrepreneur, somebody has to
collect the garbage as well“ – a valuable food for thought.

On the other hand, everybody agreed that ‘entrepreneurial thinking’ is something that should be
dealt with more care in education as well – teaching the basic methods of starting an own business,
the pros and cons of being your own employer and most of all; how to think outside the box.

Dear AEGEEans,

we would like to welcome you to the last newsletter for this year and invite you to have a look at the latest happenings inside our Network and in the youth world in Europe and to present you events and new initiatives in which you can still take part.

Have a good reading!

Happy Holidays and a good start into 2013!

Yours,

Comité Directeur

Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year 2013!

The Europe on Track project is ending on the 19th-20th December

It has been a challenging and intense experience for Reka and the two Europe on Track teams, but Europe on Track is slowly coming to an end. After meeting the Spanish Youth Council in Madrid and the evaluation of the current situation in Spain, Team Red will spend the last days in Barcelona before leaving home. As for Team Blue, the final stop will be in Istanbul with discussions on visa regulations and EU-Turkish relations with external speakers.

Stay tuned for the results of the project!

Read more: /europeontrack/

http://www.facebook.com/EuropeOnTrack

Promote sustainable traveling: win € 1250 for your local!

We would like to invite you to take part in a competition promoting sustainability and environmental awareness in which two lucky locals will win an award of 1250€, offered by our partner – InterRail!

The money is free for your use!

The topic of the competition is: “Promoting Green Travelling – Sustainable Europe by 2020”.

Think about it:

• Do you care about a sustainable future – and do you want others to get involved?
• How would YOU promote sustainable travelling?

Submit your video, poster or picture!

All ideas will be published on the Europe on Track page.

Deadline: 27th December 2012
Read More: /promote-sustainable-travelling-win-e1250-for-your-local/

Open Call for IT Assistant of Comité Directeur

The Comité Directeur is
issuing an Open Call for IT Assistant who will deal with the development of the Online Membership System (OMS). The period of
time that the Assistant will work depends on the availability of the Assistant. Ideally, the assistant will come to live in Brussels for
three months.

The selected IT Assistant will be working on developing the Online Membership System (OMS) of AEGEE. The OMS uses a custom PHP framework developed by AEGEE, and for the the data storage, it uses LDAP & MySQL. The aim is to launch the OMS during the mandate of the assistant. More information about the system can
be found here: http://oms.aegee.org/wiki/index.php/OMS

Deadline: 10th January 2013

Read more: /open-call-for-it-assistant-of-comite-directeur/

EBM Valletta

The EBM application phase has been closed, and now the selection phase is ongoing. Soon the participants’
list will be announced. In the meanwhile do not forget to check regularly the EBM website (www.ebmvalletta.eu) where more and more updates will be coming soon. And get ready for this conference about “the future of Europe” and the activities of AEGEE in 2013-14!

The participation of AEGEE in the meeting of the European Year of Citizens Alliance

On 17th of December, AEGEE-Europe was represented during the European Years of Citizens Alliance, which gathers for now 51 European networks which will be working together in the framework of the European Year of Citizens 2013, proposed by the European Commission.

Beyond AEGEE

Vote16 TOOL BOX – getting active is so easy!

It is official! The Written Declaration 0027/2012 on ‘Lowering the Voting Age to 16′ has been launched at the European Parliament.

Please visit the official campaign website and look trough the TOOL BOX.

http://www.voteat16.eu/

Good news for the Erasmus programme!

The European Council representing Member States and the European Parliament have made an agreement on the budget saving the Erasmus programme for 2013!
Thanks to the agreement, the Commission will be able to provide around 280 000 Erasmus student grants in the 2013-2014 academic year.

Read more: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/vassiliou/headlines/press-releases/2012/12/20121212-the-eu-averts-funding-crisis-for-erasmus_en.htm

Youth Guarantee

One week ago, on Wednesday Dec 5th, the EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Mr László Andor, presented a new package of measures against unemployment. The job market is severely affected by the crisis, and the situation gets worse every month.

Read more: /welcoming-the-european-youth-guarantee/

What Does the Future Hold for the EU Education and Youth Programmes?

Watch this video interview with Doris Pack, Member of the European Parliamant and Chair of the EU Committee on Culture and Education about the
future of the Euroepan Union (EU) education and youth programmes.

European Youth Forum’s Youth Policy Watch

In this issue of Youth Policy Watch of 2012, read about the European Commission’s communication on the youth employment package and the Culture and Education (CULT) Committee vote on the next generation of European Union exchange programmes.

Read more: http://intranet.youthforum.org/newsletters/node/43785/ypw

External Opportunities

Cash Prizes for Short Films on European Citizenship

European Charlemagne Youth Prize

The prize for the best project is €5000, the second, €3000 and the third, €2000.

