Sustainable Communities for You(th)

Climate change and other environmental cri ses made it clear by now that there i s no other way than sus tainability, that we have to radically change our habits in order to be able to survive on a finite planet. Yet, we usually approach sus tainability from a very narrow per spective, expecting scientists to come out with phantasmagoric technologies or implementing sporadic actions or regulations which focus on very specific targets , like reducing the carbon footprint. All so very important, but still not enough. We cannot make it as long as we are stuck in an old paradigm, attached to concept s like individualism, consumption, etc.

The main objective of “Sustainable Communities for You(th)” is to have a closer look at, discuss , analyse and practise sustainable communities .

Based on our experience, deep discussions and detailed research, which included both reading and li s tening about existing sustainable communities , as well as observing some of them directly, we identified four basic pillars of sustainability:

We envision a society as a house, which cannot stand on one pillar alone. We need all four pillar s to be sound and solid in order to ensure sustainability and resilience in the long run. Other objectives of the course include:

• Getting to know tools of personal, collective, financial and environmental sustainability which can be used directly in our work with partner organizations, youth and local communities .

• Reflecting on what “community” means for us , becoming open for creating various kinds of communities with our coworkers , family, neighbours , youth, based on principles like respect and appreciation of diversity; giving voice to people who may not be heard enough, through better approaches to communication and decision-making; joint effort to fight the climate crisis and take deep care of the environment in it's broader sense.

• Deepening our relation with partner organizations , building with them an international sustainable community.