Project Summary

AEGEE-Ankara
Finding Sustainland
Summer University’09 on Sustainability
Project Summary
2009

‘Finding Sustainland’ is a summer university project by AEGEE-Ankara. The project is designed after AEGE-Europe has chosen ‘sustainability’ as the flagship project to be the vocal point of all local projects in the following two years. Members of AEGEE-Ankara had already accumulated considerable amount of awareness and energy to have this very cucial initiative on sustainability; however, the decision by the AEGEE-Europe provided the necesary courage to start. One of the two annual summer university projects by AEGEE-Ankara was allocated to that topic for the Summer 2009. Key questions about the project are briefly answered below:

1. What is the project about?

This is a summer university project about ‘sustainability’ for 40 participants from the AEGEE locals in Europe, and designed as 5 days of education in Ankara and remaining 9 days of area visit around the Kaz Mountains, the north-western Turkey.

2. Why is that topic chosen? Who are the target groups?

Observing the naked reality of unsustainable ways of living by homo-economicus in the 21st century, and seeking to use the adventage of targetting the youth who are the quickest to respond, easiest to adapt, and the most viable target of any negative or positive outcomes as they are the future carers of the earth,the future decision-makers, and the future parents to be accountable to their children, the project is aiming to shed a light on the notion of ‘sustainability’ showing how we reached that unsustainable stage, what is the current situation, what are the prospects for the future and after all, what we, as the youth, should/can do to turn the cycle to the right direction. In the final analysis, the project is a youth attempt to raise awareness among the youth and share the truth about our shared heritage, the earth which has the power to unite us and bridge the distance betwen ‘me’ and ‘we’, creating the basis for common effort and shared responsibility, as Al Gore states his Nobel Lecture in 2007.

3.When is the project supposed to take place?

The project will take place between the 17th and the 31st of the August, 2009.

4. Where is the location? How is the programme desigened?

The first round of the programme is designed to take place in Ankara. That will be the education-intensive part of the programme. Several trainers from distinguished institutions and organisations will lead the seminars, panels and workshops besides the AEGEE-Ankara stuff. Visit to the near eco-village, ‘cycling for recyling’ experience in the Middle East Technical University campus, rowing in the Lake Eymir, 3R workshops (reduce, reuse and recycle), self-made, nature-friendly t-shirts, green-breakfasts will be complimenting this relatively formal part. This round will equip the participants with the basic background about sustainability.

The second round is supposed to take place around the very natural, and still conserved beauty of the north-western Anatolia, Kaz Mountain which is said to be the second oxygen-intense region in the world, after the Alps although it is under serious threats of ecological destruction. This region will embrace the participants with variety of colours of nature either through 2 days of camping on the high hills of the mountain which is listed among valuable national parks of Turkey, or 2 days of ‘imece’ experience (kind of an eco-village managed with an ideal, small-scale sustainable social and natural environment inspired from the traditional, Turkish way of village co-opeation ), or trips to the surrounding islands of the Marmara Sea by boat, or the authentic, local fest of nomadic Turqomen. The method of inclusion will be materialized all along the activities in this round to make the participants internalize the sustainable ways of living.

5. What are objectives of the project:

The project is aiming to reach following objectves through short-term and long-term efforts.
- Raising awareness among the AEGEE-Akara members and the 40 participants to the summer university about the current discourse of sustainability.
- Constructing an internalized idea of sustainable life among the young participants.
- Resuming a region-wide network for sharing knowledge, experience and innovative ideas to be actualized collaboraively for a sustainable future for all.
- Providing the sustainability of that awareness-raising project through guidelines for the future summer university organizers on sustainability among the participants.
- Releasing a final report on the common knowledge accumulated throughout the project and sharing it with all accessible state and non-state political and economic actors.
- Finally enhancing the expansion of the necesary knowledge and belief for the construction of a sustainable future by all, for all.

For any ideas or suggestions contact address is:

AEGEE-Ankara
Merkez Mühendislik Binası No:120
ODTÜ
Ankara
Türkiye
TR-06531
+90 312 210 36 25
www.aegee-ankara.org

Nuran Torun
Finding Sustainland Summer University
Project Coordination Team
Fund Raiser
Tel: +90 505 501 73 26
+ 90 536 562 25 33
www.findingsustainland.blogspot.com