Belgium Group about "Human change not climate change"

Interview of Maral Kaplan from Belgium after the Training Course "Human change not climate change" in Yerevan

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Can you give us your opinion about the project "human change not climate change"?

Given the current situation, I think that it was very important to have the opportunity to participate in a project focusing on climate change and especially on the consequences that human activity had in this regard. The project was in fact useful as in the one hand it allowed us to expand our knowledge about this topic through different presentations and discussions. In the other hand, it also gave us the occasion to think about possible solutions for this issue, to discuss about the current obstacles in order to tackle the question of climate change.

According to you, is it too late to stop climate change? What would be the most effective policy to stop climate change?

I don’t think that it is too late to stop climate change. There is a lot of actions that each of us, individuals can do in our everyday life in order to change things and prevent the situation to get worse with time. Furthermore, I believe that states’s action is also more oriented toward green transition which is a very good sign in this regard. Given the fact that climate change affects everyone, I think that an effective way to stop it, is to gather with other states at the international level and elaborate a specific policy with several targets and goals to be achieved. A similar system can already be found at the EU level with the Green Deal which aims at carbon neutrality by 2050.

In your opinion, what can young people do at a local level to mitigate the effects of climate change?

Young people can do a lot in order to mitigate the effects of climate change at the local level. First of all I think that they can get involved more in protests, demonstrations to raise awareness about this topic at the national level. Their action can moreover be a useful way to spread information among the population. Being more implicated in this issue, the young generation is also more likely to adopt a lifestyle that respects the environment and share good practices.

What is the most important thing you have learned during the training? How do you plan to share and use your knowledge?

One of the most important thing that I leaned and that I also realized at the same time during this training is how every country is affected by climate change and that there is an active youth aware of the situation and ready to take action in order to tackle this issue. I plan to share my knowledge through social media, through discussions concerning the topic at the university, with my friends, my family. I think that doing so is the best way to raise awareness on climate change.