World Student Community for Sustainable Development

The WSC-SD today launches its e-book ‘RE:SOLUTIONS – 21 Young Leaders on Climate Change’ during the Copenhagen Climate Summit.This publication showcases a selection of 20 innovative student-led projects on climate change.

From a solar-powered open air cinema, to a sustainable business game or reforestation projects, all initiatives show that students worldwide are taking the lead and providing solutions to tackle climate change.

With this publication, we hope to inspire thought-leaders in business, academia and civil society to acknowledge and support student initiatives that have successfully addressed the issue of climate change.

“This eBook is not only about climate change. It’s about solutions, about students taking the lead.”

Students are not only the leaders for tomorrow – they are especially to be taken seriously today. In this eBook we show that students not only care and talk, they actually take the lead in developing innovations and they reach tangible results, thereby inspiring other people in their local community, or even around the world, to do the same.

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Today we are pleased to announce that the AGS-UTSC is hosting a student-based workshop in the AGS-AM 2010 in Tokyo. The AGS-AM is an annual meeting of the AGS member schools that include Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology and University of Tokyo. The AGS-AM 2010 Student Project is a student-based initiative for motivated and foresighted students in sustainability fields of study from the world community. The theme of the Student Project is “Growing Asian Cities: Structuring Sustainability Problems.” Our activities include lectures, group work, presentation and field trip. We are especially focusing on sustainability problems in the Asian context, as Asia is one of the most important regions for the world’s development in the 21st century.

Please find more detail in our website: http://ags-utsc.org/AM2010-Tokyo/english/index.html

If you are interested and willing to participate in the Student Project, please fill the application form attached and send it to agsam2010application@gmail.com by January 22nd, 2010.

If you have any questions, please email to am2010tokyostudentproject@gmail.com.

We are looking forward to your application!

Yoshimasa Takahashi
The Outreach Director of the AGS-AM 2010 Student Project

The University of Tokyo Energy Club g-Enesis is one of working groups of SUS+. Our activities aim to consider sustainable energy use from international and interdisciplinary view. Sustainable energy use has a critical meaning when we think of sustainable society because current energy use based on fossil fuel not only causes climate change problems but also decreases the reserves of energy sources. We have three main activities to contribute to sustainable energy use: (1)Study Seminars, (2)International Exchanges (e.g. MIT Energy Conference) and (3) Policy Proposals (e.g. eco japan cup 2009).
Here we would like to introduce eco japan cup 2009, which is the contest related to environmental policy and business and hosted by Japanese government and companies. In July 2009, we decided to join the policy contest of eco japan cup 2009 and organized a project team which consisted of two Japanese students and four exchange students. Through the discussions in summer vacation for three months, we made three proposals to submit to the contest: (1)Matching project to spread solar panels in regional areas, (2)Weekend day light saving and (3)Green knowledge broker. As a result, first proposal won the excellent prize in the contest. The proposal aimed to increase the number of solar panels in Japan. It was very up-to-date in Japanese society because the government announced the high reduction target (25% by 2020) while Japan faced a serious depression. Increasing solar panels was expected to overcome both problems at the same time (called Green New Deal Policy). After the announcement of the prize, we attended the awards ceremony and made a presentation in eco products 2009 which is one of the biggest environmental exhibitions in Japan.
Through the participation in eco japan cup 2009, we could show that students from different countries and disciplines can cooperate toward the common goal and make some achievements. Since international and interdisciplinary cooperation is the key factor to realize sustainable society, our experience there seemed to be meaningful. Also, through the contest, we could make new networks with researchers, business persons and policy makers who have the same vision with our club. Making use of this opportunity, we would like to seek for the possibility of collaboration beyond sectors such as the university, company and government.
In next March, four members of our club will join MIT Energy Conference 2010 to get newer information about energy business and technology. We hope that our club can keep expanding our activities and contribute to realize sustainable energy use.

We will trigger concrete “cross-border” collaboration in transforming the real community – “Nyakongo” located in Nyando District, Western Kenya into a model sustainable village. The focus groups will receive detailed information on physical and social condition of the community. They will be able to communicate with individuals in the community to get understanding of the local people’s view of sustainable development. The result shall be a set of advices and investments on projects that would assist the village to become sustainable and resilient to future threats like climate change and increasing fuel and fertilizer prices.  Local student communities shall gather donations from fellow students, companies and organizations towards building the model “sustainable node”.

As part of the Students Summit for Sustainability By furnishing standard shipping containers as compact showcases of everyday sustainable living, we will create a movable information center that will educate Kenyans and foreign visitors on sustainability. Some examples of features that could be included are: renewable electricity generation, waste recycling, social services, bicycle rental/lending service, local food production and sewage treatment. After a touring exhibition within Nairobi City, the containers will be placed at the University of Nairobi as a permanent living exhibition and the regional office for WSCSD and YESE. Sponsor contract for the containers has already been arranged by the Young Engineers Foundation for Sustainable Empowerment with the Chinese Marine International Company.

