Connection, communication, interaction

When it comes to educating, raising awareness and advocating for a certain cause, it is always, among other things, the question of reach, of demographics and of impact.

While human contact and one-on-one engagement remains one of the best ways of communication and message conveying, it is indisputable that different social platforms help us, in a unique and often viral way, reach wider demographics at their homes, at work, via mobile device, etc - bringing the information (and opportunity to interact) where they are and when it is convenient for them.

Using social platforms (and using different social platforms at the same time) for educating on a global cause or trying to inspire action on a series of issues, concerns, developments and situations, is both a challenge and an opportunity, and we are looking forward to the new experience in the weeks and months to come.

So, what exactly are we going to do, and which platforms are we going to use, you wonder?

We'll certainly be more active on our Facebook page and Twitter account, sharing daily updates on our projects, but also articles and videos we find interesting or educational, good practices, inspirational stories and new development in the areas of our interest - environment and sustainability, carbon reduction and climate change, youth and education, common good and global citizens.

Jessica will continue to share her student / youth perspective in her Daily Blog and as an Editor-in-Chief of The Hummingbird Magazine . As Jessica works on the second issue of the magazine, take some time to explore and read through the first one. / (The Hummingbird Magazine is a quarterly edition).

More e-publishing : if you are not one of over 1,800 people who already looked through or used our "Low Carbon and Delicious" CookBook , you can browse through it and download it for free here.
In the next six months we will ask you to (continue) sharing your low carbon / vegetarian / vegan recipes with us as we look forward to e-publish another great cookbook by the end of this year (email us your recipes & photos to 1010food@1010global.org if you's like to be included, both in the Food Blog and in the CookBook)

More 10:10 action! We will continue to inspire youth to reduce their carbon emissions (and share their stories with us). Join us and share your carbon cutting story by sending us an email to 1010teen@1010global.org ) Also this year - we will have live tweeting / Facebook chats with some of the schools that are already a part of 10:10 Teen Project - more information on this will be shared regularly both on our website, but also on www.1010global.org.

When it comes to back issues of our newsletter, and other material suitable for printing and online sharing, we will continue to post it on Issuu - feel free to use it, download it and share it.

We will, off course, have some offline events too - and, as always, we will share photos on our Flickr.

Finally - our main project - Education for Sustainability - while the core information about each country, its environmental and sustainability situation and its educational system will be posted on our website, we will also share weekly updates, insights, comments and more on our (new) G+ account - do add us to your circles and follow our progress.

* * *

So, this is us online :). We hope that everyone will be able to find something of interest (and inspiration) - youth and elderly, children and parents, schools and communities.

We will do our best to engage you throughout the year - make you consider some new ideas, new choices, new ways...we will do our best to educate you - by sharing information, materials, stories and practices... and we will do our best to connect with you and hear / read what you have to say and share with us.

Looking forward to fostering a great online community!

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photos in this blog via Science of Blogging, images.jr.com, and stephensander.wordpress.com

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10:10 Photofest 2012 (International Call for Entries)

 Guest post by 10:10 Bangladesh

This photofest is international.

Organizer: 10:10 Bangladesh, the Bangladesh wing of 10:10 Global >>>> 10:10 is a Global campaign building the world's largest community taking positive action on climate change by reaching out to people, businesses and organisations around the world and encouraging them to cut their carbon emissions by 10% every year.

Web: http://www.1010global.org/
BD web: http://www.1010global.org/bd (sign up for the campaign if you haven't already!)

10:10 Bangladesh facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/1010Bangladesh

If you are interested in photography and want to do do something positive about climate change, then this competition is for you:

10:10 Photofest 2012

Categories
• Category I: Natural wonders of our country
• Category II: Climatic disaster or climate refugee in Bangladesh
• Category III: The Urban Jungle
• ADDITIONAL Category IV: Pictures of things REMADE (e.g. a photo of a repaired piece of clothing)


Eligibility criteria and guidelines:

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
• Participant must be at least 18 years or older
• Participants cannot be a member of organizing committee of 1010 Bangladesh in 2011 and 2012.
• All photographs submitted must be from Bangladesh for categories I,II and III, AND all photographs for CATEGORY IV can be from citizens all over the world.

RULES:
Each contestant may submit a single photograph or a single photo story in each category. A single photograph can be either colour or black and white. Photo stories must have a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 photos in each category.

