International student summit on energy and climate - 03.03.2009

300 students from more than 40 nations will meet in Copenhagen on 10 March and for three days create their own energy and climate future in LEGO® bricks. As part of the "Our Opportunity – The Energy Crossroads Global Summit Series", 300 international students will gather at LIFE – the Faculty of Life Sciences at University of Copenhagen to listen to speeches, literally build energy and climate plans, discuss and network.

 

10- 12 March will see 300 international university students from a wide range of disciplines converge on Copenhagen, Denmark, to discuss global energy challenges at the Our Opportunity student summit. Working together for three days, participants will seek both to spark new ideas in energy planning and to grow mutual understanding and recognition of energy issues. The aim of Our Opportunity is to suggest practical solutions that politicians, energy-dependent sectors and the business community can apply to address our common energy concerns.

The message from Our Opportunity is “We prioritize climate and energy challenges, we are ready to take urgent action, and we want world leaders to do the same”.

The student summit kicks off on the morning of 10 March with speeches in the Ceremonial Hall of the University of Copenhagen. Afterwards, in a statement on energy efficiency, hundreds of student participants will brave the cold Danish weather and ride on bike together to LIFE – the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, where the remaining three day programme will take place. Energy Crossroads has arranged for borrowed city bikes to serve as CO2-friendly transportation for all willing participants throughout the summit.

Each day of the summit will begin with speeches and debates from some of the world’s leading energy and climate personalities, including Dr. James Hansen (Leader of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies), Professor Daniel M. Kammen (Senior Climate Advisor to President Obama), and Professor Jacqueline McGlade (Managing Director of the European EnvironmentAgency).

The Our Opportunity Game, an innovative educational concept, will serve as an integral part of the Our Opportunity summit. Developed specifically for the Our Opportunity summit series by Energy Crossroads Denmark, in conjunction with EA Energy Analysis and Risø-DTU, the Our Opportunity Game gives students the exciting opportunity to develop regional energy strategies to debate in simulated energy and climate negotiations.

The Our Opportunity Game allows students a greater insight into energy systems and technological and political solutions to our future challenges. Over the course of two days, participants will cooperate to turn individual LEGO® bricks, symbolising different energy sources, into towers that represent energy and climate plans in Europe towards 2030. Each colour LEGO® brick represents a specific energy source allowing participants to easily visualize and compare the work and actions of other groups. The result will be colourful LEGO® towers that clearly express students’ suggestions for the future energy system of Europe. Energy Crossroads hopes that the Our Opportunity Game will develop into a fun educational tool for schools and gymnasiums throughout Europe. The Our Opportunity Game will be played over the first two days of the summit.

The third day will be a day of action. Students have the chance to utilise their newly gained insights in a workshop setting. Each workshop is centred round one common question: How can our youth contribute to the creation of future energy and climate solutions and begin shaping the future as they want it?

The Copenhagen Our Opportunity summit kicks off a world-wide 2009 summit series by Energy Crossroads. Summits are planned for China, the USA, India, Uganda, Sweden, Singapore, and Denmark. Energy Crossroads is represented in each of these countries.

Energy Crossroads is a global student initiative run by volunteers with a common ambition to create a more sustainable energy future, and to create more dialogue between the civil society, the corporate world, and today and tomorrow's decision makers.

See the detailed programme for the student summit.

For more information, please contact Energy Crossroads Denmark at

or visit www.our-opportunity.com