Journey Visions - A Path towards Sustainability

Larissa Barabasch from Vienna is a Climate-KIC Master Label student label at the University of Copenhagen. As an economics and business student, her curiosity led her to question the model of growth and use it to address soil diversity and waste management. After changing her studies from economics to climate change, together with other participants from the Madrid-Valencia Journey she is currently working on a modular school program for 10-14 year old school kids. The modular system of different courses, panel discussions, events and other diverse activities, allows for direct climate change incorporation into the school curriculum without being a huge burden for the teachers. Find out how this hybrid program will allow school kids to connect with topics of climate change and the problems from and around it. Larissa's favorite sustainability tools are two podcasts: How I Built This Podcast (related to innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability concepts): https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this?t=1616496446696 Outrage + Optimism (related to hard facts, hope and optimism): https://outrageandoptimism.libsyn.com/

Tune in for a very interesting conversation on the relevance of personal choices and impact on the environment. Our guests, food and winter lover Raquel Sabater Cánovas fom Madrid and Aleksandra Milovanović from Serbia who loves design, sports and music, participated in the Climate KIC Journey 2020. Raquel completed her studies in industrial and chemical engineering and is focusing on processes, in particular how to do more with less. Her project focuses on the carbon footprint awareness as people established the “I cannot do anything” mentality, which is contradictory to recent findings. Aleksandra is currently pursuing her PHD in process and product design in chemical engineering in Eindhoven. Her projects also focused on the carbon footprint related to waste management. She shares stories on how people are not aware of waste production, in particular with relation to the fashion industry. Find out more how they want to create change, which stakeholder partnerships are relevant for their projects and why schools and children are crucial target groups.

Today's episode builds on the inspiration of Paloma Velón García-Velasco and Mara Haverkort that translates into the engagement of people, doing little things for a better planet and finding solutions to complex problems, step by step. Tune in and enjoy the stories of “Sea-Lover” Paloma (Madrid) and “Enthusiast” Mara (The Netherlands). While Paloma shares her vivid interest for a better world, she became inspired to take local action with the support of NGOs and the local authorities by organizing a Clean-Up-Day-Campaign. Mara is working on circularity startups and innovation and her individual action plan aims to create recommendations related to interventions on how such startups can overcome barriers to access financial support.

In Episode 41 we meet Simona Jastremskaite who participated in the 2020 Dublona Journey. Simona's climate journey began in China. While teaching, she became sensitised to the incapacity of expanding urban areas to build resilience against rapid climate change. This has led her to her Master's studies in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science at the University of Lund, where she is specializing in the connection between conventional farming and eutrophication. Eutrophication is caused by an excessive use of fertilizers in conventional farming, which pollutes waterways. As a result, algae populations explode as they feast on the nutrient-rich particles in the water. This has devastating consequences for marine life. In this episode, Simona discusses her thesis research with the Lithuanian Ministry of Environment into this topic, as well as her other projects tackling food waste in both Vilnius and Lund. Interested in finding out more about her projects? Get in touch through the links below! Project Pond (in Lund): projectpond.lund@gmail.com Green Grip: sjastremskaite@gmail.com Food Saving Vilnius: sjastremskaite@gmail.com Urban Gardening in Bulgaria: https://www.naturalistichno.org/naturalistichno-2/

Today we return to the Climate-KIC Journey as we learn about group dynamics, GEMO in project management (GE-wha? tune in to find out), and a new concept for ensuring carbon transparency. Mikaela Pettersson (in Lund, Sweden) and Isabel Nieto Tous (in Majorca, Spain) from the Bologna-Trento-Zurich Journey had an innovative idea of a platform that they call Octopus. Octopus's aim is to highlight companies entitled to the EU Eco Label that are truly transparent about their emissions and that develop environmentally friendly products. Mikkaela and Isabel have been inspired by the following tools: An Inconvenient Truth: Al Gore (movie): https://www.algore.com/library/an-inconvenient-truth-dvd Sustainababble (podcast): http://www.sustainababble.fish/ The Climate Casino (book): https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/business/climate-casino-an-overview-of-global-warming.html

In a highly informative episode, we meet Hamburg native and Leipzig resident Isabelle Leipzig and learn how the long path towards sustainability was influenced by a layering of experiences. From swimming in a lake above a flooded coal mine to sailing past plastic bottles on the fringes of the rainforest in Peru, Isabelle has seen the destructive reach of human development, as well as the beautiful potential of allowing Nature to recover. She is currently studying for a Master's in Sustainable Development at the University of Leipzig, and is fascinated by how culture guides our behaviour and influences how we interact with our environment. A highly enjoyable episode, check it out!