Deadline: 28 January 2013

Read more: http://www.charlemagneyouthprize.eu/view/en/rules.html

The traineeship aims to give an understanding of the Agency and its role within the activities of the European Union, enables them to acquire practical knowledge in one of the ERA ’s fields of activity and to obtain professional experience in the course of their work.

The programme is mainly addressed to young university graduates, without excluding those who – in the framework of lifelong learning – have recently obtained a university diploma and are at the beginning of a new professional career.

Deadline: 31 December 2012

Read more: http://www.era.europa.eu/The-Agency/Jobs/Pages/Traineeship.aspx

The Entrepreneurship Winter School

The Entrepreneurship Winter School (EWS) is being launched to provide young  Europeans the opportunity to learn about core business values. It moved away from the traditional classroom style of learning to a more practical hands on approach aimed at providing an intense course.

We provide participants’ with the opportunity to visit the European Parliament and engage in debates with MEP’s.

25% discount available for AEGEE members!

More information: http://www.entrepreneurshipwinterschool.com/

Generation Europe Foundation
(GEF) is looking for young volunteers

GEF is a Brussels-based NGO aiming to educate and empower young people to be better informed of their rights and responsibilities as
European citizens in a fast-changing world. In return for their involvement, the Ambassadors have the opportunity to participate in GEF events(in
Brussels or elsewhere) and meet with policy-makers and stakeholders, network with other Ambassadors and enjoy better visibility through our website.

If you have a strong interest in youth-related issues, are a good communicator and come from/live in the following countries, please send your application (CV and a short introductory letter explaining your motivation) to info@generation-europe.eu.

The selected IT Assistant will be working under the supervision of the European Institutions and Communications Director, Pavel Zbornik and, the OMS Development Manager, Manos Valasis in developing the Online Membership System (OMS) of AEGEE. The OMS uses a custom PHP framework developed by AEGEE, and for the the data storage, it uses LDAP & MySQL. The aim is to launch the OMS during the mandate of the assistant. More information about the system can be found here: http://oms.aegee.org/wiki/index.php/OMS

Selected Assistant will have possibility of living in Belgium or work from home. AEGEE-Europe can provide the Assistant with a subsistence of his/her expenses up to 200 Euros per month, working on real IT systems and one of the most challenging IT projects of AEGEE and references.In case of working from Head Office AEGEE-Europe can provide the Assistant partly covered costs of moving in/out, accommodation, unforgettable experiences, possibility of living in Belgium for three months and a warm welcome and atmosphere in our team.

Please, write a motivation letter which will include the following information:

• Name and surname,
• Which programming languages are you fluent in,
• Which databases have you worked with,
• Describe your experience with object oriented PHP.

Send your applications to headoffice@aegee.org, in case of any question you can contact Pavel Zbornik (pavel.zbornik@aegee.org).

Deadline for applications is 10th of January 2013, 23:59 CET!

But what is exactly the European Youth Guarantee? It is the compromise to offer to young Europeans under 25 a traineeship or an opportunity to continue in education, within four months after they get unemployed. This tackles specifically the problem of social exclusion that long term unemployment can bring to people. The aim is to reverse the current trend of rising numbers of NEETs (stands for Not in Education, Employment or Training). The low rates of unemployment in the countries that already have set up this scheme are promising.

However, we in AEGEE see that this scheme raises some concerns that have to be taken into account, as it came up during the online discussion that Commissioner Mr. Andor held with young citizens on Friday. For instance: how can the European Commission enforce such a measure when they have no decision power on education policies? One of the possibilities is through the budget control systems put in place recently, especially for countries which have received economical support from EU.

Talking about money, the big question will be where to get all that money from (estimated costs around 4.000 – 6.000 euros per person, depending on the country). Ideally the Member States would be funding the scheme, but the European Commission pointed at the European Social Fund as an opportunity to get support. This Fund contains 76.000 million Euros for the period 2007-13. As the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework is still not agreed upon, the final number for the next seven years is still on air, and we can just hope it is not reduced.

Another concern for AEGEE is the risk that these employments and internships will end up being a source of cheap labour force for companies, affecting salaries and having a backfire effect. The implementation of the Youth Guarantee will require a brave collaboration from companies, and it should be monitored to prevent the misuse of the scheme and the proliferation of unstable or low-waged jobs, unpaid traineeships, and other forms ways to undervalue the work of young people.

