Global Changemakers is a vibrant community of young activists, volunteers and social entrepreneurs. It aims to empower youth to catalyse positive social change through Learning, Doing and Advocacy. With that in mind, they are organising a summit this summer focused on Africa and Africa-related issues.

Where? Brussels, Belgium

When? June 2012 (exact dates to be announced)

Who? 60 young social entrepreneurs from sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. You could be one of them!

Deadline for applications: 19 February 2012. The application consists of a written form and a short video.

For more details visit: http://www.global-changemakers.net

Back in the day you would not be mistaken to think that being a conscious individual was un-cool, as it was a shunned lifestyle. Nowadays we all know and we all are “Tree Huggers”; however, do we do as we preach… No!!! WE DO NOT. But it is cool to speak the green lingo. So let us get this straight, about two years back being green equalled being brown signifying being a loser, but today being green equals being green meaning money and this means you’re cool. And if you are running into the golden sphere of renewable energy, back in the day they would say you were “crazy”, but today you have struck gold and you are a genius.

Granted all this is part of the general cycle of things or life or whatever, but it is not helping the true form of this school of thought. Too many people are damaging the very idea that needs to revolutionise our current generation. The problem lies not with you and me, but with us, and I mean us the government, the global government. Each country can do something to better regulate false claims and incorrect information given to the general public by the private sector. It is a shame that, for instance, departments such as the department of water or of energy and even forestry are not the forerunners of this initiative. In effect, these departments continue with business as usual without any measures to have less of a carbon footprint. Okay, so everyone and I mean everyone speaks green and some do try, but the very people who need to be speaking green and need to be doing something or to at least try to have less of an impact are doing nothing.

Well, I guess we who are really interested and who have a vested entitlement to the realisation of green rights will have to do what we can, and hope for another COP15, or 16, or 17 to get some action from our legislatures and executives, at least then they painted a facade that they are doing something. We will not forget the judiciary, how inactive has it been in realising green rights, these rights are in many if not in most constitutions around the world, but the people who are meant to safeguard and promote these essential rights are nowhere near being conscious, they actually prefer to take a back seat rather than spearhead the entire revolution.

Just a random thought, “Some guy once spoke about the next world war being over water? He may be onto something, I don’t know, but I am sure not going to let that happen. When so much can be done, for example, banning bottled water or getting pre-paid water meters or even better upgrade water sanitation, or cutting dirty energy and phasing out those energy guzzling utilities.” But hey, this is just me, all the way from South Africa, maybe where you are from you might think differently…

Mark
http://freegler.com
@markbathie

A holistic training experience for all staff in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the living and learning place ‘Ecovillage of Sieben Linden’.

We are excited to offer a EU-wide workshop opportunity for professionals in the field of sustainability where real life examples, hands-on training, action learning and networking with like-minded people are woven into a participatory and holistic course design.

Drawing best practices from methods such as open space, world café, peer learning, learning journeys and co-creation, you will be equipped with the skills and confidence to raise ecological awareness and inspire behavioural changes in your students.

Growing your own capacity to connect and train other individuals will not only contribute to your professional but also your personal development. Including head (theory), hand (practice) and heart (vision, team and group building), we will also provide enough free space for personal and group reflection while covering topics such as

• integral ecology
• sustainable technologies
• ecological footprint
• participatory teaching
• and many more…

Facilitation:
Dipl.-Ing. Martin Stengel, Julia Strehler, Beate Walsdorf and others

Venue: Ecovillage Sieben Linden

Date: 10-17 June 2012

Cost: Course fee: €580
Food, house, organisation: €364

For this vocational training, you can get complete funding with a Grundtvig InService grant from the EU, covering all costs (including travel)! Check out http://bit.ly/ic_fund

Register now!

Find all details here: http://bit.ly/insp_chg
Training programme: http://bit.ly/ic_prog
Information on funding: http://bit.ly/ic_fund

Pre-registration open now: http://bit.ly/ic_reg

For more information, programme and application, please visit http://www.resurs.az/?aze/news/read/337

Application to the camp is open to all countries.