At Your Service is a project that stems from the #Climate-KIC Journey this past summer. Its aim was to focus on how #ecosystemservices can be be integrated into urban #envrionment, with the goal of reconnecting people to nature by greening the city. In so doing, it aims to tackle issues facing the climate challenges facing the city, such as urban heat island effect and increased risk of flooding through #naturebasedsolutions. Besides, they work on a community-based concept where the community shall be a co-owner of the project. For this project, At Your Service uses an app and chooses the city of Rome to begin with. In this episode, we meet the team which includes Nora Helal (Amsterdam), Darrelle Colleran (Dublin), Clara Baumhauer (Zurich), and Giordano Margaglio (Rome), whose backgrounds range from ecology and evolutionary biology to disaster risk management and climate change. We also talk about the group formation, the different roles in the team, their visions, and experiences in the topics of sustainable development and the climate change. Hungry for more? Check out the following documentaries and podcasts for some climate #inspiration: - Racing Extinction (2015): A documentary that follows undercover activists trying to stave off a man-made mass extinction (Netflix). - Planet Earth : #DavidAttenborough's timeless classic. - Mothers of Invention: Climate change is a man-made problem with a #feminist solution! Join former Irish President Mary Robinson and comedian Maeve Higgins in this uplifting series! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mothers-of-invention/id1412807581

In episode 37, we're joined by sustainability and communications consultants Laura López Cuadros and Clara Fischer, who discuss their vision for creating an impact that goes beyond growing a business.

Osayamen J. Imarhiagbe is part of the Baltic Beauty Journey. He studies Applied Geosciences at RWTH in Aachen in Germany and has a MSc in Geology from the University of Benin. Specialised in mineral exploitation, he is eager to make mining more sustainable. Osayamen grew up in Nigeria, where he has experienced the impacts of heavy rainfall first hand. Gullies, which are the most advanced state of erosion, formed because no good draining systems are constructed and in place. Chunks of land, public facilities and housing get washed away with landslides. Osayame talks about his internship at a Nigerian petroleum company, where he had the opportunity to visit places and facilites of oil drilling. From this stems his interest and passion to tackle the problem of environmental degradation. He aims to get young people engaged in government to start addressing waste and land use management, and to implement policies across sectors. His individual project for the Journey stems from his group project, in which they address transparency in politics, especially with regard to environmental management and the climate change crisis, to address the gap between politics and citizens. His individual topic further looks into how to incorporate the interests of young people in politics. Tune in to this highly insightful episode and gear how his teacher inspired him to promote environmental culture and awareness in Nigeria. Osayame has an idea of how to transform and reuse the spaces that were once used for mining, don't miss out on it! The survey he talks about at the end is to check the level of knowledge and familiarity of environmental policies and political involvement amongst young people and their willingness to participate in the climate policy process and ensure transparency. The link is below and it still active. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe4U6NlQCIV3tsO9hmK1-XK7bSMS6KC3InsYFArWfiZwjTz0g/viewform?usp=sf_link

How can we demystify climate policy? In Episode 35, we meet Emma Heilig, who discusses the challenges of making climate policy accessible, the ClimaTalk platform she co-founded, and her Journey team's plan to advocate for Doughnut Cities across Europe. Emma became involved in the sustainability scene through animal rights and her opposition to animal agriculture, and at Cambridge University, she became involved in various societies promoting more sustainable, plant-based menus on campus. While studying her Land Economy undergraduate degree, which combines aspects of law, economics and environment, she became aware of how difficult it can be to understand climate policy when you're not involved in the area. As a result, she co-founded ClimaTalk to provide an accessible platform to explain the history, theories, agreements, and other issues of climate policy. During the TransAlpine Journey last year, her team was inspired by Amsterdam's policy commitments to become the first Doughnut City, and thought all European cities should do the same. Find out what happens next!

In this episode we will get to know the Dublona Journey participants Maria Cantore, who tunes in from Argentina, and Hajar Bencheikh, who calls Casablanca and Lyon her home. While Hajar currently works in consultancy for clients in the energy sector in Paris, Maria leads an organization in Argentina and is politically active for climate action. Together they wanted to create a channel to connect people to feel empowered. Their project, which unfortunately will not continue, aimed to challenge their community and to visually convert the volume of participants into the impact they reached through this collective action. The long-term goal was to trigger behaviours and changes in society. Hopefully Hajar and Maria will take on this project again, and make the instagram account happen. Tune in to discover how sea level rise, a direct effect of global warming, has shifted Hajar's mindset and what ideas the two have for being active in climate action. Maria recommends the podcast Outrage and Optimism by former UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christina Figueres (2010-2016): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/outrage-and-optimism/id1459416461 The two books are worth a look at: - The Dharma Bums: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dharma_Bums - The Consolations of the Forest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Consolations_of_the_Forest

