Making a video can take a bit of time, so we moved the iChange competition deadline to May 15, 2013! Read the rules and learn more about the prizes on the Facebook Application.
We have also created one pagers, presentations, and videos in mutliple languages, with a quick summary of all of the information you need to prepare your iChange entry. Select your language below--and get filming!
Please join World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, Sustainable Development Network Vice President Rachel Kyte, External Affairs Vice President Cyril Muller, Africa Vice President Makhtar Diop, the Global Environment Facility’s CEO and Chairperson Naoko Ishii, and the Italian Minister of the Environment Corrado Clini for an evening to celebrate youth engagement in creative climate action.
At this time last year, the C4C team was busily preparing to launch our first Connect4Climate competition aimed at engaging African youth on climate issues and challenging them to tell their personal climate stories through photos and videos. After receiving more than 700 submissions from every African country on the continent, we landed in Durban, South Africa to showcase and celebrate the winners at the UN Climate Change Conference/COP17 last November.
The deadline for the Voices4Climate TerrAfrica podcast category has passed, with a total of 33 podcasts submitted from 11 African countries! A heartfelt thank you to all the participants who worked so hard to submit their radio stories on time. With so many great submissions in this category, it is going to be quite a challenge to select the winners. Fortunately, our roster of superstar judges are more than up to the task.
This initiative celebrates the power of youth. Global citizens under-30 are inheriting a hotter, more unpredictable climate that has enormous implications for the future.
<p>#Youth4Climate is a social media campaign organized by a flotilla of partners to inspire young people around the world to take action on climate change. Today’s youth are the first generation to feel the impacts of climate change and the last that can do something about it.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/images/legacy/youth4climate.jpg" style="width: 800px; height: 450px;" /></p>
<p>As the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change says in Article 6, education contributes to the solutions being developed to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by climate change.</p>
<p>“The solutions to climate change are also the paths to a safer, healthier, cleaner and more prosperous future for all. To see this and to understand what needs to be done requires a sharp and sustained focus on education, training and public awareness in all countries and at all levels of government, society and enterprise.”</p>
<p>Key points on why climate change education matters:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>- Long-term, independent records from weather stations, satellites, ocean buoys, tide gauges, and many other data sources all confirm that our nation, like the rest of the world, is warming. Scientists who study climate change confirm that these observations are consistent with significant changes in Earth’s climatic trends. (U.S. National Climate Assessment, 2014)</p>
<p>- Over the 21st century, climate scientists expect Earth’s temperature to continue increasing, very likely more than it did during the 20th century. Two anticipated results are rising global sea level and increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves, droughts, and floods. These changes will affect almost every aspect of human society, including economic prosperity, human and environmental health, and national security. (USGCRP Climate Literacy, 2009)</p>
<p>- Climate change will bring economic and environmental challenges as well as opportunities, and citizens who have an understanding of climate science will be better prepared to respond to both. (USGCRP Climate Literacy, 2009)</p>
<p>- Society needs citizens who understand the climate system and know how to apply that knowledge in their careers and in their engagement as active members of their communities. (USGCRP Climate Literacy, 2009)</p>
<p>- Climate change will continue to be a significant element of public discourse. Understanding the essential principles of climate science will enable all people to assess news stories and contribute to their everyday conversations as informed citizens. (USGCRP Climate Literacy, 2009)</p>
</blockquote>
<p><br />
The #Youth4Climate social media campaign is an effort led by the <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/" target="_blank">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)</a>, the <a href="http://energy.gov/" target="_blank">U.S. Department of Energy</a>, the <a href="http://www.astc.org/" target="_blank">Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC)</a>, the <a href="http://cleanet.org/clean/community/index.html" target="_blank">CLEAN Network</a>, <a href="http://www.wildcenter.org/" target="_blank">The Wild Center</a>, the World Bank Group’s global partnership program Connect4Climate, <a href="http://www.climategen.org/" target="_blank">Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy</a>, <a href="https://acespace.org/" target="_blank">Alliance for Climate Education</a>, <a href="http://www.earthday.org/" target="_blank">Earth Day Network</a>, <a href="https://www.climateinteractive.org/" target="_blank">Climate Interactive</a>, and others. It is an open discussion for all to join the youth call for climate action.</p>
