Climate youth 2 youth The children

are exchanging

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ideas about

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w h a t a ’floatings

... doing chools’.  

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 Photo: nikolai
linares

■ »Some of the people who have

been here have been wearing
shoes made of fabrics. Among
others, people from Nepal and
Kiribati have stopped by to pick
up warm clothes,« Mette Post
Riggelsen from the secreta-
riat of The Children’s Climate
Forum tells us. All participants
have been offered warm winter
clothes to withstand the cold Da-
nish winter weather. »We have re-
ceived 150 jackets and 80 pairs of

The future schools will be floating

boots,« she says, and in the corner
behind her rises a big pile of boots
donated by Ecco.

■ Throughout his week the citi-

zens of Copenhagen can offer their
right hand for a better climate. At
the town hall there is an exhibiti-
on featuring a globe that is suppo-
sed to be covered with paper mo-
del of hands from people visiting
the town hall. »The first few days
At Billedskolen in Copenhagen stu-
dents from the Maldives and Den-
mark all came together to exchange
ideas for alternative schools for the
future.
changes, because of our low water levels, so
it is important for us to bring forth some
of our ideas,« says 15 years old Mohamed
Axam Maumoon.
The young ambassadors for the Maldi-
ves are hoping that the ideas of’floating
schools’ can be a part of saving their future
it’s like we already know each other.
Children can have really good ideas and we
know what the schools need,« says Moha-
med while looking back at his new friends.
»Mohamed is the clever one,« says 14-
year-old Mike Zangenberg. Mike
claims that Mohamed is the expert among

lots of people have already atten-
ded the exhibition offering their
hands to the project,« says the
promoter of the exhibition Anne-
Marie Fiig and continues: »The
message of the exhibition is that
if we all lend a hand, the climate
burden will be easier to bare for
the individual.«
■ »We need to make the distance
between harvest and sale more en-
vironmental«. That’s the message
of Frank Mulwa, 16, Malawi,
one of the delegates, who is placed
at one of the stands in the main
hall. He shows the other youth de-
legates how to reduce CO2-emis-
sion, by using renewable energy
for transportation. This is shown
on drawings made by Frank
and some of his friends from the
Children’s Climate Forum.
By Hannah Persson, Søren Ydemark,
Frederik Majlergaard, Pernille Matz,
Naja Bendorff, Katrine Guldhammer and
Mikkel Dohn.
■ Aishath Shifaana, a 14-year-old girl
from the Maldives is looking very sincere
when saying this. Aishath Shifaana is sit-
ting with three other delegates from the
Maldives who have all come in the event of
the Children’s Climate Forum in Copenha-
gen, Denmark. Aishath Shifaanaand
and her fellow delegates are at Billedsko-
len, a school for visual art in Copenhagen
exchanging ideas with Danish students
about ’floating schools’, an initiative made
to bring the children together.
»We are very exposed to future climate
What do you do to reduce the effects of the climate changes?
»
education.
it’s like working
with my best fri-
ends.
mohamedaxam maumoon
Climate scientists have foreseen that the
water level will rise about 59 centimeters
before the year 2100 and thereby flood a
massive part of the 1.200 corals in the In-
dian ocean. The students are working with
materials like old bike wheels and tassel.
The work is going just as fluently as the fu-
ture schools.
»It’s like working with my best friends,
them when speaking about the climate, but
unlike Mohamed Mike thinks it should be
the grown-ups doing the work, because of
the huge importance of the subject.
It isn’t long before the boys are back at
work, cutting, gluing and building. There is
no time wasted and here they are taking
actionimmediately. At the girls’ workshop,
things are a bit slower though.
Things are being thought of for longer
before cutting, and gluing. At the girls’ ta-
ble the situation at the Maldives are not
being taken quite as seriously.
»If it all goes wrong, they can just come
and live here,« suggests a
Danish student.
redaktion@urban.dk
 Photos: Ricardo Pires

youth journalists cover

children’s climate forum

In the week prior to the COP15,

164 teenagers from 44 coun-
tries are participating in their
own climate forum at Copen-
hagen City Hall, hoping to
influence the decisions of the
world leaders. But adults are
prohibited. The Danish newspa-
per Urban has made an alliance
with youth journalists from
Oerestad Gymnasium to join Lorenzo Monteforte, Vanessa Njovu, Graeme McGhee,
the fight in giving the children 17 years old, Italy 17 years old, Zambia 14 years old, UK
a voice in the international
climate debate. »Myself, at home, I take off the charger of »My family and I have stopped using fuel »I turn off the light, and recycle. My coun-
the phone when it’s done charging, switch for cooking and liquid gas. Instead we cre- try passed a law that says we have to redu-
This wallpaper has been made pos- off the lights, and turn off the water while ate flammable things such as trees, plants ce the carbon by 43% in the next 11 years
sible through the partnerships of Ur- brushing my teeth. I think that you have to and other environmentally correct energy and getting rid of 80% of the carbon, by the
ban, the City of Copenhagen, UNiCEF increase the youth’s knowledge by using the sources which is relatively CO2-neutral. year of 2050. We also donated 50 million
Denmark and Oerestad Gymnasium. media. I also think that you have to inform Once there was no place to put all the gar- pounds to the developing countries. I think
in the schools about the climate problems, bage, so it was everywhere in the streets. it’s good that we do something about it, but
Sanne Nyland Christensen, so they know what to do to prevent the big Now we have a specific place where we can it’s not enough.«
snc@urban.dk problem. You have to start by taking little throw our garbage and where the govern-
actions to solve the big problem.« ment gets rid of it and sorts it.«