General guidelines:
• All pictures submitted must be taken by the participant following the eligibility criteria
• Images must be free of manipulation other than ordinary changes that might be made using conventional darkroom/digital techniques, such as spotting dust and scratches, changing color balance, conversion to black and white, adjusting contrast and other levels
• Composite images and photos with special effects, borders, added backgrounds, and/or embedded names (such as photographer names or agency names) are not permitted
• 1010 Bangladesh reserves the right to verify the authenticity of the submissions or the eligibility of the participant at any stage of the competition by any means and/or to disqualify images where post-processing is deemed to have exceeded acceptable photo-journalistic practices.
• Participants retain copyright to any images they submit to the contest
• By submitting images, participants agree that 1010 Bangladesh will have the right to reproduce and print any images for the purpose of exhibition or promotion of 1010 Bangladesh
• Submissions will not be returned and 1010 Bangladesh has the right to destroy/delete all entries
• Submissions which have been selected for exhibition must pay a participation fee, the amount of which will be specified after primary selection or as earlier as deemed possible by 1010 Bangladesh

How to submit
• All submissions must be made online as attachments to the following address:
bd1010_photosubmission@yahoo.com

• Images must be at least 2500 pixels along the longest side
• Images must not be more than 5 mb in size
• The single images must be named as following: category_name of participant_title of image (e.g. Category I_Tashique Alam_our future.jpg)
• For photostory the participant must submit a short essay in a separate document file. The essay must not exceed 350 words. The essay file must be named as: category_name of participant_photostory title. The pictures must be named as category_name of participant_serial number. Both the pictures and essay document must be kept in a separate zip/rar file, which is named as: category_name of participant_photostory title.
• In a separate document the participant must submit the following details
o Name of participant
o Age
o Gender
o Address
o Contact number
o Email

Submission deadline:
1 April 2012

Selection:
After the end of submission deadline, the submitted photographs and photostories will pass through a primary selection. Only the results of the primary selection will be selected for exhibition. Selected participants will receive certificates as being part of 10:10 Global campaign AND an exhibition of their submissions. Further details following primary selection will be available shortly. We appreciate your patience and participation.

Prize:
To be announced shortly (SURPRISE) - (in addition to a 10:10 campaign Photofest participation certificates for selected entrants and an exhibition of the selected photography at the 10:10 Photofest 2012)

Venue: Dhaka, Bangladesh

For further inquiries write to: bd1010_photosubmission@yahoo.com

We will try to get back to you as soon as we can.
Thank you.

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A Single Man's Walking Challenge 1: Gulshan-Dhanmondi-Gulshan

 

Guest post by: Muhammad Faheem Faruq

Description

The story begins about a young slim fellow, who is a little bit concerned about the environment and decides to make a little difference if not any at all. As he walks on the streets of Dhaka, it strikes to him why not do a series of walking challenges. A simple task to normal people however for him it seems like a challenge and something he feels he need to achieve. So he plans the route for his first challenge from Gulshan-Dhanmondi-Gulshan. A distance of more than 10kms.

Why walk?

Walking from his experience has indicated certain things

- It saves time
- It saves fuel
- It saves money
- Good exercise
- Makes you feel happier

As a 10:10er and eco-blogger, he feels its been awhile since he had a nice long walk. The timing is perfect with the nice winter weather and he knows he will not get bored while walking considering all the exciting and funny things that happens on the streets of Dhaka.

When does he plan to do so?

Friday,February 10th, 2012

Route:

Starting point- Gulshan-1 circle
Mid-way point- Dhanmondi(short pit-stop, not sure, it will depend on his spontaneity)
Ending point- Gulshan-1 circle

Problems he might face:

- Getting mugged on broad daylight.
- Oversleeping and missing the challenge completely being a weekend.
- Getting ill prior to the challenge.

Updates about the event:

He plans on twittering while on the move.

Twitter

twitter.com/fhmtech

How can you participate?

- Cheer him on!
- Criticize him for being an idiot ( there is something called a bicycle, or even better a car..)
- Spread the word that walking is good for many reasons and is not a tedious thing to do
- When traveling short distances try walking instead of using the car.

What is 10:10?