In Episode 33, we meet the team of On Cloud Wine, Eline van Remortel, Soham Datta, and Jose Carlos Lozano Garcia who met each other on the 2020 VinhoVin Lisbon-Paris Climate-KIC Journey. On Cloud Wine is a platform designed to promote greater sustainablity in the wine industry, by connecting small wine producers to universities and the tourism industry. They noticed that small historical wine areas are currently disconnected from economic growth, already suffering from depopulation, and are at high risk of climate change. By connecting wine producers to universities to co-create sustainable techniques, On Cloud Wine hopes to create new economic opportunities and draw in tourism. So far, they have won an EIT PGM Grant, made it to the finals of the Circular Economy Challenge 2020, and conducted various workshops with the Climate-KIC network and the Swedish Institute Network for Future Global Leaders. They are certainly ones to watch!

Hana Begovic and Emma Bertipaglia (from the Bologna-Trento-Zurich Journey) are all about nature, earth jurisprudence, biodiversity, human rights and last but not least climate justice. Forests and green areas are disappearing globally, urban development is expanding and in these times, little priority is given to preserve nature and protect biodiversity, especially in (semi-) urban spaces. This is where Urban Flora comes into play. The group project aims to tackle the detachment from nature in cities, which impacts physical and mental health. Urban Flora is an educational initiative designed to overcome the urban-nature divide in the next generation, focusing on nature education for school children. Tune in to discover which medium they plan to use to do so and how they are cooperating with the municipality of Malmö in Sweden. Hana is the Swedish organiser of Earth Advocacy Youth, a movement focused on earth jurisprudence, and she is also an expert member of the UN Harmony with Nature and Knowledge Network. Emma is a recent MA graduate of Trinity College Dublin where she focused on development practices, which blends science and social science for enhanced sustainable development. Check out the work of Earth Advocacy Youth and the UN Harmony with Nature programme: Earth Advocacy Youth (YEA) is an international action group of creative, daring, and skilled young professionals working to identify and implement bold ecocentric practices in policy/law and education addressing biodiversity, climate governance and transition. https://www.earthadvocacy-youth.org/ Learn more about the right of nature law, policy and education: http://www.harmonywithnatureun.org/dialogues/

In Episode 31, we are joined by alumni from the Dublona 2020 Climate-KIC Journey, Andrea Rey and Eszter Krisan, as they discuss their interests and experiences in the field of climate action, as well as the personal projects they have been able to begin as a result of the summer school. Living in Budapest, Eszter's climate passions lie in urban systems and how they adapt to climate change. This interest inspired her Climate-KIC project Green Grip, which seeks to add green (leafy) panels to the sides of post-Soviet buildings to make them more liveable for local residents. Meanwhile, Andrea's climate journey was inspired while growing up in Peru. Surrounded by “natural treasures,” she was shocked by how badly they were being managed. After a BA in Geography and Environmental Studies, she decided to pursue her passions at Wageningen University, where she is currently studying an MA specialising in Ecological and Agroecoligcal Systems. This is a fun episode, which highlights the value cross-sectoral collaboration, humility and open communication bring to climate action. Have a listen!

After featuring many participants of the Journey, it's time to talk to hosts again. Together with Lars Reyes-Gjølme and Laura Riuttanen from the Northern Light Journey we dig into the world of visions and projects that address climate action and sustainability in Europe. His Bachelor in Theatre brings out the creative side of Lars, whose interest have moved on from "land to sea" as he frames it. With a Masters in Entrepreneurship and Business Development he continues to work with NTNU (Norwegian University of Sciene and Technology) and Climate KIC (Accelerator) to support and lead innovation projects for sustainable development. Laura, who has a PhD in meteorology is pointing out that weather affects everyone on this planet. Physics and cloud formation are her key interest and therefore, she really understands the changes in the climatic system. In the episode, we feature several European projects such as CityXChange for sustainable urban development as well as (maybe the first!!!) church in the world with a carbon neutral strategy. We also hear about ocean pollution. Tune in to get to know some more! EU project with NTNU, Trondheim and other European partners to co-create the future we want tolive in: https://cityxchange.eu/ The start-up Lars mentioned: https://www.ducky.eco/ The speech (pictures/video) that made Lars afraid of pollution as a kid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B0np_o1VBg Carbon Brief: https://www.carbonbrief.org/ Global Carbon Project: https://www.globalcarbonproject.org/ (nice visualizations!) The carbon neutral church 2030: https://evl.fi/documents/1327140/25840624/Ilmastoteksti_engl_2019.pdf/3ff35917-6bd7-6e86-2754-cb5885cf8ea8?t=1591868102539 and https://evl.fi/current-issues/news/2019/church-council-approves-church-climate-strategy