The 2012 Student Summit for Sustainability (S3 2012) will take place from 12th to 17th November, 2012 at the Multimedia University, Nairobi, Kenya. It will define a common conception of a green economy for university students through the focus topics on energy, waste, water, food and sustainable transport. Speeches and discussions will be supplemented by practical activities and development of partnerships for sustainability.
Goal
Showcase university students’ talents, innovation and potential for building a sustainable and resilient society.
Objectives

1. Evaluate experiences, lessons learnt, challenges and opportunities for university students’ leadership and innovation for sustainable development;
2. Identify policy measures to build university students capacity through the promotion of green career development;
3. Establish new regional and cross-border collaboration and institutional partnerships between university students and higher education stakeholders in building sustainable and resilient communities;
4. Agree on a common platform and strategic partnership framework for university students’ corporation on environment and sustainability issues globally;
5. Provide a structured knowledge platform for gathering students’ contribution on sustainable development post Rio+20

Activities
Pre-summit: Generate a critical mass of engagement from students, universities and sponsors to establish a foundation for a successful summit within all of the five focus topics.
Summit: Three days of presentations, round-table discussions, parallel events followed by a day of a special workshop on leadership and entrepreneurship as well as sustainability touring exhibition. Extensive poster competition for summit participants’ projects and research related to sustainability.
Post-summit: Activities entail fostering universities-businesses-industry partnerships and network mechanisms by:

1. Nourishing mentorship, networking, and business support for green careers through sustainability fellowship.
2. Mobilising global students action in transforming the impoverished Nyakongo village, Kenya into a model Sustainable Village.
3. Developing educational activities to support reorientation of curricula towards sustainable development at univesrities globally.

Outcomes
The summit will produce enhanced understanding, inspired action and collaborative student-run projects focused on promoting sustainable and resilient communities in developing countries. Concretely, the summit will:

1. Improved understanding and capacity of university students worldwide on sustainability.
2. Creation of a virtual sustainability education and learning platform targeting university students and young professionals providing information on innovative technologies and social engineering solutions  for green societies
3. Launch of a mobile sustainability exhibition showcasing everyday sustainable living in shipping cargo containers and a sustainable development plan for a rural Kenyan village.
4. Establishment of a sustainability fellowship for students motivated to launch green careers and innovative enterprises after the summit.

Participants
About 300 well selected students, academics, young entrepreneurs and policymakers will gather in Nairobi to share their insights on a green economy and to learn from each other. Plenary sessions will be video streamed online to allow more students to participate in the summit at a reduced cost and impact on the environment.

Projects related to S3 2012:

An East African example of a sustainable rural village – the first “Sustainable Node”

Mobile exhibition on sustainable living

Application:

As we draw closer to the end of the International Year of Youth, and embark on the preparations for the Rio +20 conferences in June 2012, the role of youth in reviewing our societies past and shaping the future remains imperative. It is clear that today’s youth have a yet unfulfilled  role to play in putting the earth back on a sustainability track  based on the Rio +20 blue print – a Green Economy.

In this regards, it becomes necessary to review the students’ preparedness to shape constructive, effective collaboration in support of a truly Green Economy amidst the current global turmoil of interwoven economic, social and environmental challenges.

Several forums are organized that bring together students from around the world in an interactive learning environment comprising lectures, discussions and working groups on sustainability challenges. These events strongly emphasize institutional change and stakeholder dialogue. Although students are challenged to design concrete projects in the field of sustainability to integrate this topic into teaching and research at their faculties, few opportunities exist to transform these into tangible enterprises delivering products or services for sustainable community transformation. Consequently, most of the student activities remain as on-campus initiatives that students quickly abandon as they jump out of campus to face the reality awaiting them outside.

Thus, many students are never sure about their future career prospects by the time they live learning institutions, leading them to venture into virtually any opportunity that matches their short-term interests (“just any job available”). Some of them who landed “just any job available” out of pressure and frustration have low productivity they are unable to reconcile their passion with their current reality. A few of them yearning to create own businesses or companies that would impact many people dare to muddle through the slow and painful process of honing their business concepts and strategies that would see them curve their career paths upon graduation.

The World Student Community for Sustainable Development (WSCSD) seeks to reverse this by engaging stakeholders in identifying gaps and barriers to students’ innovation and leadership towards sustainable development. It seeks to do this by providing a platform for rethinking education, research, and industry to empower students with the tools and resources that would enable them turn local and global environmental and social challenges into high growth social entrepreneurial opportunities.

This platform is availed through a three-phase alliance building process centered on the organization of – a Global Students Meeting for a Sustainable Future – The 2012 Students Summit for Sustainability