10:10 is a global campaign run through out the world to promote carbon cutting and reduce climate change. 10:10 Bangladesh joins with organizations, businesses and educational institutes and promote active participation of people through events/projects and raise awareness. www.1010global.org You can sign up your organization or yourself at www.1010global.org/ 

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Into the Wild

Okay, that title is something between a joke and a book title (or is it? ;) )

January is moving towards February, and it's time to start getting some serious work done this year (we already laid out some general idea about our 2012 projects in last year's posts):

• EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY - What is this one really about? In short, we will try to get Ministries of Education in 30+ countries to change their official curriculum for schools and add a subject that deals with sustainability, sustainable living and sustainable development. Why do we think that is important? It is becoming more and more self evident that, unless we change our mindsets and adopt sustainability as a way of life, we (both people and the environment) will be facing some serious challenges and issues, that might prove to be impossible to overcome. Hence, the time to change our mindsets is now (no, strike that -  it was yesterday - but if we work together on this one, we just may catch the last train). How do we plan to reach our goal? By working closely with schools, local communities, general population, environmental agencies, ministries and governments. We will need your helps and support, comments and critiques, inputs and insights. We will use social networks, blogs, and media to raise awareness about this project, keep you all in the loop on our progress. We are very much aware that it might not be possible to get all countries we will be targeting to agree on this curriculum change, but we shall do our best to get on board as many countries as possible. Who will benefit from this project? Young generations, primarily, but with them, the societies as a whole. So much of our identities is shaped during our formal education, and while one could argue that the most important things we learn at home (and one would be right), schools are (and should be) a place where children and youth get access to the information, knowledge and practices relevant for their future (professional) development. The sooner we provide them with coherent and transparent information about sustainable living and sustainable development, the better for societies in general, as today's children and youth will grow into tomorrow's decision makers.  How will interested parties and general public be able to track our progress? While we will post monthly reports on our website, daily and weekly updates will be available via Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Posterous accounts "Nektarina Sustainability" (detailed links will be provided soon). Additionally, we started working on a knowledge sharing platform, that will support this project, and you can get more information about the platform itself by reading the presentation right here:

Taken into the account all of the above, this is, obviously, not a short term project, and we are looking forward to sharing both our progress and challenges along the way with you. We will, most certainly, need your help and support along the way, whether it is your comment, petition support or contribution.

For any additional information, volunteer and internship opportunities as well as progress reports, please send an email to sustainability@nektarinanonprofit.com

• We will, of course, be continuing with campaigns / projects we initiated back in 2010 and carried the through 2011 - "Low Carbon Transport & Travel" and "Liveable Cities"
• We will continue collaborating with our friends at 10:10 (and our favourite 10:10 Teen Project) , at 350.org , at Respira Aspira and at GloCha;  and, of course, with our partners Global Campaign for Climate Action, with their "public face" TckTckTck and Earth Day Network
• We are also continuing with our Daily Blog, Low Carbon Food talks, WebMagazine, Schools NewsLetter and social networks presence  

For any additional information, volunteer and internship opportunities as well as progress reports, please send an email to environment@nektarinanonprofit.com

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Free Documentary Screenings / Cankarjev Dom / November 4th 2011

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June - October 2011 overview of our 10:10 actvities

  

It's review time again for our activities as a 10:10 hub! We published a five-month review at the end of May this year, and here are the news / highlights from our activities in June, July, August, September and October 2011:

•‘Low Carbon and Delicious” cookbook got a media sponsor/partner (Food & Drink magazine from Croatia)

•Free desktop 10:10 wallpapers/calendars were issued in different formats/colours

•An event to promote cycling for school children was held in Bucharest, Romania in association with Cutezatorii magazine (photo gallery)

•We took part in the biggest Romanian music festival B’estFest (check out also the photo gallery and full report from our on-the-field volunteer)

•Our young 10:10ers from Bratislava, Slovakia sent us this lovely poem and held an outdoor 10:10 teen event

•10:10 Global’s web design guru Tom helped us re-vamp our 10:10 teen blog, and it looks absolutely amazing

•Zadar county (10:10 county), Croatia turns to wind power to reduce carbon emissions

•We had a set of lovely low carbon events to celebrate 10:10:11

___________________________________________________________________________________

Nektarina Non Profit serves as a 24 country hub for the 10:10 campaign since June 2010. All work that we do for this project is voluntary.

We carry out the campaign in the following countries: Alabania, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia (FYROM), Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

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Five month summary of our 10:10 activities in 2011

Nektarina Non Profit issues a quarterly hub summary for 10:10 campaign:

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10:10 Teen Project Six Month Report

Nektarina Non Profits issues a six month report on 10:10 Teen Project:

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Introducing ECI Youth Forums on Climate Change

May 4^th, Zagreb – Continuing its activity on fighting climate change across Central, Eastern and South East Europe, Russia, Mediterranean and Central Asia, Nektarina Non Profit, an organization active in over 30 countries, announces ECI Youth Forums on Climate Change. 

