The EU and MTV Team Up: Copenhagen Prelude


The European Union (EU) and MTV are working together to get young people involved in the climate debate. The major entities started their “Play to Stop – Europe for Climate” campaign this month. Working with international music artists and other international celebrities, this is a major campaign to mobilize the youth around the topic of climate change, and especially for the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December.

The campaign targets 11 EU countries — Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The campaign will involve celebrities from the various participating countries.

The campaign will involve three concerts, TV spots, webcasts and games, and editorial content about the battle against climate change.

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The concerts will be connected with major events related to climate change. The first concert, by Moby, will be in Stockholm and will be linked to World Water Week. The second and third concerts (entertainers yet to be announced) will be in Budapest linked to Mobility Week and in Copenhagen linked to the Climate Conference.

Other famous celebrities involved in the campaign will be the Bulgarian tennis player Magdalena Maleeva, Danish singer Anna David, Italian TV star Paola Maugeri, Polish entertainer Michal Pirog, and Romanian climate activist Serban Miron Copot.

WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT?

Future Generations Will Bear the Brunt of Climate Change

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas says: “Today’s young people will bear the brunt of the impacts of climate change. The Copenhagen conference is probably our last chance to tackle climate change before it spirals out of control. There is an enormous desire around the globe for agreement to be reached, and we have to sustain that momentum. Events like this are vital, because young people are a tremendously important pressure group. They will be most affected by climate change – so their voices are the most important.”

“MTV Networks International” Executive Vice President of Music Brands, Antonio Campo Dall’Orto, says: “No country will be spared the effects of climate change, and future generations will be worst affected. That’s why communicating the urgency of the problem and fighting behaviour that aggravates climate change, are so fundamental for MTV.”

Youth Inaction

The EU identified, through a report published this month, that the youth are aware that climate change is a major world issue, but that “only 51% of people aged between 15 and 24 have ever taken action to fight climate change, the lowest proportion of any age group.” The effort MTV and the EU are putting forth to activate the youth is likely to be the best idea for getting young people involved. We will see how well it works.

EU Climate Action

The EU is demonstrating a strong commitment to address global climate change (see: “4 New Eco-Design Rules for the EU — Saving as Much Power as Austria and Sweden Use Annually” and “Europe Says Financial Crisis Doesn’t Trump Climate Change”). As the EU states: “In December 2008 the EU adopted an integrated energy and climate change policy, setting ambitious targets for 2020. It hopes to set Europe on the right track – towards a sustainable future with a low-carbon, energy-efficient economy by: cutting greenhouse gases by 20% (30% if international agreement is reached); reducing energy consumption by 20% through increased energy efficiency; meeting 20% of our energy needs from renewable sources.”

Hopefully, other leading nations of the world will respond as well. And, hopefully, the climate campaign EU and MTV are starting will bring enough education and momentum to young members of Europe today that the future will be positive.

Visit the “Play to Stop — Europe for Climate” website here.

Image credit 1: Drew “Rukes” Ressler via flickr under a Creative Commons license

Image credit 2: Chr.Siv via flickr under a Creative Commons license

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