The meeting took place at Campus Gotland and a total of 36 people participated. There were representatives from non-profit and public environmental organizations in Gotland, as well as international sustainability students from the master's program ”Sustainable management”.
The program began with Ottilia Söderström, project assistant at Leader Gute, presenting the association's new mini-support ”Young Environment”.
– This mini-support is intended to contribute to increased environmental knowledge among children and young people up to 30 years old. At the same time, it creates contacts between non-profit associations/public activities and children/youth. Projects that can receive this support should consist of concrete environmental initiatives and activities that combine learning with practical application, Ottilia explained.
Afterwards, licensed psychologist Vera Berger Mårtens talked about how to address climate emotions and support young people's engagement.
Following this, an overview of Gotland's current environmental situation was presented by the county administrative board's coordinator for environmental goals and environmental monitoring, Emilie Vejlens.
The next speaker was Professor Gunilla Rosenqvist, Blue Center Gotland and head of the research station Ar. She talked about Blue Center Gotland and the concept of Blue Schools, which forms the basis for a new mini-project within the framework of ”Young Environment” in collaboration with Gute Gymnasiet.
After the presentations, a joint needs analysis was conducted in groups with both international sustainability students and representatives from environmental organizations. This was to come up with ideas on how organizations could collaborate with children and young people to continue working on environmental issues. The conclusions and ideas from the groups were visualized and finally concretized in a model-based vision exercise for the development of environmental work in the island's rural areas – in collaboration between organizations and children/youth.
– The meeting led to many interesting visions, ideas, and proposals. In addition, new contacts were created between different actors. Hopefully, this will lead to concrete projects, some of which may be relevant for Leader Gute's new mini-support ”Young Environment," says Ottilia.