Ex-Journey participant, faciliator, coach and academic Anouk Talen is interested in how we creata a society by bridging the divide between nature and humans, and between humans and other humans. She is working in the Dutch National Youth Council to confront this issue. Her biggest take-away from the Journey was to get to know know her path. Listen to find out what she discovered about herself and what made her become more confident as a climate agent. She highly recommends the edX online course Leading From The Emergent Future by the Massachusettes Institute of Technology (MIT), transforming business, society and self through sensing, presencing and crystallizing. Find out more about the course here: https://www.edx.org/course/ulab-leading-from-the-emerging-future

Tamara Pavlović is an international relations graduate in Budapest. She joined the Limassol-Timisoara-Belgrade Journey, to gain career inspiration, and experience in the field of sustainability. While living in Budapest she noticed that while shopping becoming more popular, and the number of second hand clothes shop increasing, there are still few places to donate them. As a personal project, she wants to lobby for action on this topic. One of the central questions she asks is: how can we promote sustainability in a normalised kind of way? Rather than being an added-extra, she is seeking ways to discuss environmental issues so they are hyped, trendy and part of the everyday.

The Kosice host of the LuCKy-Journey, Martina Zelenakova, has a background in foreign relationships and civil engineering. In this episode, she tells us how much she enjoys working with and for people. Her core interest lies in improving people's life and making the world better. She highlights the importance of education, actively looking out for new opportunities, and of making and feeling own experiences. For her, a village lifestyle is the optimal way to learn more about sustainable living, and to live sustainably yourself. Listen to her story of what fully convinced her of this thought. 

Today we talk with Kaushik Selva Dhanush Ravi. He studies Integrated Building Systems at ETH Zürich and explains to us what this Master programme and new study area is all about. Kaushik envisions a construction sector, which is sustainable and with a larger municipality engagement (top down) to reinforce the use of recycled materials and increase the circularity of materials. Did you know that the embedded energy of the construction is very low and more sustainable when using sand as a construction material? Together with other participants of the Transalpine Journey, Kaushik founded Urban Click. As it develops, Urban Click aims to create an online platform to enhance the use of recycled materials in the construction sector. The goal is to include many different sized stakeholders, to bring transparency into the secondary material use through data exchange and collaboration. and in the long-term, to use technology to systemize constructions of recyclable and reusable buildings. Watch their introduction here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoctjHBNSBg Tune in and listen about the building sector in the sustainability context and hear how Kaushik wants to bring technological advancements from Europe back to his country of origin: India. Kaushik also tells us about inspriational kings in India that have used echo communication. Check it out here: https://www.remotelands.com/travelogues/golconda-the-eerie-acoustics-of-a-hyderabad-fort/

Rasa Tumaseviciute from the Bologna-Trento-Zurich Journey is currently doing a PhD on organic waste and circular bioeconomy in Lithuania. By implementing circular economy in waste management and conducting contemporary research she aims to create bio-plastic that is cost-competitive and compostable. In this short episode, we haved asked Rasa for advice on how to best start in the field of climate action and sustainability. After telling us about how she got inspired herself, she highlights the importance of empathy, taking small steps and finding like-minded people. Give yourself time, she says. "Grab a reusable bag, bottle, or go to the merchant and say I want to get better quality". Can you guess what Rasa is about to tackle to change next? If you want to know more about how our ecoweb works, systems and deeper design thinking, check out the recommendations that Rasa gave us: The book Biomimicry by Janine M. Benyus (https://biomimicry.org/janine-benyus/) Rasa herself got inspired by a talk about the climate crists by Al Gore. He has given many TED talks, you can check them out on Youtube. Here are some links: - The case for optimism on climate change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVfgkFaswn4&t=1208s - New thinking on the climate crisis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUO8bdrXghs - Averting the climate crisis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r593zLtZxAU - Al Gore's FULL climate change discussion at WEF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb4z4hRZO2I

Are you ready for the final episode of 2020? Tune in as Wiebke and Soham take you on a ride through memory lane and recap all the episodes, interesting conversations and various perspectives. The EIT Climate-KIC Journey this summer was a pure success, and our podcast serves to interconnect between all the Journeys. We picked out the best quotes from our hosts, summarised some of the group and individual projects and digged deeper into climate action that is building towards greater impact. There's talk about food waste, minimalism, entrepreneurship and systemic change. There's a lot of advice into how to find your tribe and get going in your network towards sustainability. Let's look forward to 2021 with hope and positivity and here's wishing you a happy new year!

Ho ho ho, Christmas is here! Today we have a very special episode coming to you directly from us, the Journey Visions Podcast team! We share some tips on how to have a more sustainable christmas, and get to hear about some very funny christmas stories from our team. From eating too much, to watching christmas movies in the mornings and diving on christmas Eve. Tune in to get some cozy and funny christmas vibes. Let us know in the comments on our social media what your christmas traditions are, and what learnings you take from 2020! The Journey Visions Podcast team wishes you a merry, merry christmas. Stay safe, wear a mask and brace yourself for some festive yodelling!