Apply now: http://kwiksurveys.com?u=YAC_EarthCharter_Environment

Course Description:

The problems of today’s world are more complex than ever. They are highly interconnected and interdependent. We face climate change, vast exploitation of natural resources, population growth, growing gap between rich and poor, and social inequity, among many others. To be able to respond to these challenges future leaders need a new and innovative interdisciplinary approach.

The short course aims to support the participants to realize their role as leaders for more sustainable future and to help them to learn what the common, global values are. The aim is that after the course the participants are aware of the principles for sustainability and they will comprehend how those can be used as a tool on individual and organizational level. The course drives for positive change in participants’ everyday lives and creates a sense of global responsibility.

The ultimate aim is to further develop the capabilities necessary to conduct Earth Charter inspired action projects in the participants’ own communities and link the participants with the wider youth community working for more sustainable future.

The course is delivered using a number of online technologies that are available for use by the general public and for free.

How to apply

Register your interest in participating in this online course by reading the YAC student guide attached and completing the online application form at http://kwiksurveys.com?u=YAC_EarthCharter_Environment by the 2nd of October 2011. Successful participants will be notified by the first week of October of 2011. Apply fast as only the first 100 applications will be considered.

Brought to you by Youth Action for Change and Earth Charter International secretariat.

We are determined the journey leading to Telecom World ‘11, and the event itself, will lead to real and significant change. To achieve this aim, there are some important and exciting changes. These competitions are part of this change. They are designed to catalyze ideas, seed partnerships, and develop working prototypes to address real world challenges.

If you are a young developer or a digital innovators who wants to make a difference, these competitions are for you.

You are invited to upload seed ideas onto our open gallery and help us decide which are the best by commenting and voting on uploaded ideas.

The very best talent will join us at the event in October in Geneva to develop the seed ideas, pitch them to our high level delegate audience, with all the networking and promotional opportunities this offers.

The very best win seed funding and mentoring to help them turn developed pitches into working prototypes.

Hurry, the deadline to submit ideas is TONIGHT!

Submit an idea, pose a question or upload a video — here.

If you are interested in supporting disadvantaged young people, pledge your financial support. For a support of €25, you are able to fully provide for all training related costs of one participant. For a support of €375, you are able to shoulder all costs in order to implement one batch of training for the youth.

For more information, visit http://www.1procentclub.nl/projects/markedchaser

Improving communication skills, creating meaningful conversations and inviting collective intelligence.
In this course, we will explore personal strengths and capabilities. We will practice how to speak up in front of others and in groups, and how to represent our own ideas. We will explore rank issues and different roles, and how to build trust in groups. We will practice modern tools for conflict resolution, decision-making and non-violent communication. We will practice methods that help us to share different views and build community, share knowledge and capabilites, and invite cooperative intelligence.

All costs for this workshop are covered by an EU grant, including workshop fee, food and accommodation as well as travel costs. This is means that participation is free for all residents or nationals of EU member states plus Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Croatia, Switzerland and Turkey.

The venue is the ecovillage Sieben Linden. Participants will be accommodated in ecologically sound buildings in single, double or dormitory rooms. All meals are 100% organic and vegetarian. Participants will be provided with tickets for their journey by our organisation.

For further information and for application for participation please click here: http://bit.ly/qIIuXR

Deadline for application is September 30, 2011.

Please also consider to forward this information to your friends that might be interested.

Sharing one planet with You!
Your GEN-Europe-Team

We’ll never return to previous levels of growth, argues Richard Heinberg in his new book, “The End of Growth”. Transition Voice has a good write-up of the book:

For a while, popular peak oil observers … have linked energy to the economy, citing peak oil as the precursor to a major economic crisis.

Now, Heinberg joins their ranks with a full-length book specifically predicting the end of economic growth as a result of the convergence of peak energy, unsustainable debt and climate chaos. But it mostly centers its case around economic factors, fingering fractional reserve banking, escalating sovereign and consumer debt, currency jiu jitsu, Wall Street shenanigans and government fecklessness as complicit contributors to a runaway crisis about to implode.

Also, check out a recent interview with the author over at the Energy Bulletin.