Think Green, Live Green, Love Green

03rd – 10th of December 2018

Birmingham, United Kingdom

Youth Exchange

 

 

During the youth exchange in Birmingham, titled “Think Green, Live Green, Love Green”, the Cyprus team part of  PlanBe, Plan it Be it!, had the opportunity to explore all kinds of environmental issues, focused on solutions that could help solve the awful effects of pollution of water, land, air and ways in which youth can contribute to reduce the negative consequences of climate change.

 

All of us participated in activities to find new ways to use plastic and try to recycle more while buying as little plastic as we could, something that proves a lot more difficult, given the circumstances in current supermarkets all around the world. We searched to find which countries had more issues with pollution, we talked about what our countries are currently doing about the problems about the environment, the measures that the governments are taking, only to realize that drastic solutions need to be taken as soon as possible for a change to happen.

 

 

Soon, we discovered that our countries share the same understanding about recycling, which was that eventually no matter how much people recycle, results will only be effective if people are not allowed to use plastic at all, or if governments force people to do more about the problems surrounding the environment. It goes without saying that people have the greatest form of power when it comes to collectively fighting for a cause, as it is proved for centuries and centuries now.

 

During an activity, we created an ideal world which would be perfect to benefit from without polluting the environment, without climate change or global warming, figuring out what kinds of things would change in our realities. The truth is, humans have the extraordinary ability to adapt in all hardships and challenges, hence a drastic change to help the environment would be the best if people want to continue living on this planet. A healthy environment is all an individual needs for their beginning in life and it was quite sad to hear from such young people that they no longer have a dream for a family if the situations with climate remain the same, our children’s children will have the worst of it and will inevitably hate this planet, not realizing how our generation got to enjoy the sun, walk through forests, swim in plastic-free ocean and be part in nature as the most important concept of living earth.

The participants of the youth exchange from Estonia, Cyprus, Romania, Spain and Lithuania were all acknowledging how much needs to be done in literally no time left for our world to keep breathing, emphasizing that if we communicate and help each other, our planet could be saved.