The Journey summer school has led to some amazing teams. One of them, 'Unwanted but delicious' is presenting their innovative idea to us today. The group, which consists of Stefan Gevaert from Belgium, Lasse Koefoed Sudergaard from Denmark and Lisa Jagau from Germany, aims to change consumer behaviour and mindset in the fashion industry. By transforming a van into a 'repair mobile' they want to go to schools, community events and fairs and repair people's clothes for free. By doing so they aim to tackle the overconsumption crisis, which is a hot topic within the sustainability debate these days (right in between Black Friday and Christmas). To reduce the negative impact of clothing on society and the environment, factory-runoffs greenhouse gas emissions must be decreased and working conditions improved. Tune in to hear more about how 'Unwanted but Delicious' plans to take into account many aspects of the system and how to make alternatives to fast fashion more fun and accessible to everyone. You will also get to know more about the three and their personal stories how they got inspired to take action. We promise, it's not gonna be boring, don't miss out on it!

Today, Soham and James present another Special Entrepreneur Episode as they talk to Melissa Capcha Eulogio from the Transalpine Journey! One of five sisters, from a young age she has wanted to change the world to make it more equal and inclusive. She envisions tackling climate change and sustainability as an opportunity to address the social and environmental challenges she saw when she was younger. Born in a small city, her family moved to Lima, where Melissa saw the pollution and environmental challenges common to big cities. This inspired her to shift towards engineering for environmental solutions. During her project with the NGO she has learnt the importance of being flexible, adaptable and resilient. In Peru, climate change is not a priority. In 2016, she founded an NGO with some friends to create local climate solutions in Peru, revolving around issues linked to education and public awareness. Her NGO is focused on the valorisation of food waste. The NGO now produces a technical guide for key industry and policy decision makers. This has focused on the techniques and methodologies for the use of food waste in Lima. In parallel, they are involved in communications campaigns to raise awareness of Organic waste at a community and household level. After this, Vanessa and her established their current NGO. Initially they were confident they would gain international funding and focusing all their energy on achieving this. When this proved unsuccessful they decided to re-evaluate where they were putting all their energy. As a result, they slowed down, found ways of combining work and studies with the NGO. This gave them the stability and comfort they needed to grow at a slow yet steady rate. Tune in to hear more about Melissa's story and how sustainable development is addressed from a South American perspective.

London hosts Lee-Ann Perkins and Katie Agar from Sustainable Ventures are a Climate-KIC partner of the Dublona Journey. They both moved to London several years ago and share their stories of how they came to work around sustainability. Lee-Anns eyes were opened when she was working to provide warm housing for vulnerable people and Katie's journey began in the fashion industry, where she developed an interest in circular economy. Did you know that the UK has the least energy efficient housing in Europe? We are talking about how working with people that are eager to make a difference brings together ideas from different perspectives. The Journey is about surrounding yourself with many inspiring people with a similar passion and mission. How to bring out ones best and make collaboration successful, and about starting up young businesses and start-ups. That's what we talk about with Lee-Ann and Katie. Sustainable Ventures: https://www.sustainableventures.co.uk/ Recommended sustainability tool: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/concept

An episode full of wise questions, not to miss! Changemakers Greta Rossi and Johannes Köhn, coaches of the Amsterdam-Utrecht-Berlin Journey, are learning us how to be more self-aware and reflective by asking fundamental questions. How to raise collective consciousness in our inner selves? How to reach a level of superconsciousness, where we are connected to something much higher than ourselves and our egoic little selves? How to connect to people that feel left out and not heard in a divided society? How to cultivate love (not as an emotion but as a state of being)? How to act with intention, positivity and devotion without feeling that desperate sense of urgency? These and more questions are discussed in today's episode. We also revisit the Journey: What the program aims at, how learning can best be enabled in a digital space, how to make sure that we stay conscious of our own inspirations and values, and what drives ourselves. Did you have a-ha moments during the Journey? And do you feel better equipped to tackle climate change in your own way? Comment on our social media posts :) Tune in to hear if it is Greta or Johannes who uses the dinner table to create a breathing ground and space for transformation.  Greta Rossi is the Co-Founder of Recipes for Wellbeing, who works towards shifting the culture of change-making. By including a focus on our holistic wellbeing Recipes for Wellbeing aims to enable anyone to contribute more effectively to creating positive change in the world. Many of their wellbeing recipes are connected to nature and in general, since we talk about sustainability, it's important not to forget about human sustainability. Check out the recipes for mind, body, heart, spirit and digital here: https://www.recipesforwellbeing.org/recipes/ For Journey participants who might be interested in continuing their changemaking journey and are looking for a supportive global community: https://changemakerxchange.org

