On Friday evening, the Chargé d’Affaires a.i. at the US Embassy in Luxembourg, Alison Shorter-Lawrence, hosted an event at the embassy addressing the Embassy’s Youth Celebration of the U.N.’s World Environment Day 2015; the theme chosen by the United Nation for this year’s World Environment Day was "Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care."
Alison Shorter-Lawrence stated "even though we are a small group in small Embassy in a small country, we can join forces with people around the world to help make a difference. This morning, the Embassy staff made a special effort to walk, ride bikes or take the bus to work today instead of driving our cars. The Embassy has done tree-plantings in the past and also video contests to raise awareness about the environment as well."
Tonie Van Dam and Ariane König, both professors from the University of Luxembourg, Marc Bichler, Luxembourg’s Ambassador at Large for Climate Change, and Jack Bobo, Senior Advisor for Agricultural Policy at the U.S. Department of State, addressed students about climate change and the environment and took part in a Q&A session. The formal part of the event was followed by a symbolic tree-planting activity on the Embassy premises.
The event addressed citizen science, a new form of science anyone can contribute to via their mobile devices – a sort of new serious gaming that can help them set up projects for mapping environmental change about issues they care, the certificate programme at the University of Luxembourg on Sustainability and Social Innovation, the effects of a growing global population on the Earth’s fresh water reserves, and can agriculture save the planet before it destroys it?
As part of the tree-planting activity, each participant received a small tree to be re-planted in either a private yard, in a forest or at a school as a visual symbol of their contribution to World Environment Day. The US Embassy encouraged the students to take a photo or short video of the planting and share it on the US Embassy’s social media platforms.
The Embassy also announced a special Video Contest for students who are invited to produce, over the summer holidays, a video clip showcasing their views on environmental related concerns. The outcome of the contest will take place during a special viewing and award ceremony.
