St Paul's CBS, Smithfield develops ideas for a sustainable Europe

Dublin, 14th January 2009 – Immediate Release

Background

Together with the Initiative Young Ideas for Europe, St. Paul’s CBS is working to develop innovative ideas to meet Europe’s future energy needs. Beginning on Tuesday 12th January, students at St. Paul’s CBS have taken part in four days deliberation upon the question of tomorrow’s energy sources.

Where will the power come from when all the nuclear power plants have been shut down and the fossil fuels used up? Which energy sources can best meet the needs of society while protecting the environment? What requirements will the consumers of tomorrow demand of their energy providers? How will changes in the market for energy affect society – and vice versa? Students at St. Paul’s CBS will tackle these and other questions as they participate in Young Ideas for Europe.
Press Information

Press Information:

On Friday 15th January at 11 am, students of the Transition Year class will present their findings and ideas from a fascinating four days of discussion before a group including project patrons, members of the media, invited guests, parents and teachers. Following the presentation will be opportunities to interview participants and project patrons.
Young Ideas for Europe is an initiative of the Robert Bosch Foundation designed for students in 4th through to 5th year. The initiative is creating a pan-European network to enable young people from across the European Union to actively participate in a dialogue on the future of Europe. In four day workshops students develop ideas for sustainable energy plans to meet Europe’s future needs. The best of these ideas will flow into a common action plan – “New Energy for Europe” – which will be presented to the Spanish EU Presidency.
During the four-day workshop students are supported by project patrons, as well as additional experts from the political arena, academia and the business community. As part of the exercise, students create fictitious political parties, develop a party platform, and discuss and debate the issues with other student groups, for example “the Press” and “election consultants.” The innovation exercises will take place in 18 German schools, and simultaneously in 18 additional partner-schools across Europe. At the close of the exercises will be a “Parliamentary debate”, in which the students are invited to describe and defend their party platforms, and further develop their ideas with their project patrons. The culmination of this presentation will be a live video-conference with the respective partner schools in Germany.
One exceptional aspect of Young Ideas for Europe is its level of international engagement. In addition to the vide-conferencing between partner schools in different European countries, the initiative also employs an innovative online platform to bring young people from across Europe to the table. Participants will use this platform to actively shape its content, and the direction and flow of discussion. Students ask questions of their partner-schools, create their own profiles and converse with experts. The results of the innovation games in each country will be incorporated into the online-community.

_______________________________________________
Young Ideas for Europe is a project of the Robert Bosch Stiftung. Its goal is simple: to create enthusiasm among European youth for the European Idea, to engage them in a meaningful dialogue and give them a chance to create their own visions for Europe. During the 2008 pilot project, over 700 students from seven countries participated, including the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain and Spain. The program methodology and process are based on the young foresight initiative Jugend denkt Zukunft, which is supported by Wrigley GmbH and until now included nearly 500 businesses and 12,000 young people.
Further information can be found at www.youngideasforeurope.eu

St Pauls's CBS is located on North Brunswick St, Smithfield, Dublin 7.  Click here for map.

For further information and to attend tomorrow's presentation please contact Killian Kehoe Tel.: 085 1680390 or killian.kehoe@iiea.com