Artist Valentina González Troudart is a special participant in the Journey as she is from South America and has a background in graphic design and arts. Climate- and development-induced droughts have caused the lake Laguna de Acuelo, which is close to her hometown of Santiago de Chile and in which she swam when we was a child, to dry out completely in 2018. This point of no return triggered Valentina, who then looked for new creative forms of engagement. Her mission is to "shorten the distance between urban cities and nature", and to enable change in people's everyday life. Her Journey project involves a video aimed at raising awareness about local environmental issues, such as desertification. Stakeholders from science, policy and other fields are educating listeners in a fun and animating way easily understandable by both adults and childrens. We further talk with Valentina about indigenous knowledge and native tree planting, the current political unrest in Chile and relating to the Journey about interdisciplinary work, blending knowledge from different fields, and about fun cooking games in the Baltic Beauty Journey. Listen to hear what advice she gives to people in Santiago de Chile! Valentina refers to Solarpunk. Solarpunk is a movement in speculative fiction, art, fashion and activism that seeks to answer and embody the question “what does a sustainable civilization look like, and how can we get there?”. Check it out here: https://solarpunks.net/

Today is World Fisheries Day! In this special ocassion we speak with Giorgiano Margaglio, from the Northern Lights Journey. He holds a bachelor in Global Governance from the University of Rome, and a Disaster Risk Management and Climate Adaptation MSc from Lund University. This has led to his current position as a disaster and risk management contractor at the UNDP in Istanbul, position in which he deals with different emergencies such as tsunamis, earthquakes or pandemics and requires him to efficiently adapt to new situations. As an exemplary Italian, he's in love with pizza, and more importantly, is the cofounder of Ostia Clean-Up, a Rome-based organization which started two years ago as a beach cleanup meeting between 3 friends, and now is a fully operational entity which also collaborates with school to increase environmental awareness. This idea is rooted by his time in Indonesia, where he observed the vast amount of plastics that showed ashore in the Coast of Sumatra. Listen to this episode to hear more about this initiative, a successful example of community environmental activism, and don't forget to check out their webpage and social media channels! For exciting content visit https://ostiacleanup.it/?fbclid=IwAR3kv02LE3d-naa1ONNXzFRlNsjmiqMLXvqvP6EFg5KF5CuPje5WzeQPn-s

Picasso coach Deborah Rim Moiso is all over, literally. Interdisciplinary and holistic is within her character, which you will hear out from her very diverse interests and experiences. A summer job in Ireland and reading The Transition Handbook by Ron Hopkins woke her up imagining the future. Within the Pioneer Programme and her placement at the Transition Network Deborah found the space to guide people to find their own voice, which is one that naturally connects to planet earth. The Climate-KIC programmes most importantly stimulate dialogues with people with differing backgrounds and opinions; this way you adress your own fierce of polarisation. She highly recommends the book Active Hope as it sees power as something to do rather than something to have and discusses how small steps to action can give us power. Also, Deborah is inviting Journey participants to help out with the harvest on her farm in Italy once Covid restrictions have been lifted. The more the merrier she said ;) Tune in to find out about her personal challenge and what you can do to not to contribute to polarization in communities. The Transition Handbook by Ron Hopkins: http://www.greenbooks.co.uk/the-transition-handbook The Transition Network: https://transitionnetwork.org/ Active Hope - How to face the mess we're in without going crazy by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone: https://www.activehope.info/ The Climate-KIC Pioneer Programme is for young professionals. You spend the first part of the programme in your own country with coaches, and then continue on to spending six weeks in a foreign city to work for another organisation. Climate-KIC covers all expenses. Read more about it here https://pioneers.climate-kic.org/

In this episode, Soham and Oliver interview Maria Fritz, from the Timisoara-Belgrade-Limassol journey. Her studies include Sustainable Development in Utrecht, and the consumer perspective is the one she finds most appealing. Currently, she works as a project coordinator for local2local talents, a Dutch entity that connects young talents with farms, taking an approach on systemic change and empowering young people. Her work is further aimed at implementing short food supply chains, and she's developing a series of workshops on this matter. A creative thinker who finds inspiration in how nature works, she's also working on a related business idea of making local products available in vending machines in urban areas. Listen to this episode to learn a little more about sustainable agriculture and food systems! Remember to check out local2local, too!