What we want the EU Member States to take into account: the cost of implementing the Youth Guarantee (estimated by the ILO – International Labour Organization – in 0.2% of European combined GDP) will be small compared with the costs of not tackling the problem once and for all. A recent study by the European Policy Centre estimated that achieving the EU’s 75% employment rate target by 2020 would generate up to €1.2 trillion in extra revenues for EU Member States (7% of GDP). We hope this are strong enough numbers to convince the European Council to adopt the EC Recommendation as soon as possible. Ideally it should be approved in the Council of Feb 28th, 2013 and should start to work in 2014. And it is already late.

There were other measures included in the package presented by the European Commission, like advances in the Quality Assurance for Internships, or the setting up of a European Alliance for Apprenticeships. But none of them can compare with the potential impact of the Youth Guarantee. This is what the youth sector had been demanding: strong, brave decisions. Now AEGEE calls for the Member States to accept the challenge and approve in the Council its implementation.

AEGEE-Europe participated in the Global Youth Forum, represented by its President Luis Alvarado Martínez. AEGEE has dared to go beyond Europe once again, reaching the United Nations level for second time in 2012 after the presence at the Rio+20 Conference. The conference in Bali involved around 1000 youth delegates from all over the world, working on the five following topics: Education, Employment, Health, Family and Sexuality and Participation. The recommendations of the event – which AEGEE-Europe contributed actively to draft– will be adopted by the Secretary General of United Nations, Mr Ban Ki Moon, who will then pass them over to the UN Member States to be adopted and implemented.

To read the recommendations of the Bali Global Youth Forum, click here.

Everybody agreed that unpaid internships and the ones that are paid below any existential minimum
are not acceptable. There should be clear guidelines for internships that provide a balance between
gaining of experience and cheap labour force, without consuming real jobs. Internships aim to bridge
the gap between graduation and employment, providing us with valuable practical skills; one of them
is to reconsider working for free and even overburdening ourselves for a positive reference but no
clear-cut benefits?

AEGEE Lyon hosted Benni, Héloïse and Natalia generously during their event of „Lyon by lights“
a big city festival, with light shows and installations everywhere and over 3 million visitors
- which made everything more complicated but definitely worthwhile.

Additionally Team Red had an interview with two young entrepreneur students from Belgium
and Switzerland. “Entrepreneurs are absolutely essential for Europe as they involve other people
in their projects and create jobs when opening their own business.” Nonetheless Alexandra (23)
also mentioned the negative image of entrepreneurs in some countries and the prejudices she faces
as someone who wants her own company: “A lot of people feel like entrepreneurs are rich people
whose only goal is to make more money out of what they already have. They don’t see the amount
of work and the danger that lies behind it.”

On the other hand social entrepreneurship (opening a business with the goal to change society for
the better) is much more respected even though the “creators” are often people who have made
money out of their own business beforehand. Lea (22) thinks that society does not understand why
one opens his/her own business. “School only prepares you for a regular job. Be good in school
and you’ll find work. Therefore they both agree that entrepreneurship should be more encouraged
and promoted. For example through a ”how-to-open-your- own-company-stand” during job fairs
at universities.

First, looking at the answers to the question “How sustainable do you think you live?”, we can see that young people are generally willing to make some efforts. Most of them, however, do not go beyond the regular, basic examples of sustainability, which closely mirror their concerns identified in our previous post. David (24, Management) says, “I try to save energy, I recycle, and use public transportation.”

Then how do these people imagine a society in which their efforts are better supported? What new initiatives do they expect and from whom? One way to go about this, is by focusing on the community aspect of this shared responsibility we have towards our environment and future generations, says Jana (26, Immigration specialist). “In my village we have a waste collection point in the central square, where everybody brings their recyclables.”

Furthermore, sustainability need not always be more expensive, claims Petr (29, working in Sales & Marketing). “The ecological option can also be the economical one by using less, you waste less. For example we have to pay for the collection of non-separated waste. The more you separate, the less you pay.”

Also the business world should not be overlooked, as many young people cite an apparent lack of contributions from this side of society as reason for not seeing the benefit of changing their own behaviour. Ingel (26, Swedish): “The government should give subsidies to companies that are trying to be more sustainable. We need to enlist the free market in this effort, by giving them the right incentives.”

But of course, as Eva (25, Statistics) rightly points out, “the separation of waste works so well, because of constant promotion by the government, and because it is so easy to do.” Repeating this success story for other sustainability issues, such as overconsumption or intensive car use, would be much more difficult—if not impossible—without additional support measures, including a combination of fines and rewards, or even re-organising our cities to enable more sustainable choices. Finally, we need to “educate, educate, educate”, as Daniel (21, Law) puts it. “You can get grown-ups to recycle, but they will still buy too much stuff in plastic bags.” But more on this crucial role for education in a next post.