Turning the Tide 2021

Background We are a group of young people who want to work together to advance climate protection that is sustainable, globally equitable and seriously aimed towards not reaching the tipping points in the climate system. We are united by the awareness that there must be profound changes in politics and society for this to happen. We applied for the project in order to enable young people from different European countries, regardless of their origin and financial means, to participate and get started in climate activism and to promote a European network of the climate justice movement. That is why we applied for project funding through the "Youth for Europe" programme, on the one hand to be able to organise sailing trips on the Baltic Sea and on the other hand to be able to hold international preparatory meetings in various European cities. Without the project funding, many of the more than 100 young people who took part in our climate justice sailing trip in 2021 from Rostock via Lübeck to Kiel (Germany) and in 2022 from Copenhagen (Denmark) via Helsingborg (Sweden) and Nyborg (Denmark) to Kiel (Germany) would not have been able to participate. Objectives Our core objective was to raise awareness of the climate crisis and strengthen the European climate justice movement. The climate crisis endangers the livelihoods of humanity as well as the fundamental civil liberties of every human being. The fact is that the main causes of the climate crisis are the rich countries of the global North. The climate crisis can only be achieved - if at all - through a fundamental cultural change in the countries of the global North. We have implemented our goal in two directions. On the one hand, our project aimed to network young European climate justice activists. For this we have organized sailing trips on the Baltic Sea. On the other hand, to a wider public through events in the ports where we stopped during our sailing trips. Our extensive self-organized program of events was designed to promote critical thinking, strengthen intercultural competences, exchange ideas about common values and live them together. Our participatory and consensus-oriented approach enabled all participants to participate equally in the process and to practice common understanding. Implementation With the implementation of our project, we have implemented all our project goals. We were on the Baltic Sea with a large group of international climate activists in September 2021 and 2022 on traditional sailing vessels. There we stopped at various ports (including Copenhagen, Helsingborg, Samsø, Nyborg, Lübeck, Rostock and Kiel) and organized a public program on site, such as the screening of short films on the topic of climate justice, which were projected with bicycle drive onto a sail. We produced a video clip to support a simultaneous action against the International Motor Show (IAA), organized events with speeches on climate justice-related topics and got into conversation with many people on site. We have also visited projects to educate ourselves and network with them, such as the Energy Academy in Samsø. On the ships, we held workshops for each other to share experiences and skills and to initiate long term networking and personal connections between climate activists through the intense joint sailing experience. Achievements People who are active in different initiatives of the climate justice movement in different European countries had the opportunity to network with each other. Activism in the climate justice movement consists largely of volunteer work and requires a lot of personal motivation, especially to stay active in the long term. For many, our sailing trip was a period of relaxation, networking and learning from each other. We were able to sensitize people to the topic of climate justice both locally and nationally. At the ports, we have held various events such as workshops, bicycle cinema and flash mobs in cooperation with local initiatives. We were able to facilitate an exchange of experiences between the participants through workshops and lectures. Our project has thus contributed to the spread of proven concepts and innovative ideas in the climate justice movement. The Lovis and the Belle-Amie are both traditional sailing vessels. The ships were sailed by a crew of 4 people and the activists together. During the sailing trip, the activists had the opportunity to learn basic sailing skills.