Press release

„Yes, we can“ – Climate protection knows no boundaries

Student Climate Summit for the 24th UN Climate Conference in Bad Salzuflen, the location for tourism, trade fairs and congresses

 

In 2017, the educational format for sustainable development Student Climate Summit was offered to students from East Westphalia for the first time for an UN climate change conference. With 450 participants, the premiere on 10 November in the Bielefeld multiplex cinema Cinemaxx was fully booked. In front of a home audience, the successful format with impulse lectures, expert interviews, a live broadcast of the 23rd UN Climate Conference in Bonn, videos, panel discussions and a climate protection arena with action and information stands proved its worth. The program of the fully booked premiere was presented by student presenters aged 15 and 17 years alongside TV presenter Stefan Leiwen.

 

Students from all over Germany contribute to a new quality

 

This year’s 24th UN Climate Change Conference in Katovice will for the first time be attended by students from all over Germany. The participation of 22 „Master Plan 100% Climate Protection“ municipalities is giving a new quality to the Student Climate Summit on the occasion of the 24th UN Climate Conference on 22 November 2018. In the 70s still one of the leading spa towns in Germany, Bad Salzuflen, the current location for tourism, trade fairs and congresses, will become the destination of the future generations from all over Germany. In addition to the salty air of the famous brine springs, more than 100 students from different types of schools from grade 9 onwards from the master plan regions provide stimulating impulses. The young representation ranges from the far north of Germany like the city of Flensburg to the southern part of southern Germany, which is represented by pupils from the Oberallgäu as well as from Potsdam in the east to Osnabrück in the west of Germany. This is only a small part of the 22 Master’s study communities that travel long distances to come to Bad Salzuflen for the international Student Climate Summit for schoolchildren in the age up to 15 years.  The young representatives of their region are supported by another 350 classmates from various cities in Eastern Westphalia, the name of the region around Bad Salzuflen.

 

Also the country wide announcement of the young future congress on a million bottles of the mineral water Carolinen from Bielefeld underlines that Bad Salzuflen will not be the destination for a classical class journey. The Student Climate Summit is about more than that.

 

Climate protection knows no borders

 

Pupils from Zambia and Shanghai, who will be connected via video conference at the Climate Summit, will provide insights into the CO2 footprints and the understanding of mobility in the context of different CO2 footprints.

 

Three scientists will contribute to the conference. Dr. Klaus Grosfeld and Dr. Tobias Bayr, the climate researchers of the German climate research institutes Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven and GEOMAR Helmholt Centre for Ocean research in Kiel as well as by a video conference with Associate Professor Dietmar Dommenget, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at Monash University in Australia deliver proven facts.

 

 

 

Where is climate justice?

 

Clara von Glasow, representative of the UN climate delegation, visited the Fiji Islands in 2017. The law student from Wiesbaden reported at the COP23 on video conference live from Bonn. In Bad Salzuflen, Frau von Glasow is the interview guest of school host Maren. Supported by photos from her visit, she will report on climate refugees and the situation on the Fiji Islands.

 

„Green is hope“ – Students present their contributions to the „Green Picture Awards“

 

Empowerment of the students will enjoy a new dimension in Bad Salzuflen and gives the students‘ congress a new quality. With the announcement of the first „Green Picture Award“ according to the motto „Green is hope“, students from all over Germany are invited to submit their „Green Picture“ as a photo, photo series or video clip of a climate protection solution from their district or city by the 7th of November 2018. In addition to four jury awards, which honour the four student contributions presented at the Student Climate Summit, an additional online award, based on the contribution with the most views on the YouTube channel planet1st will be awarded.

 

„Bottom up instead of top down! – Who prepares the way for the students?

 

„Students in the leading role“ is the philosophy of the educational format for sustainable development. The learning and experience format of the Bad Salzufler marketing agency GetPeople, which has been continuously developed since 2012 with events in cities such as Bremen, Bielefeld and Berlin, will use the city theatre of Bad Salzuflen on 22nd of November as an extracurricular learning location. The Climate Summit is free of charge for all participants from the 9th grade onwards thanks to the comprehensive support provided by engaged companies. In addition to financial resources from institutions such as the German KFW Förderbank or the German Association of Cities and Towns, committed medium-sized companies with know-how and monetary sponsoring enable students of all school types to attend the barrier-free congress. „Diversity is the key,“ says Markus Tenkhoff, Managing Director of the marketing agency GetPeople, „to fully unleash the creative potential of the young generation, whose values have not yet been defined, in the sense of future-oriented development.”

 

 

„Yes, we can“ – The “we” decides

 

Obama’s „Yes we can“ attitude drives the team spirit of the Student Climate Summit. The spirit of the 44th President of the United States has not lost any of its significance but is more important than ever in times of a new climate policy in America. „Yes, we can“ illustrates the possibilities of active influence for participation. It can only be done together. Our democracy offers all possibilities. The student discussion, provided by the 16 years old student moderator Maren and the 18 years old student moderator Florian, present the forum for the discussion round with representatives of science, economy and politics. The student driven roundtable delivers first results for the organization of the message, which is compiled at the end of the Student Climate Summit. Starting from 3rd. of December the message from the Student Climate Summit in the proven Talanoa format will be made available to the politicians in Poland.

 

Behind the scenes – right at the forefront

 

Thanks to Olrik Meyer, head of the environmental department of the district of Lippe and contact person for the master plan community, the pupils‘ Climate Summit, which was only awarded by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in the summer of 2018, will give pupils from all over Germany a voice for the first time. He, who approached his colleagues in all Master Plan regions in Germany with the idea, gave the impetus to send young people to all parts of Germany.

 

Since 2017, Petra Schepsmeyer, networker of the EnergyAgency.NRW, the operative service provider of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia under the direction of the Minister of Economic Affairs, Professor Pinkwart, has made an equally decisive contribution to the further development of the learning format. Thanks to her personal commitment, the student congress could be further developed in the cities of Bielefeld, Paderborn and Lübbecke. She and her colleague Uwe Hofer were able to use their powers of persuasion to bring about the decisive promotion of the Student Climate Summit in Bad Salzuflen.

 

#planet1st – in harmony with „Together first“

 

Donald Trumps` slogan „America first“ motivates us to stand up to the selfish climate protection policy of the American President. Today, no country on earth can solve global problems on its own. In his speech to the United Nations on 28 September 2018 in New York, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas unequivocally opposed nationalist tendencies in our world according to the motto „Together first“. Contributions under the #planet1st the planet1st channels on YouTube and Instagram serve the necessary team spirit across borders.  „We the peoples“.

 

www.planet1st.de