Closing speech Aalborg conference

Closing Ceremony
Aalborg July 12th 2008.
President's address.

I would like to start by reminding you of the catch phrase of the Aalborg Commitments…Inspiring Futures.
This in many ways sums up the work of CEI (Caretakers of the Environment International)
If we take the final commitment, we could say, we aim to:

Strengthen the international cooperation of the Caretakers Network
and help to develop local responses to global problems
in partnership with local government, communities and stakeholders.

How should we do this?

As an International Board, we are committed to:
Improving communication
Development of our website
Reactivating and developing our National branches.

We have made the following structural changes:
I am stepping down after 6 very rewarding years as President of CEI. I thank all the Board plus Council members, teachers and young people for all their invaluable support. Birgitta Norden from Sweden will take over as President. Fatima Almeida will replace her as Vice President. We wish them well in their new roles.
I will remain on the Board along with Toni Salamon from Poland and your conference host this year Elisabeth Brun as Board members.
We have appointed two new Board members to reflect both younger educators and regional diversity. Mr Kenneth Ochoa from Colombia as South American representative and Mr Thomas Wong to represent China/Hong Kong.
We have appointed Regional Co-ordinators which will be listed on the website. I think it is important that each delegation here make contact with their regional co-ordinator before they leave Denmark.
o Andrew Cox: Africa
o Toni Salamon: Eastern Europe (including Russia)
o Cris Leibner: North America
o Fatima Almeida: RIACA (with Kenneth Ochoa), Greece
o Birgitta Norden: Asia
o Dan Hoynacki: Australia, New Zealand, Japan
o Joke Wals: Western and Central Europe
o Elizabeth Brun: Scandinavia/Baltic Countries
o Anne Marie Begg: Middle East

I would like to thank the Alumni for all their hard work behind the scenes in liaising between the Board, the conference organisers and you the young people. Thanks to Marie, Ana and Armand. We look forward to their role developing over the coming years.

As Teachers/Educators
I would like to use the slogan of the Grundfors company some of the groups visited yesterday:

Being responsible is our foundation,
Thinking ahead makes it possible,
Innovation is the essence.

Carrying out Joint Educational Projects such as:
o Seeds of Biodiversity (Isabel Abrams and Wayne Schimpff)
o Ecotourism (Fernando Loures)

As Young People
Get the message across…as Dan Hoynacki says: there is no such thing as the answer no, you just have to ask the right question. You have rights and responsibilities. I want you all to contact your local media when you get home and tell them what you learnt and your recommendations for future sustainability. Are you ready for this challenge?
Use a variety of ways (as indicated in your excellent presentations, both the projects and the cultural evening)

I would like to thank our partners:
·Youth school
· Their partners…too numerous to mention but absolutely vital for conference success, including the base here with the excellent quality and diversity of food.
·Organising team for their Quiet Efficiency
· Elisabeth Bruin as Conference Chair. Last year, I used the phrase behind every good man there is a woman. This time, I would say behind every good woman, there is man. Thank you to Elisabeth’s husband, Hans. All those occasions when she was going off around the world, she was developing an idea.

The dream has turned into reality.

Thank you and well done.

I would like to quote a Viking saying that I found at the Lindholm Hoje which we visited on Tuesday on How to preserve friendship

Go you must.
No guest shall stay in one place for ever.
Love will be lost
if you sit too long at a friend’s place.

We must now look forward to the future conferences.
In 2010, we have accepted the kind offer of Indonesia to host.
For next year, 2009, we have accepted Scotland to replace Argentina who could not unfortunately raise sufficient funding.
I therefore would invite Elisabeth to pass on the Statuette, kindly presented by Hong Kong last year, to Anne Marie.

Thank you,
Andrew Cox, (outgoing) President of CEI.

Opening Ceremony Aalborg

Opening Ceremony
Aalborg July 7th 2008.

As President of Caretakers of the Environment International (CEI) I would like to introduce who we are and what we do.
We are a Global Network for teachers, educators and students.
We began in 1987 in tents and caravans in Den Haag, Netherlands. It was a joint concept of Ed Radatz and Isabel Abrams from the USA and Arjen Wals from the Netherlands who met in Chicago. They developed an idea which has grown from strength to strength.
An International Board was set up. This Board invites offers from countries to host the annual conference. It has been in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Central America.
Thanks to Aalborg Youth school for hosting this year.
The legacy of past conferences is one big family with National Branches, ongoing contacts in countries around the globe, RIACA ( a regional network for the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries).
The result is diversity from the 15 countries represented here this year.
But what makes it UNIQUE is you the young people, working side by side with educators and teachers.
There is Unity through a common theme for the conference, the recommendations/environmental statements at the end of the conference and
the Joint Educational Projects such as the Seeds of Biodiversity project and this year the introduction to Threads of Equality.

