de Céline » Mer Mai 23, 2007 8:48 pm
An Environment in Limited Supply
Dear Members of Public Authorities,
As representatives of the Public Sector, you are able to play a significant role in providing guidance on decisions related to the environment. Your responsibility is to ensure that all citizens enjoy a clean and healthy atmosphere. The department you are in charge of ultimately controls many of the regulations relative to the environment. With your support, we can pursue our action and encourage more citizens to take their part in preserving our world for centuries to come.
Youth United
We are secondary school pupils, aged 14-17 coming from different countries across Europe and beyond. Working together as an international group, while involved in local actions, has made us realise how close we are in our concerns for our planet.
Our project is called YEP (Youth Eco-Parliament) and is divided into different commissions whose mission is to address a number of influential actors in public life (NGOs, Journalists, Educators, Producers etc.).
As members of the YEP 2006 commission addressing the Public Sector, we are expecting to share our observations, data, and concerns with various stakeholders and government officials at the conference being held in Paris, France, in October this year.
Ouch! Pollution Hurts
While summing up the environmental concerns of the 120 schools involved, several common themes have become apparent. Our attitude towards the environment makes a difference to our daily life. Schools sometimes consume resources without having a proper understanding of the consequences. Take an item as common as paper: isn’t there a more environment-friendly way of using it? Why isn’t recycled paper the norm at school? For those who write by hand, it is a problem that recycled paper is more expensive than white non-recycled. Why not have experimental schools working exclusively on computers? Another example: school transport. Shouldn’t more buses be made available or wouldn’t car-pooling be a better solution to limit the use of individual cars all driving in the same direction?
In spite of diversity in terms of location and language, our commission has succeeded in agreeing on a common platform consisting of five proposals.
Rack Your Brains: Reduce Waste!
The majority of pupils through online voting indicated that they were concerned with issues related to packaging. To eliminate and reduce waste, companies should continue getting financial incentives for using recycled packaging materials. Use of environment-friendly packaging would entitle them to benefits.
Clear technical information on products’ Life Cycle Analysis, labelling of environment-friendly products and more informative advertising campaigns would also be a determining criterion to claim government subsidies.
Our interest has also focused on the fast-food industry: how can we reduce the waste generated by this type of business? A tax incentive could be implemented or perhaps a recycling process fee could be imposed and then refunded upon return of the containers.
Linking health and environment
•Health and farming are closely linked, so one idea would be to develop more specifically organic farming to preserve the land’s fertility as well as to guarantee consumers’ health. Some fertilizers pollute water; that means health and education are concerned, advertising campaigns and school programmes should warn of such risks.
Think cross-border…
Being proactive also means being collaborative. Efforts could be coordinated between different countries. A cross-border approach would be a sensible and economical method. Several YEP groups mentioned, for instance, a concern related to zebra mussels that are infecting waterways in Europe. A similar billion-dollar issue exists in the Great Lakes of Canada. So you see, environmental issues are not border-restricted! All the same, action should be coordinated between the different ministries and official bodies whose work is related to the environment. Information needs to be more fluid between the different departments (Education, Health, Industry, Agriculture).
… and collective
Finally, there is a need to set up more ‘best practices forums’ discussing issues such as toxic waste disposal or new energy sources. Concerning the latter question, we would like to emphasise that some energy sources such as fossil energy are not unlimited and may come to an end, it is therefore urgent that we all think of alternatives. Our world is rich in thermal springs; why not exploit them now as a possible energy source?
Schools, cities, states and countries that demonstrate responsible environmental practices could be used as models for the rest of the world. Their strategies, laws and other devices could be the first step to world environmental improvement.
Educating through positive action
Education is a key ingredient for sustainable change. Environmental education is a process whereby people, young and old, are engaged in changing attitudes and values and acting positively in relation to the environment. We would like to see a structured approach to environmental education across the public sector. Most elementary pupils receive instruction at several grade levels on issues related to the environment, but long-term impact appears to be minimal, by the time these young people reach the higher grades, they will have forgotten their environment-friendly principles.
Knowledge needs to be sustained and result in action. More local and specific actions in secondary schools should take place: pro-recycled paper campaign or fun turn-off-the-light signs in corridors and toilets. Conserving energy, water and the implementation of wet/dry recycling of materials should be standard practice everywhere. But being proactive doesn’t limit itself to the school building.
Whatever the issue: landscape tarnished by industrial pollutants, toxic material not properly discarded, unnecessary traffic jams despite public transport… everybody is concerned, because everybody is an end-user. All feel ‘litter’ is a problem for the community, but most admit to being ‘too lazy’ to do anything about it. This situation can change, the job is on our hands. Commitment means reaching out to the public through local projects and promoting active environmental citizenship.
Such specific local concerns are best handled by the Public Sector that wields greater power than a single individual. It is therefore the responsibility of the public authorities to inspire and support school programmes and public campaigns in order to raise awareness.
On Your Mark, Get Set
We believe there is an opportunity to address these concerns with a fresh innovative approach.
Ministers for education and all other public authorities must act together in a structured approach across the European continent, Turkey and Canada to develop an integrated curriculum that promotes a lifelong commitment to protecting our environment. This might extend to a global approach!
The public sector has to help this action. It is time to work together!
Yours sincerely,
The Public Sector Commission
«Protéger l'environnement coûte cher. Ne rien faire coûtera beaucoup plus cher.»