Stories For A Sustainable Future

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OCEANS AND EARTH #EUROPEANFOOTPRINTS #WHATDOYOUCAREABOUT Kief, Luxembourg Climate change is a fact, not a myth. I will tell you a very short story about this problem and how I witnessed it in Luxembourg. When I was a child, snowfall indicated that winter was coming. Snow was our playground, and was a synonym for Christmas. It beautified the dark days, and made the cold feel more comfortable. Snow was majestic. I remember that I played outside with my sisters and cousins building igloos or enjoying legendary snowball fights. When I look out of the window today, I miss this feeling. In winter months, it is often raining, and much warmer than snow temperatures. In over more than ten years now, I have not seen snow at Christmas. No noble face of the winter anymore, no excited feeling when getting up in the morning and leaving the house, no need to stay at home because snowfalls forced you to do so. Since the beginning of systematic measurements of Luxembourg temperatures in 1947, the highest summer temperatures have been measured in the last 5 years, Climate change is a fact, not a myth. going up to 37,9 °C, whereas the lowest temperatures were measured in the 1950s, reaching -20,2 °C. Just by looking at the highest and lowest measured temperatures, you can observe global warming. So you don’t have to look for extreme natural disasters such as inundations, earthquakes, droughts or the frequency of hurricanes to understand that the climate is changing. You just have to look out of the window at Christmas, sitting together with your family. DID YOU KNOW…? … that Natura 2000 is a network of land and marine areas in Europe, created to protect the most valuable and threatened natural resources, habitats and species? It currently includes 18% of Europe’s land area, and almost 10% of its marine territory. 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, and 96,5% of this are oceans. Every year, we celebrate World Ocean’s Day on 8 June. Each year Earth Day - 22 April - marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. 2020 is the 50th anniversary! Climate change refers to global warming and its associated effects, such as rising sea levels, loss of biodiversity, and increases in the frequency of natural disasters. These processes also directly impact the wellbeing of humans, such as through food scarcity and the loss of coastal living environments. Together we can counteract climate change by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, for example by using public transport, making responsible food consumption choices, re-using goods, and reducing our waste. 12
OCEANS AND EARTH #EUROPEANFOOTPRINTS #WHATDOYOUCAREABOUT Francesca, Cyprus My country Cyprus is an island, with shimmering blue waters encircling it, sparkling in the presence of the sunlight. The sea is the mother that unites us all, both humans and sea organisms. As a child, my parents would take me and my brother to see green (Chelonia mydas) and loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtles—both endangered species — during the summer months in their nesting sites. However, as the years went by, less and less turtles would come back to the island, due to the polluted waters, high levels of micro plastics, emissions by commercial ships anchored close to the beach site, and drainage systems releasing waste into the sea. In order to prevent and combat this pollution, the seaside communities started organising "Blue Campaigns” nearly every year. These campaigns include cleaning the sea from plastics, but also daily auditing of data on waste emission submitted by ships, Our economy and diet are highly dependent and based on fish, and therefore a threat to the quality of the ecosystem is a threat we also feel. the inspection of ships at the anchorage, and coordinated patrolling to monitor harmful consequences of marine traffic. This has resulted in the turtles returning to our island—ours and theirs equally—every year. And I get to introduce my sea-friends to the babies in my family, 20 years after I was first introduced to them. Life in this sacred water is very important for us islanders, not only in terms of protecting the endangered sea turtles. We strive to keep the water clean, as a large proportion of our economic and leisure activities take place in the same waters shared with the sea-creatures living there. The recent gas exploration through drilling activities taking place around the Mediterranean Sea is suspected to have damaging effects on the marine environment and the fisheries, as both industries interact by sharing the same waters. Our economy and diet are highly dependent and based on fish, and therefore a threat to the quality of their ecosystem is a threat we also feel. Our goal as a leading Mediterranean island is to maintain the record of the number one European country with the most blueflag awarded beaches based on country-size, and why not also to increase the number of well-deserved blue-flag beaches across Europe? 13
Page 1 and 2: #WHATDOYOUCAREABOUT STORIES FOR A S
Page 3 and 4: STORYBOOK OVERVIEW #EUROPEANFOOTPRI
Page 5 and 6: INTRODUCTION #EUROPEANFOOTPRINTS #W
Page 11: OCEANS AND EARTH #EUROPEANFOOTPRINT
Page 15 and 16: THEME 1: NATURE, CLIMATE AND ENVIRO
Page 17 and 18: WASTE #EUROPEANFOOTPRINTS #WHATDOYO
Page 19 and 20: ENERGY #EUROPEANFOOTPRINTS #WHATDOY
Page 21 and 22: THEME 1: NATURE, CLIMATE AND ENVIRO
Page 23 and 24: RESPONSIBLE LIFE CHOICES #EUROPEANF
Page 25 and 26: URBAN SPACES AND CONNECTIONS #EUROP
Page 27 and 28: THEME II: SOCIETY Justice and insti
Page 29 and 30: JUSTICE AND INSTITUTIONS #EUROPEANF
Page 31 and 32: SOCIAL INCLUSION #EUROPEANFOOTPRINT
Page 33 and 34: SOCIAL INCLUSION #EUROPEANFOOTPRINT
Page 35 and 36: CREATIVE MEDIA #EUROPEANFOOTPRINTS
Page 37 and 38: THEME III: EDUCATION AND WELLBEING
Page 39 and 40: HEALTH #EUROPEANFOOTPRINTS #WHATDOY
Page 41 and 42: EDUCATION #EUROPEANFOOTPRINTS #WHAT
Page 43 and 44: COLOPHON #EUROPEANFOOTPRINTS #WHATD

Stories For A Sustainable Future

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