This is a CTP of initiative: INFORSE ‐VE (Denmark)
2012: Young Energy – renewing VE VE is a member based organisation with a number of people being members from the very start of the organisation in 1975. Hence, the members are getting older and older, and fresh blood is needed. GBO: VE is based on the active members, and we could see that there were becoming less and less young active members. Fortunately we had a secretary who saw the possibilities of building something new with young people, especially on high schools. The pupils were interested in creating events and exhibitions at festivals. Furthermore, they were interested in concrete actions concerning their on school: how the building could become more energy efficient, how can you arrange a market with second-hand clothes, which activities are better CO2-wise than others etc.? VE is very aware of this and are targeting young people by creating Young Energy as an associated organisation in 2012, formalizing it in 2013. Young Energy carries out activities for young people, by young people. VE helps with office space, all sorts of practicalities. Young Energy focuses on showing young people sustainable alternatives. They carry out a number of projects, for instance ‘Sustainable Young’, where they educate young volunteers (15 – 35 years) to become ‘change agents’ who will visit high schools and make presentations on how to act more sustainably or solar panel projects where they visit festivals and help people build solar panels to charge their mobile phones. They stress that it is possible to find really cool solution to the climate challenges. The ideas are often presented with a twist: drink draught beer instead of bottled beer to save the transport of the bottles.
There is a lot of collaboration with the educational sector – science teachers in high schools are very pleased having young people demonstrating sustainable technologies for their pupils. The emerging climate movement has a many young people involved – some of those become interested in sustainable energy and active in Young Energy.
COP 15 in Copenhagen 2009 was no success in an international context. The summit did, however, generate a number of activities among young people, making them focus on changing practices towards a more sustainable life-style. The basic philosophy of VE – demonstrating that alternatives exist and are realistic – was appealing to the young people. GBO: In the aftermath of the downturn in 2009 we did have a number of young people from the climate movement who became active in VE.
AV answers: ‘Definitely not’ to the question ‘To what extent did the CTP involve contestation? Young Energy is prioritized in both the headquarters of VE and in all the local environment and energy offices. The young activists are supported with office space and resources. There is consensus about keeping the activities as young to young. Young people know how to engage other young people; they are speaking the same language, so to speak.
The emergence of interested young people was a pleasant surprise – a chance that VE had to seize. The development of the organisation was taken step by step, looking for different opportunities to fund activities.
It is very critical that VE gets renewed – if not, the organisation will die out with its aging members. VE finds it decisive to involve the young members in the vision making processes and keep elderly members out of the young to young actions. VE has not yet been taken over by the young members, but there are a lot of enthusiastic young members that potentially could continue the organisation. GBO: We learned that young people are engaged; we learned that they are interested in becoming a part of VE – if we arrange the process in the right way.
Stay informed. Subscribe for project updates by e-mail.
