COP26 earthbeat Tour

The Earthbeat COP26 Tour: Spreading the Message of Sustainability and Cooperation Across the World

In 2021, Youth4planet organized the Earthbeat Tour, which aimed to spread the message of sustainability, cooperation, and love across the world.

COP26 earthbeat Tour

The Earthbeat COP26 Tour: Spreading the Message of Sustainability and Cooperation Across the World

In 2021, Youth4planet organized the Earthbeat Tour, which aimed to spread the message of sustainability, cooperation, and love across the world.

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Let's go to COP26!

The Earthbeat Tour

Imagine embarking on a journey from Luxembourg to Glasgow on a bike to raise awareness about climate action. That’s exactly what the Earthbeat Tour, organized by Youth4planet, aimed to do in 2021. Founder Joerg Altekruse came up with the idea to equip three special transport bicycles, called CreatiVelos, as mobile communication hubs, powered by two large solar panels. Two team members, Alessandra Barale and Max Hoffman, rode these bikes while other members rode regular bikes alongside them.

From Luxembourg to Glasgow

Youth Stories of Sustainability

The Tour aimed to create a continuous narrative along the journey from Luxembourg to the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. The CreatiVelos served as a platform to showcase films and stories made by young people from around the world, highlighting their efforts towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These films were created during Youth4planet workshops or through the Earthbeat Challenge, which encouraged everyone to share their stories in engaging and meaningful ways.

Sparking conversations

Our Journey

The journey started with a three-day Climate Expo in Luxembourg where the bikes were introduced to the public. The built-in screens on the bikes played films created by children and youth, showcasing their fears, dreams, and insights as a call to action. This sparked conversations with the public and captured their perspectives through interviews and short films. The #oneearthbeat hashtag documented the journey on social media, generating significant traction.

Luxembourg

Oct. 12th 2021

Maastricht

Oct. 13th 2021

Eindhoven

Oct. 13th 2021

Eersel

Oct. 14th 2021

Antwerp

Oct. 14th 2021

Brussels

Oct. 15th 2021

Lille

Oct. 16th 2021

Callei

Oct. 17th 2021

Dover

Oct. 17th 2021

Rye

Oct. 17th–19th 2021

Oxford

Oct. 20th–21st 2021

Bicester

Oct. 21st 2021

London

Oct. 22nd 2021

Birmingham

Oct. 25th–27th

Edinburgh

Oct. 28th – Nov. 1st 2021

Glasgow

Nov. 1st 2021

On the first day of the tour, the team started their journey from Luxembourg. Despite the rainy weather, everyone was excited and full of energy to begin the journey.

The team rode their CreatiVelos and reached Maastricht in the Netherlands, where they witnessed a beautiful sunset at a bike crossing in Eindhoven. They also met an alderman in an urban garden and interviewed a former engineer at Philips, as well as a couple of students from the University of Eindhoven who were working on sustainability projects.

The team stayed overnight in Eindhoven, where they learned about the city's efforts to become a cleaner and car-free city center, which aligns with Sustainable Development Goal no. 3 - Good Health And Well Being.

The team rode from Eindhoven to Eersel, a municipality in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant. They interviewed the mayor at a measuring station for dust pollution and learned about the region's intensive agriculture and high emissions in terms of dust and nitrogen oxide air pollution. They also stayed for the night in Eersel.

The team passed by Antwerp on their way to Brussels.

The team started their day in pouring rain with a group of students from the Ettelbrucker Gymnasium (Luxembourg) to Brussels. They were picked up by European Parliament member Hansen, who accompanied them with his bike up to the parliament. Although they were unable to enter due to vaccination requirements, they had a picnic with exciting discussions with Hansen and the students from Ettelbrück. Overall, the trip was inspiring and filled with knowledge about sustainability and climate action. While we were leaving Brussels for Lille, the students from Ettelbruck drove home. After a restful night we were greeted by a wonderful sun after the many rainy days on our tour. The weather motivated us even more to go to the event of a citizens' movement: In addition to a city district inspection with projects on transformation, we of course did interviews again and presented our project.

Among other things we were shown one of 3000 houses in Lille that are currently being energetically renovated and the first real organic supermarket in Lille. Then we drove to an event in the park: There the mood was good, music was played and wishes for the climate conference were written down and hung on a tree. After a few interviews, we drove to an old factory building that today serves as an office for various associations. A community of citizens has installed solar systems in the hall. Before we stopped for dinner, the “Mayoress for Transformation” (yes, there is that in Lille!) gave us an exciting interview.

