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Spring 2016 

Join us for the YFoEE Summer Camp 2016 in Scotland!

The annual YFoEE Summer Camp will take place between July 18th-24th in between the Angus Glens (Scottish: mountain) and the North Sea, bringing together 80 activists from all over Europe. This year’s camp will include extensive campaigning training, network building and focus on topics such as Equality and Interculturalism, the Fossil Free campaign, TTIP and a new YFoEE campaign around open borders. There will also be lots of free time for your own skill-shares, outdoor activities and Scottish Ceilidh!

So join us in Scotland! Find more information about the camp here - registration closes on June 10th.

Save the Fjords!

Norway’s fjords are fundamental to sustaining local communities and wildlife. However, they are now endangered by large-scale mining projects. In February, 3 weeks of sustained civil disobedience actions managed to stop test drillings on Engebø Mountain. This resulted in 80 protesters being arrested and threats of a multi-million lawsuit. Although the lawsuit threats were dropped, the struggle to #SaveTheFjords continues. You can read more here (Førd Fjord) and here (Reppar Fjord), and join the campaign at www.savethefjords.com.

YFoEE joins activist gathering in Bulgaria

In early March, Lili from YFoE Flanders & Belgium joined waste and resources activists from across the Friends of the Earth Europe network in Bulgaria for three days of training, skill-sharing and learning. Art, upcycling, food and actions - it’s all here!

JMA turn 25

JMA (YFoE Netherlands) are celebrating their 25th anniversary! JMA have now spent a quarter of a century being a unique and change-driven local group, advocating the power of youth in climate activism. With a longstanding history and broad support from society, as well as being part of the wider Young FoEE network, members of this group have been always focusing on the struggles of youth. We are very happy to have JMA in our network and hope that they will shine and keep surprising us for many years!

3rd E?! environmental film festival

In May, volunteers from the activist group of Zelena Akcija (FoE Croatia) organised the 3rd E?! environmental non-profit film festival. With 14 films, 3 panel discussions and 2 activist workshops, this year’s festival covered a wide range of topics on environmental and social justice, local and global resistance, creative activism and good practices and was visited by a lot of new faces. Check out Zelena Akcija’s album for impressions from the festival!

YFoEE Network Gathering 2016, Malta

This year’s YFoEE Network Gathering (our key decision making meeting) was held in sunny Malta, and brought 25 activists from 18 different countries together. The four days were packed with skill-sharing and workshops on various topics and allowed participants to get to know each other better. We also met with local Maltese groups working with migrants. We heard about the work that's happening at a local level, and some of the challenges. To mark the UN day against racism (21st of March) we did a collective solidarity action calling for open borders! We also welcomed many new groups to our network this year (France, Scotland, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium) and elected our brand new steering group - Olav (Norway), Clemence (Clemence), Dora (Croatia), Afrida (UK), Duska (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Kristyan (Bulgaria) and Toril (Germany)! One of our participants -  Rebecka from YFoE Sweden proposed the development of a NEW Biodiversity Working group and wrote a reflection on the event, so make sure to have a look!

Food and Agriculture activists mobilise in Berlin

In January, the YFoEE Food and Agriculture working group met in Berlin to prepare their mobilisation plans for 2016. Activists decided on two new campaigns that will target to create TTIP free zones and build direct links between consumers and local producers. Meaghan from YFoEE Ireland has reflected on the meeting, explaining the future steps of the working group. Campaigns will comprise of many awareness-raising events and actions across Europe, so keep your eyes on our facebook page!

 

Climate Justice = Open Borders

The Climate Justice Working Group has just started developing an exciting new campaign that will target refugee rights and the call for safe passage to Europe. In this article, Maruska â€“ who has been on the front lines of the struggle for open borders for a long time – explains how inaction on climate change and migration are connected, and what we can do as a social movement to alleviate this humanitarian and moral crisis. Keep an eye on our website for news from the Climate Justice Working Group or get in touch if you want to join this inspiring new campaign. (marus.mileta@gmail.com)

Join us!

At YFoEE, we are always looking to expand our Climate Justice, Food & Agriculture, Communications, and Equality and Interculturalism working groups. Whether you want to get involved with climate justice or TTIP and sustainable food campaigns, write stories and spread the word around, help our network to prosper or work for a intersectional environmental movement - we have it covered! Contact Emma Jayne for further information on how to get involved.

31st May - 3rd June

YFoEE activists from the Food and Agriculture Working group and our new Biodiversity Working group will join the Friends of the Earth Europe Food, Agriculture and Biodiversity Programme network meeting in the Netherlands from the 31st of May – 3rd of June.

May - August 

Agri-activists begin their anti-GM campaigning in South Wales in May. Over the summer, four YFoEE volunteers will spend several weeks at Caerhy's organic farm, near St. Davids. Lili and Elena are the first to arrive so you can expect exciting blogs on the YFoEE site and you can also follow what they're up to on Instagram. 

Share the news!

If there is anything you want to share - news, blogs on environmental topics, policy, events, other - just get in touch with Zivile (YFoEE comms working group) and we will get it published on our website, or in the next newsletter. And don’t worry if you’re not a native English speaker - most of us aren’t, and we have people who can help you with that!

Biodiversity working group starting off

Rebecka Le Moine (YFoE Sweden) is currently looking for people who are interested in biodiversity issues and willing to help start up a Biodiversity Working Group for YFoEE, as the issue does not always fall under our work on climate justice or food and agriculture. If you are interested in joining this new and exciting working group contact Rebecka: becka.lemoine@gmail.com

2 Weeks of Mass Actions on Coal, Oil and Gas

In May, Europe saw a mass wave of collective direct action against coal, oil and gas as a part of Break Free 2016. Climate and social justice groups mobilised thousands of activists to take direct action against fossil fuel extraction, including the well-known Ende Gelände in Germany and End Coal Now in Wales. Some of our activists travelled there - read abut their impressions here. 

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Image credits: Feature photo (YFoEE Summer Camp) : YFoEE/Helene Lind Jensen | Save the Fjords : Wim Lassche | YFoEE joins activist gathering in Bulgaria : YFoEE | JMA turn 25: Jongeren Milieu Actief | 3rd E?! environmental film festival : Zelena Akcija | YFoEE Annual General Meeting in Malta : Jongeren Milieu Actief I Food and Agriculture activists mobilise in Berlin : Kristiyan Naidenov | Climate Justice = Open Borders : YFoEE | Biodiversity working group starting off : Lawrence Cheuk / Jongeren Milieu Actief.

Many thanks to the editors of this newsletter: Zivile, Maruska, Paul & Carmen.

Young Friends of the Earth Europe gratefully acknowledges financial support from all our donors: www.foeeurope.org/yfoee/our-funding