The Boston GreenFest has just reached its tenth anniversary this year, and increasingly focuses on raising people to create a more sustainable and healthier world.
From business to nonprofit, neighborhood association to academic institution, State and city leaders, sustainability experts, students and citizens of all spheres of social life took part in the zero-waste event, focusing on issues such as racial equity, local food, transport, and trends Green technologies.
As part of the event’s International Youth Summit, many young people from as far away as China, have opted for ‘alternative-formative holiday’ by joining the dialogue on climate change and the role of youth play.
Among them the name of Jeremy Fryer-Biggs – co-founder of Evaptainers, a LAUNCH food innovator to address the deterioration of food and its enormous social and environmental impacts. Evaptainers uses EV8 technology to counteract the deterioration of fruit and vegetables thanks to the world’s lowest-cost fridge, powered by evaporation. Jeremy has revealed how difficult it is to start, especially when you have no relationship and it has warned the innovation community that it should limit barriers to young social entrepreneurs. His first suggestion was to reach young people to demystify the process of implementing a social enterprise, providing them with basics to know where to start. His second suggestion was to push them beyond the idea of action.
Hence, and among other presentations, the need to design solutions in partnership with young and old, of various races and backgrounds, to ensure collective buy-in and collective action. And, above all, encouraging youth participation: Boston’s GreenFest has given ample test of this and it would be great for other cities to get the next generation of changemakers.
The area of Subidanagar and Shankamul from the Bagmati flows was handed to the local community and allows them to improve and maintain the corridor area. Campaign for Change-Nepal (CCN), believing that once people are motivated to environmental sustainability and green activities decided to conduct the plantation program inside crowded and polluted Kathmandu. CCN collaborated with the local community of that area to plant the trees alongside the river and maintain the greenery in the riverside. CCN conducted training for the youths focusing the green sustainability of the environment through the trainees of the training program in Portugal. The training team then arranged about 200 plants of different species including several fruits species that were suitable to grow in that area. Along with the local community people, CCN volunteers planted trees in that area. There was a huge local participation and also the students from several colleges also joined the program. The plants were planted and watered daily and in month duration, the invasive grasses growing near the plants were cleared out regularly. The motto of the program was to encourage the youths and the local community to be involved in the green activities. Local people understood the necessity of green environmental activities and the possible entrepreneurship with green focus.