The next day we left for Callei, from where our ferry to England left. It took us half the day to organize a PCR test, to be waved through customs with our bicycles and trucks. We were astonished that shortly before our ferry a not even half full ferry started within sight.

At 3 p.m. local time we reached Dover, where we were allowed to enjoy one of the most beautiful sections of our tour so far on the cliffs of a nature reserve. A wonderful sunset while driving along England's coast rounded off the almost mystical experience.

It wasn't until late that we arrived in Rye, very hungry and tired, and ended up in bed at 11 am with sore muscles. That night we all slept as deeply as babies! After a day off in Rye, we were invited by the director of Rye College. We stayed a couple of hours and interviewed the pupils – and also the mayor of Rye, who was very interested in our tour and the whole project. Afterwards, we visited the most important nature reserve in South England – the #Romney Marsh and had inspiring conversations with the Rangers.

At the Oxford city university we met ~200 students. The college is part of a network of ~50 colleges and they are very interested in the CreatiVelo to establish their own as a physical communication tool between partners and the communities around them. After that we rode about 15 miles to Bicester, which is a civil parish in north-east Oxfordshire – to interview the pupils and teachers of the local college.

We rode about 15 miles to Bicester, which is a civil parish in north-east Oxfordshire – to interview the pupils and teachers of the local college.

For the weekend, we were invited to the London Transport Museum where we were a part of the exhibition FromSteamToGreen.

We traveled to Birmingham, the second biggest city in England, where we stayed with CreatiVelo in the pedestrian zone in front of the famous St. Martin's Church. Lots of pedestrians were curious about our tour, and we were even spontaneously invited into the church by 2 priests, and we interviewed them along with a couple of parishioners. Then, we rode to Aston University and talked to Annas Mazhar, vice-president of student activities. We also talked to the Aston University PR team and had a very British teatime in the EBRI (Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute).

After taking another day off, we traveled to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, which is just about 50 miles away from our final destination in Glasgow. On the way, we rode through the Lake District National Park – a stunningly beautiful nature reserve! In Edinburgh, the whole project team gathered again, and even some of the pupils from Ettelbrück gymnasium (a small town in Luxembourg from where we started the whole tour) joined us. We also invited Tom Scheidel, an award-winning young environmental scientist.

We finally reached our destination: the Climate Conference COP26 in Glasgow. On our journey, we met so many inspiring people from interesting places. We interviewed a lot of them and collected statements on how we as humanity can tackle the climate crisis. We rode through cold wind and rain, but we also experienced beautiful sunny days and amazing sunsets. Glasgow, Nov. 5th 2021 On the 5th We presented the Earthbeat Film Challenge as well as the earthbeat COP26 tour in the cinema auditorium in the green zone

Arriving in Glasgow

The challenge

In Glasgow, the team organized and participated in various events, including showcasing the journey and the results of the film challenge at a multi-hour event at the Glasgow IMAX cinema. The bikes were used for demonstrations, interviews, and even a radio program. The team grew to 19 members, and the success of the Earthbeat Tour led to inquiries from around the world, including from the Kenyan Transport Minister, who expressed interest in a similar project in her country.

My initial question was: how can we succeed in equipping three special transport bicycles as mobile communication sites and using them on a journey in such a way that a continuous narrative unfolds along the way about the population's level of awareness of the great transformation.

A powerful journey

Conclusion

The Earthbeat Tour demonstrated the power of communication and collaboration between civil society initiatives and governments and corporations. Joerg Altekruse, the founder of Youth4planet, even rode along on a regular bike alongside other team members. The use of film to connect local and global communities to create a growing movement for sustainable change is a promising model for the future. The inspiration and material gathered during the journey will be used to create a documentary film titled “Earthbeat.”

Miles

Cities

Days

The climate conference

What was COP26?

The UN Climate Change Conference 2021, also known as COP26, was held in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 31 to November 12, 2021. It aimed to initiate effective climate protection measures, specifically to keep the 1.5-degree Celsius target of the Paris Agreement within reach. The conference resulted in the Glasgow Climate Pact, which saw over 190 countries commit to more ambitious climate action. However, the outcome was criticized by some for not going far enough. There were also protests from various groups calling for more urgent action to address the climate crisis, highlighting the growing frustration and anger among many people worldwide.