Warming up for Copenhagen

Part of SuFu-Team met in Copenhage for some days (19th to 23rd Feb), to make last preparations for the first chapter in the Sustainable SCANdinavia series... It was Dragana and Katrin as main coordinators of the event, and Percin and Miguel (writing this) for collaboration. And the people from AEGEE-Copenhagen too, of course. Some other members were busy organizing the THINK TANK in Brussels, or participating at the Y-Vote event in München.

We fell in love with the city when we walked around visiting different locations that participants will enjoy; we discussed the programme and made some rearrangements; we had a look at some of the applications and got enthusiastic about the high level of them. We also made last agreements for the venue where the conferences will take place, and found a possible place for the opening; lastly we talked with people at the hostel. We (of course!) also took the pulse of Copenhagen nights, finding one or two places that we are sure our happy participants will love!

On personal level, it was my second time in the city and it snowed everyday, as the first time did. No matter what members of AEGEE-København tell about not snowing often in their city, if you are coming I advise you take warm clothes and good shoes! :)


PS: Pictures of people working are usually boring, so this time we show you some more interesting ones :)

Create and In(ter)notvate in Brussels!

For SuFu the EBM went very well! SuFu panda was well received, and we managed to get quite some turnout for the workshop of SuFu and Maastricht Graduate school of Governance. You can read more here later.

Moreover, applications for the think tank in Brussels are going well, but there are still some places left. So there is still the possibility to apply..

Join the AEGEE think tank!

Creative. International. Interdisciplinary. Interactive. Innovation!

The ISSUE is real. Our partners are looking for a SOLUTION. The actual question remains SECRET till the day. The PRIZE is 1000 Euro.

Have you always wanted to see if your brain is worth money?
We organise the 1st pan-European Youth Think Tank on mobility and energy, from 19 to 21 March in Brussels.

Outline of the Think Tank:
Participants will be given a real issue put forward by our business and institution partners, relating to sustainability, mobility and energy. In groups of five they will develop a fresh and innovative solution, using their creative problem solving skills.

The moment this issue is on the table, there are 6 hours to find a solution. All the necessary equipments will be available: Internet, your own network, assistance from AEGEE-Europe and our partner companies. General knowledge is important, yet something more is needed:

CREATIVITY.

If you think you can push your ideas and create innovative solutions to the challenges offered during the day and if you believe your ideas might be worth 1000 Euro, then you are invited to this event.

This is your chance to show that your ideas are worth gold!

Participation is open to all students and young professionals.

Will you be the team that takes back home 1000 Euro? Will your ideas be implemented by top companies in Europe?

Find more information at: http://www.projects.aegee.org/sustaining/index.php?id=thinktank
You can apply via: http://www.karl.aegee.org/calendar.nsf/ID/CHL0903CRE!?Open
DEADLINE is Tuesday 24th February

CU in Brussels!

SuFu Panda getting ready for EBM

As all AEGEE members know, next weekend will be our European Boards Meeting in Torino. And yes, SuFu Panda will be also there :)
So, those of you going there, you will be lucky first ones to see our mascotte Panda in public.
Of course, in EBM you will also have the chance to get to know more about our upcoming activities, of which to think tank and Scandinavia visit we have already open applications (go check: http://www.aegee.org/events).
You can meet SuFu team in Roundtable Discussions, in AEGEE cafe and also in workshop, that we will share with one of our partners. So will get the chance to hear also, why and how people are dealing with sustainability outside AEGEE.
And of course, we will have some surprises ;)

Hope to meet and talk to many of you in Torino next week!

The (biggest) environmental problem in Europe?

This was the question asked to AEGEE members in autumn 2008, during a survey about the ecological awareness of young Europeans. Now the time has come to start analysing the responses. And here I would like to list the problems that AEGEE'ans consider the most important ones in Europe nowadays.
Out of 145 respondents, there were over 40 different problems mentioned. That shows that indeed we have a lot of things to take care of. Compiling them into topics, here you can see the Top 10:

1) air pollution and greenhouse gases
2) unsustainable production and use of energy, fossil fuels
3) water problems (pollution, shortage of drinking water)
4) unsustainable transport, too many cars
5) waste problems and lack of recycling
6) over consumption and production, using too much resources
7) global warming and climate change
8) pollution generally
9) deforestration, unsustainable use of forests
10) lack of political will and international cooperation to make changes

Other problems mentioned were: nuclear pollution, people's awareness and attitude, problems connected to industries, agricultural production, consuming too much meat and fish, increasing poverty, pollution from cities, etc.

There was no big domination of one opinion (the no 1 problem was mentioned by around 12% of respondents), but it can be seen that many of the listed problems are more or less connected to climate change. This reminds me the poll made by EU in September 2008 showing also that Europeans worry a lot about climate change, BUT most of them are not willing to do much about it. What about us, the youth, AEGEE?

About the survey: The whole survey consisted of questions generally about sustainable development and about consumption patterns. It will be basis for a Master thesis and the overall final results will be published in summer 2009.

SuFu Newsletter Issue No 1!

Hello network!

Issue no 1 of SuFu newsletter is online and ready for you :D We are more than happy to share you the news and updates of AEGEE's Flagship Project, and we really have a lot to share :D Just click on the link below to download


http://www.karl.aegee.org/aeg-publ.NSF/b7ea9fd753811f3ac12564640017556f/90241bfb7c7ea4dcc1257543003b0d95/$FILE/SuFu%20Newsletter%20January09.pdf

Beautiful Messolonghi....such a nice place for a fruitful team meeting.... :D

Read it to learn about Messolonghi team meeting, about Think Tank, Sustainable SCANdinavia, Danube-Let it flow!, EDE, SuFu Panda, everything you have heard somewhere, you have read on a facebook status message, somebody told you on an AEGEE night and you want to know more about!

BIG.NEW.GREEN.YOU Greetings from SuFu Zoo!

SUFU on Facebook

Dear SUFU fans,

Recently Facebook group "Sustaining our Future 2009" was created. In 24 hours we managed to have 224 members, and this number is increasing constantly. If you are not there yet, please do not hesitate any more, support our project and JOIN NOW :)

Sustainably yours,
Dragana

Granted YiA for SCANdinavia project

Just after SUFU meeting in Messolonghi, I received e-mail from Danish National Agency that our application for Scandinavia project is approved!

That means that 35 AEGEE members from all over the network will be hosted by AEGEE Copenhagen from 30th March to 5th April 2009. They will have chance to discover, learn, discuss and practice through many various activities on the hottest topic nowadays - Sustainable development . They will meet Scandinavian top experts dealing with sustainable development, renewable energy and sustainable lifestyles, and visit the most successful enviroment responsible companies in Denmark, from recycling centre to organic farms, wind energy parks, etc...

But we will not reveal everything now, just keep in mind that this will be the event with totally innovative concept to AEGEE. And not to mentioned that it will be the most ambitious Scandinavian project in history of AEGEE.

So, be prepared, after a long time AEGEE Copenhagen is back on the track together with SUFU .

Stay tooned, more information about event and application procedure will follow soon.

BIG.NEW.GREEN.YOU greetings :)