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.

To join the entry-competition for Youth Forum 2010 – Young Adults 4 New Results, please answer ONE of the following questions with the media you prefer: a text, a video, an audio file, the website you created, photos… Your choice!

1. Climate – Energy – Human Security: How are you engaged in one or more of these key words?
2. What impact has climate change had on you, your family or your community?
3. What is your practical and/or innovative solution to tackle the climate challenge?
4. How are you active in the field of climate change?

Submission Requirements

All applications and submissions must be in English (videos can be subtitled in English)

• If you submit a text, please do not exceed 500 words
• If you submit a video, please do not exceed 3 minutes
• If you submit an audio file, please do not exceed 5 minutes
• If you submit photos, please do not submit more than 5 photos

Conditions

To be eligible as a participant for the Youth Forum 2010 you have to be between the ages of 18-30 and be available to attend the Youth Forum 2010 from 28 June – 1 July 2010

If your application is submitted after 1 March 2010, it will only be considered in case of drop outs

If you are selected as one of the 150 participants to the Youth Forum 2010, you will be informed by e-mail by the end of March 2010

There will be no participation fee for the Youth Forum 2010. The ’s Youth Forum does not sponsor participants  with regards to the costs related to the attendance to Youth Forum 2010. However, the GHF’s Youth Forum reserves the right to sponsor some participants on a case by case basis.

Please submit your application in English by 1 March 2010 by text, video, audio, photography or any other media via our online application form only!

Learning for transformation

Sustainable development requires a shift towards a society that better addresses basic human needs and the limitations of natural systems. A transformation of e.g. mindsets, educational approaches, societal structures, technical systems and economic accounting methods is needed. Engineering education institutions can play an important role in this transformation and in the sustainable society if sustainable development becomes a framework for a redesign of the structure and goal of organizations and of pedagogical, research and cooperation approaches and methods. This conference addresses the role of engineering education in the learning for the required transformation.

EESD 2010 is the fifth conference in a series of biannual international conferences dealing with all aspects of the education of engineers for sustainable development. The date of the conference is the 19th to the 22nd of September in Göteborg and there is also a side event on the 23rd of September in Stockholm.