On Thursday, 29 of November at the Belgrade Open School, was held a presentation of publication for youth called "Green Youth". Members of the editorial board of the Belgrade Open School youth portal - Mingl have created media content on the topics of environmental protection in order to increase awareness among young people about the importance of this topic. This content was created within the project "Green Youth: Raising awareness among young people about environmental protection through innovative media strategies". The realization of this project was co-financed by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia.
The event was officially opened by Jovana Bozickovic and Predrag Momcilovic, on behalf of the Belgrade Open School, with briefly review about work of the Belgrade Open School and youth portal Mingl, as well as the main project activities. In two months, correspondents of the youth portal Mingl have passed through the basics of green topics, through lectures, visits and workshops. They also gained knowledge in the field of journalism, as well as "green journalism", through educational lectures and workshops with journalists of the N1 television, the DW Academy and the weekly newspapers called Vreme.
Jelena Rebic spoke to the participants in front of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia, emphasizing that proper information on green topics is of great importance, as well as satisfaction because the Ministry co-financed this important project intended for young people.
The presentation of the publication included an active discussion with the audience and authors of the content in front of the youth portal Mingl and the Belgrade Open School. Mirjana Jovanovic, Project Coordinator in the Energy, Climate, and the Environment Programme of the Belgrade Open School, emphasized the importance of talking and acting within the issue of climate change, and called young people to take action. She was one of the mentors to the authors, directing them to sources of information and method of transmitting ideas. Slobodan Knezevic, on behalf of Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia, made a very important observation of climate change, emphasizing the importance of the environment, especially protected areas, which are the "elixir of life" and the consequences of climate change, that affect these areas. Ognjan Pantic, Project Assistant within the Energy, Climate, and the Environment Programme of the Belgrade Open School, encouraged the discussion on human antropocentrism, since we are constantly taking from nature, and we do not give anything to it. Aleksa Petrovic, a member of the youth portal Mingl, who followed up this very idea, said that the circular economy is a way of thinking about the future of our planet. Zaklina Zivkovic, on behalf of the Policy Analysis Group, talked about the importance of good examples, as well as the environmental balance.
The conclusion is that young people are interested in green topics, but that there is really not enough adequate content on green topics. One of the indicators of young people's interest in green topics is the number of visits to the site of the youth portal Mingl within less than two months, which amounts to over 25,000 visits. All of this is a sign that creating content for young people on green topics and reaching them is indeed a challenge, not a problem, and that young people are interested in being involved in changes that will have a positive impact on quality of life and the environment.
Author of the photos: Belgrade Open School