In today's episode, Lea and Soham speak with Rugilė Matsuvičiūtė. Though not a part of the Journey, Rugile is heavily involved in environmental issues and sustainability, having her own podcast about it: Išpakuota, which means "Unpack" in Lithuanian. Her background includes French language and Lithuanian literature, yet it was during that time she discovered her true calling: to create online content. Hence, she decided to study a Master's in Journalism which she will complete soon and may consider digging deeper into studying Sustainability in the future. Her main interest is on what can be done daily to live more sustainably, especially in regard to nature and conservation, which is linked to our wellbeing. Listen to an inspiring episode in which we discuss preservation, nature, adopting a more sustainable lifestyle and much more! Remember to check out her latest projects here: https://ispakuota.lt/

Transalpine Journey coach Rowan Simonsen from Denmark started off in the field of microfinance and business, however, he soon realized that in order to change the world he could better focus on social innovation. He aims to find adaptive resilient solutions to the changes that are to come due to climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the collapse of current economic systems. Together with his two daughters Rowan spends a lot of time outdoors in Colombia where he lives and as a passionate gardener, his ambition is to create a local resilient decentralised community that can support local food production, instead of being dependent on big centralised monoculture. Tune in to learn how Rowan wants to achieve this by practicing ancient warriorship traditions and compassion which means not being afraid of failing, trying to protect what is important and serving the people/community without being fearful of what may happen to yourself. The story behind this is very inspiring!

Have you heard of or tasted Horchata? It's a refreshing drink, to enjoy hot or cold, and one of our Journey participants aims to make its traditional process in Spain a more sustainable and to lower emissions this way. Maria Alegría Serna (Bologna-Trento-Zürich) from Colombia came to Europe with the goal to gain more knowledge about the complexity of the food systems as well as about sustainable innovations that she can bring back home to reduce food waste. In Valencia, Maria learns about the power of collaboration and good communication between the industry and local farmes, something that she is missing in Colombia. Food has always been special for her family and Maria is enlightened by the community that can be created around food, e.g. through growing your own food within urban areas and share it with your neighborhood. Tune in to listen what Maria has planned for when she returns to her hometown Medellin. Maria recommends you to read the book: The Future We Choose by Christina Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac. Read more about it here: https://globaloptimism.com/the-future-we-choose-book/

Today is World Food Day! What better way there is to celebrate this than to learn about how a young entrepreneur addresses the food waste problem in the city he is living in: Lund in Sweden. Journey participant and clinical medicine researcher Soham Datta started Food Saving Lund with a few other volunteers and together, they have already saved more than an amazing 5500kg of food over the past year. Soham will share the story of Food Saving Lund, how he turned an idea into practice, which challenges and turning points he had to face along the way and what he learned from this journey. Today, Food Saving Lund has scaled up to having 150 active members, over a thousand followers online and even if Soham leaves the city, the organizational structure will allow for further growth and many more great achievements. Besides this, we have gotten to know Soham even better. If we were to sum him up in one word, it would be diverse. He was born in India, grew up in Hongkong and Ireland and his childhood dream was becoming a pilot to fly around the world. Now he aims to bring sustainability practices into the medical world, and who knows, maybe he will be extending the concept of Food Saving Lund to the Baltics very soon. Stay tuned, as he is full of surprises and has great advice for soon-to-be young entrepreneurs.

In this episode, Dublona coaches Meret Nehe and Kurt Klusch, who both call Germany (north and south, respectively) their home, share their views on the Journey and why they experience it as a prototyping event where you should make mistakes and grow from them. Kurt dives in into the meaning of "finding your tribe" and asking the right questions, whereas Meret underlines the importance of building a support system around you in order to nourish yourself and to being able to fully understand leverages within systems. Tune in for more wise input!

Northern Lights Journey participants Helena Patino de Artaza, Leonie Schiedek, Diana Spurzem, Harry Sutrisno, Aizo Verdonk and Julia Wünsche teamed up in an effort to make cities more sustainable in an era of climate change. In urban spaces grey infrastructure, urban heat island, decreasing biodiversity, mental health and alienation to nature are everpresent problems. With their project, Ice Green Warriors aim to implement more green spaces and to inform local citizens about the benefits and impacts of green rooftops. To have a wider systematic impact they plan to collaborate with the municipality. Listen to the episode to hear more about the background of the project as well as the different roles in the team and their group dynamic. As Harry said, "our future is a great future, because we are human, we are created to survive: we have challenges and of course we are going to solve them as long as we are still alive!”

Lund-Copenhagen coaches Eleanor Saunders and Balazs Kurucz are both coaches and facilitators. Eleanor has been working with the Climate-KIC community for ten years already and sees it as a circular system in itself: Acquiring skills and giving it on to next generation. This way "the Journey should be this ever-changing entity that helps people into this new incredibly difficult and dynamic space". We are also talking about bird perpectives on Europe's farmlands as well as about small scale nature inspiration and beauty.

