Written by Romina Ranke, member of BUNDjugend (Young Friends of the Earth Germany) and participant in the Klimaktion Kongress.
Take 70 young people from all over Germany (and even some from the UK), an old little manor in the countryside, tasty vegan organic food and the best summer weather. And what you get is: The perfect ingredients for a great KlimAktion (Climate Action) Congress.
At the same time as the UN climate talks intersessionals in Bonn, we met at the Rittergut Evensen near Hanover for four days (6th-9th of June) to learn more about climate change and climate politics, link the various youth groups working on climate change and related issues, and gain momentum for a strong youth climate movement for the climate conference in Paris 2015 and beyond. In several workshops and interactive lectures we broadened our knowledge in areas like climate impacts, emission trading, loss and damage, renewable energy, climate justice framing, campaigning, environmental psychology and education methods.
But, as always, this official workshop program was only one part of the story. I gladly remember several inspiring and sometimes even night-filling discussions, which made this congress such a great experience. Suddenly, concepts of, say, de-growth were on the table – or rather on the grass – and then we talked another two hours before we’d finally find our way into our sleeping bags in the hay hotel. (Yes, we slept in a hay hotel, how cool is that?!)
Speaking of the hay hotel… Besides the intellectual input and the campaign and action planning, the congress and this very ‘close to nature’ way of living was also a very welcome and re-energizing break from the official climate talks in Bonn. Once again – and this time in direct comparison – I realized that the climate talks are indeed an important arena to arrive at some very important international agreements. But the essential impulses for the social change we need so urgently will derive from these various groups in civil society who are leading the way to more sustainable consumption patterns and a new definition of “the good life”.
The congress was part of the KlimAktion project and organized by Janun e.V. / Bundjugend.
To find out more, see: http://klimaktion-kongress.de/