Some reflections on the Theme.
First, in travelling to this conference, I am reminded of the song title: Trains and Boats and Planes. Our delegation drove to Dublin, took a plane to Copenhagen, then a bus and ferry to Aalborg. All very efficient.
The same wind that is blowing the Viking longboat from its visit to Dublin (a city founded in Ireland by the Vikings) back to Roskilde in Denmark where it was built is the same wind that powers the wind turbines that are clearly visible from the aeroplane window as you arrive into Kastrup airport. This New Energy is visible on every horizon throughout the country.
In 1998, when we hosted the conference I recollect Jose Ramon Casanova (a teacher from Spain) and myself peering up inside a wind turbine on the hills of Northern Ireland. 10 years later, Spain has fully embraced this new source of energy whilst Ireland is only slowly coming to the realisation that it is useful and sustainable form of energy.
Travelling between Aarhus and Aalborg on the bus, I was reminded of similar landscapes I had seen in previous conferences. In 1987, cycling around the island of Texel in the Netherlands and in 1989 on a farm visit in Wisconsin, USA.
The landscape was either flat or gently rolling with red coloured farmhouses surrounded by a windbreak of trees and endless fields of cereal crops. The grain silos and the animal waste tanks by the farmhouse indicated the intensive nature of animal rearing. Nowadays, that animal waste can be used as Biogas.

I would like to finish with an advert that appears on Irish TV.
It is from Carlsberg, the Danish Beer company:

Carlsberg don’t do conferences, but if they did,
they Probably would organise the best in the world.

It is up to our hosts to prove this!

Future Conferences

It is clear that we need a 5 year plan of future conferences.
It is equally clear that it is a costly and time consuming venture to host a conference.
Anyone who has already hosted the conference will accept that one can be lucky or unlucky in the amount of money/time/equipment/expertise that is sponsored for any one conference.
We should also accept that if a poor country like Kenya can host the CEI conference with support from us and despite many barriers, then it is possible for any country to host the conference in the future. We must cut our cloth to meet our needs.

Step 1 is to have a vision and desire to host the conference.
Step 2 is to get a team together to organise the event.
Step 3 is to put together a minimum budget based on all delegates paying a conference fee.
Step 4 is to see to what extent the costs can be brought down by sponsorship of that time, expertise, equipment and of course money, if that is possible, that I mentioned at the start.
This will allow the organisers to sponsor their own local delegates (who have a dual role of assisting at the conference) and also where possible to support delegations from less developed parts of the globe.
Step 5 is to present to the Board the vision and the desire to host the conference.
Step 6 is for the Board to look at ways in which it can support the conference request in terms of the 5 year plan.

Our primary goal should be to have an independent conference that is run along the lines of CEI goals. We may have a secondary goal to host the conference in association with another worthy organisation. We must strive to ensure the continuity of our successful conferences by whatever strategy best meets our aims.

I look forward to the challenge that is presented to us and hope that we can construct a plan to take us into the future.
After all, it less challenging than Global warming!!

Presidents report

There are two subjects which I would like to focus on in my report.

1. The level of communication between conferences. I feel strongly that we need to reactivate the National branches and encourage better communication between branches at regional level. As Board members responsible for different regions globally, we need to discuss how best this could be carried out. We need to feed ideas and information through from those regions/branches to the Global Forum and strengthen the content on our website. As I said in my message to Global Forum: "Another school term has passed and we are now thinking of all the things we promised to do. Every year we leave the conference with good intentions. Lets make it our New Year resolution to carry out our promised actions. These resolutions should be at every level: from the students who promised to email other students; teachers who said they would email their ideas to other teachers; and Board and Council members who agreed to complete certain tasks to bring the organisation forward. " Perhaps, we can think about Regional websites with a specific focus e.g. Africa or Asia.

2. The Alumni Council: I am very encouraged by the progress being made on this front. The young people involved are those who will keep the organisation going into the future. We must continue to give them every support.

I resign my term of office at the end of the conference in Denmark after 6 years since I was nominated in Italy. I have enjoyed my experiences in Greece, Kenya, Poland, Oregon and Hong Kong. I thank you all for your support and look forward to continuing in some role into the future. I wish my successor well.
Finally, I must add my good wishes to Cris. It won't be the same without you present to add your considered comments.

Where next?

Word has come that there is a problem with hosting the annual conference in Argentina in 2009. So the question arises, what do we do now?
Is there any other country who can bring forward their plans and mobilise enough funds to run the conference?
This topic will be high on the agenda for delegates and especially CEI Board members attending the conference in Denmark.

Presidential Welcome

How can we use this Blog? I hope anyone who wishes to comment will feel free to do so.
Caretakers of the Environment International is a Global Network of Secondary School Teachers and StudentsActive in Environmental Education.
My name is Andrew Cox and I live in Waterford, Ireland.
Currently, I am President of the organisation. For more information about CEI, check out our website: http://www.caretakers4all.org/

This years conference is to be held in Aalborg, Denmark form July 6th to 13th.
Environment, Sustainability and New Energy
http://www.cei2008.org/