Baltic Beauty (Tallinn-Riga) Journey coaches Şeyda Nur Güneş and Niv Nowbakht share an interest in working with people. Both Berlin-based, they focus on "helping people discover the gift they carry inside of them". While Seyda is addressing human behaviours and mindsets to change the current paradigm and make a more responsible living the new norm, Niv as a professional guide for career happiness is focused on personal transformations through making conscious decisions from the inside out. If you want to make a difference in the world, start with changing yourself, understand why you want to make a change and then make other people wanting to be part of it. Bottom-up actions that sustain the intrinsic motivation of both individuals and the collective are as important as changing the narrative away from climate anxiety. Tune in to acquire some very powerful knowledge and capabilities.

Our first participant from the Madrid-Valencia Journey, Estrella Garcia Gomez, explains us how her group called Climate Protection translates complex scientific reports into more easily understandable language for the public. Because of their group diversity the content of their website (https://globalclimateprote.wixsite.com/mysiteenglish) is available in Chinese, Spanish and English. Estrella is very concerned about food waste and gives some great key advice for beginners in climate education: "Start with really small steps that affect your personal life. And once you have achieved those personal steps you can try to teach someone around you, so they do the same things as you do. And therewith small steps will grow into bigger ones." Estrella refers to the company Too Good to Go. Check out this link to explore a successful and sustainable app against global food waste: https://toogoodtogo.org/en/

VinhoVin Coach Filipa Carlos from Lisbon obtained her PhD in the field of Sustainable Energy Systems and is currently seeking solutions to answer some of the most intriguing questions in transition such as whether and how it is possible "to introduce the concept of degrowth while keeping our society connected and with our standards of well-being [...], equity and fairness". Filipa is happy to discuss the questions with you as a listener and she recommends the following readings: An essay from Byung-Chul Han about an era of excessive positivity. The name in English is "The burnout Society": https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=isbn:9780804795098 The book "O filho de mil homens" is translated to Spanish (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40119790-el-hijo-de-mil-hombres) and French (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31311225-le-fils-de-mille-hommes) but not to English, unfortunately. In any case, considering the diversity of the Journey, there are several international versions of his books, so as an author I would recommend him (very poetic)!

Today, participants Monica van Leeuwen and Ceriel Lucker from the CYBELT Journey share their story with us. We talk about how Monica's parents' farm in Belgium got impacted by climate change, how to best communicate climate-friendly behaviours with your friends and about their group project: the Green Wave. It aims to reduce the gap between climate awareness and action through positive storytelling, which is a powerful tool to "spark new discussions". They invite YOU to share your story about your personal journey towards sustainability on the global climate action day on September 25th. Tune in to hear how you can become part of this Instagram campaign. "Be the example yourself" and "just do it" because "if you never failed something it means you never tried something new". Monica recommends to familiarize yourself with the concept of the Doughnut Economy.: a must-read these days. You can get a first idea about the concept here: https://www.kateraworth.com/doughnut/. Ceriel refers to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Their mission is to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/?fbclid=IwAR1v-rJX2Wu_PJOcfciccNqN4678oxOnlKuTw1Y3JhO6Tr7UhG7jYICtGCY

In Barcelona, coach Clara Giberga has experienced the power of togetherness, when communities came together for a urban gardening project. Tune in to learn about why it is important to find other people that complement you, contrast your ideas and add force. Clara also has a clear message to "think of yourself as someone who can really change things [...] and to see what you already have in you". For her, "the journey is a melting pot of diverse backgrounds in terms of participants and locations that makes the transformation look possible”.

In this episode, Climate-KIC coach and globetrotter Laura Janssen talks about her motivation to join the Journey as a coach, how the Journey contributes to sustainable development and about how the young generation can get involved in climate action. Laura believes that "we should use this incredible amount of knowledge, collective brain power and united skills to serve those urgent challenges that we are facing today." Tune in to dive in some of her global experiences and how it has inspired her. You can calculate your own ecological footprint here: http://www.footprintcalculator.org/

Welcome to our first interview! Today we have Climate-KIC Journey coaches Heiko Specking and Nierika Hamaekers from the Northern Lights Journey on board with us. We talk about what the Journey is, their motivation to get engaged in it and the power of the Climate-KIC community. They describe the Journey as "a place where extremely knowledgeable and passionate people come together to inspire each other, to connect and collaborate." Listen to this episode and find out how you can best make an impact yourself.

"I should not close myself to any opportunity, it doesnt matter the format of the opportunity." Welcome to the Journey Vision podcast! In this first episode, the people behind the podcast talk about how they came to the idea of creating this podcast and the motivation that drives them. They also share their experiences of participating in the EIT Climate-KIC Journey so far. You will get to know what the pandemic has to do with the podcast, how you can cope with a 4-week online school, and why this particular summer school is a big opportunity.