The Age of Stupid

Yesterdays evening event on the Green Week was a screening of the very new movie " The Age of Stupid", directed by Fanny Armstrong,a young and very dedicated British filmmaker.
Even if it was said before that this movie, of course, does not reflect the opinion of the European Commission, I think it was a very good decision of the organisers to show this movie at this event!
The auditorium was filled to the last seat and people were eagerly waiting outside to get in even half an hour before it started.

" The Age of Stupid" is a hybrid of animation, documentary and drama:
The Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?

In small "flashbacks" the movie shows what already has had happened in year 2008 - and still no action was taken! The great devastation after Hurricane Katrina,melting of the glaciers in the Alps and droughts and fire in the US aswell as in Southern Europe.

Additionally the film follows people from all over the world:
- There is the yound woman from Nigeria, whose life is strongly influenced by the devastation SHELL has left behind when exploiting the oil resources and whose only dream is to become a doctor, a good one,as she stresses.

- There is the young and successful Indian man who started the first Indian low-cost airline in 2005....no matter what people tell about climate change effetcs

- the old man, working as a mountaineering guide in the French Alps, who cannot believe his eyes that his beloved glaciers melt faster from year to year

- the man from New Orleans, struck by Katrina and working on an oil platform

- a sister and brother from Iraq, who fled to Jordan from the war and are deeply traumatized by what they had experienced in their young lifes

- and the British family, who tries to live as sustainable as possible. And the father of the family who sells windmills. Well, rather: he tries to sell windfarms to towns at the windy British countryside and is fought against with all the town inhabitants can find.

A very characterizing situation is shown when a British lady tells the filmers that, of course, she is concerened about climate change and of course she is in favur of renewable energies - but please not in her neighboorhood.

Let this be enough telling -the film is very worth seeing!

At The Age of Stupid you can find more information!

The Green Week day one

Dear visitors,

As you have read in the post below we are currently at The Green Week in Brussels, where we are spreading CHAMP and attending conferences about climate change. During the first day of The Green Week we got an introduction of what is expected of the Green Week with conferences and workgroups on different levels and with multiple accents. With over 4000 registered participants this years edition set a new record.

Throughout the conferences we notice big expectations for the upcoming COP15 and the hope for a unified response to climate change. Along with the current economical crisis, which will make a climate change mitigation harder. Though if dealt with properly will create prosperity and green jobs hence be a part of the solution to weather this economical storm.

Keep up to date and visit us for an refelction of the second day of The Green Week.

CHAMP AT GREEN WEEK

The first opportunity to follow the CHAMP project will be at the Green Week where the CHAMP project staff will blogg directly from the Green Week. They will share views of the project by the participants, inform about the event etc.

Welcome to the official CHAMP blog

Dear visitors,

As most of us know Climate Change is bound to make a great impact and without taking sufficient actions many of us will face severe consequences for the damage done in the past decennia.

In CHAMP seven European organizations combine their strengths and with the support of life+ and Regione Lombardia we established the project in 2009. Our main goal is to deliver competence for local authorities by setting up training hubs throughout Europe. For the moment we have accomplished training hubs in Finland, Germany, Italy and Hungary. With our experience of MUE-25 and the implementation of Integrated Management Systems we intend to contribute to the fight against Climate Change.

In this blog we will update you on the progress we are making and express our ideas about the latest climate change developments.

The CHAMP team.