                 Organized under the patronage of the UN International Year of Youth and the Earth Day Network, ECI Youth Forums on Climate Change also make an integral part of 10:10 Teen Project, launched in March 2011.  ECI Youth Forums will be hosted during 2011 and 2012 and will address topics of climate change, carbon footprint, renewable energy and sustainable living. 

                Forums are designed for students between 14 and 19 years of age, and include educational presentations, debates, film screenings, exhibitions and creative workshops, with international guest speakers and contributors.

               

List of countries where ECI Youth Forums on Climate Change will be organized throughout 2011 and 2012:

Albania, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia (FYROM), Montenegro, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Belarus, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Malta, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan

The first Youth Forums on Climate Change will be hosted in Romania (Bucharest) and Croatia (Zagreb, Zadar, Pula) in late May and June 2011 (dates to be confirmed and announced by May 12^th 2011), with other countries to follow.

Schools and/or students interested to participate in Forums can make inquiries and/or request a Forum participation form and Forum agenda by sending an email to: environment@nektarinanonprofit.com. All forums will be admission-free.

Organizations and entities that would like to participate, contribute or support the forums in any way, please email sandra@nektarinanonprofit.com

                                                # # #

Full version of the international press release is available here.

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Albania - a possibility for low carbon tourism ?

In March we visited Albania and presented 10:10 Teen Project to students from Tirana (the capital). Amazed by the turnout, we were also amazed by all the colors and the contrasts - many buildings painted in bright colors - like big Lego blocks, and beautiful Mediterranean landscapes opposite the gray concrete buildings from the Communist era.

Those moments - when you focus hard to understand the local aspect - where is it all coming from, the "why", the "how", and the "because" - are such an adrenaline rush. The country on which soil you stand at that particular moment becomes the only country in the world - your mind is clear, and the approach you are going to take crystalizes itself in seconds. You can prepare in advance all you like, but the truth is, until your shoes are walking the local street and until you force yourself to think like a local, you have no plan and you have no strategy.

Climate change movements and carbon reduction efforts are no different (at least they should not be) - you have to understand all local points of view and all local issues because it the best way for you to form the best approach in tackling those particular issues.

Albania has magnificent coast (on the photo above is Vlore, on the south of the country) . The coast has a lot of tourism potential and so many places can be developed into great resorts - right now they are not, which is actually a great opportunity for Albania - if you have to develop something (almost) from scratch - why not do it the low carbon way?

This is just one of the things we will try to focus on in Albania - can we have 10:10 low carbon resorts there? Can Vlore or Durres (another town on the coast) become the first 10:10 Mediterranean resort(s)? Can we help a country develop their tourism as a 10:10 / low carbon?
A great challenge - but we have a lot of things on our side - Albania is very much aware they need to focus more on climate change issues. The officials are open to ideas, projects and campaigns. Funding remains a big issue - but we will get there eventually.

Albania is a country of young people - their energy should help us with our 10:10 efforts. This week's 10:10 Teen presentation was a perfect example - we gave them a little push and they came back with so many great ideas and suggestions of what can be done, what they can do, and how they would like to participate in 10:10.

Do read our report from the visit, as it shares great photos given to us by students - visually describing recycling, nature, and much more.

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Visiting Kosovo with EverGreen & 10:10 Teen campaigns

In March 2011 our team visited Kosovo. In Pristina we did EverGreen workshops in elementary schools (3 groups of 20 children, age 6 - 12). Our topic was "Change of Season" - how is the nature changing as spring moves forward, how does spring affects the life of animals - both domestic and wild ones, and what can we learn from all these changes.

The workshop consisted of making collages and thus helping children express their views and thoughts on the above questions / topics.

 

These are just some of the collages - all children did a wonderful job, whether they were working alone, or preferred working in pairs or groups.

Children used either materials from nature, like pressed flowers and plants, sand and small stones, or they used colors and techniques that reminded them of nature - green, beige, browns, watercolors, pastels and temperas.

During collages we talked why and how trees start have leaves again in the spring, which animals come out from their hibernation period and what else changes in the nature accessible to the children (things and events children can explore first hand)

Through interactivity of the workshop and through usage of a lot of materials from nature, children had an opportunity to express their creativity, visualize things they saw or learned and to work in pair or teams.

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After elementary schools our team visited high schools, where we talked about 10:10 idea and campaign. We also had an opportunity to present 10:10 Teen Project - please read the full report below:

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Tackling Climate Change in Romania

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10:10 Teen Project Launch (Press Release)

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