«Vi vil vise at alle kan være med å skape et samfunn med klimarettferdighet», – sier den tyske organisasjonen Omas for Future. I august kommer de til Oslo for å bli med på BKAs konferanse for European Grandparents. – «I en verden med krig og trusler mot demokratiet er det viktigere enn noen gang med et europeisk samarbeid.»
Name: Gabi Both – from Germany
Age: 70 years
Name of your organization: Omas for Future (O4F)
Why did you join the organization?
My husband and I raised foster children. Life is not always easy for them and there is no room for climate change disaster in their future. We want them – and all children – to be able to live good, healthy and safe lives just as we have been fortunate to do. So we became engaged in climate activism. We have to live in balance with nature based on love, respect and fairness. I believe in motivating people to shape a sustainable society by offering solutions.
What are the main topics your organisation concentrates on?
To involve people, we participate in various public events in schools, libraries, markets, lectures, TV programs, podcasts, demonstrations and more. We organize presentations, events as ‘Future Days’ and many diverse creative actions led by our local groups. We use music, play, visuals, online quizzes and we provide accessible information through brochures that combine health and sustainability or offer insights about the future. We are developing a new form of communication that focuses on information about a meaningful, liveable future. We demonstrate its achievability with examples from cities all over Europe where these ideas are already implemented and where residents can share how the city feels after the changes. We call the approach ‘Gelingende Geschichten’ which translates ‘stories that came to meaningful success’.
Why did your organisation join the EGC?
In a world facing war, threats to democracy and rising populism it is more important than ever for Europe to stay united. We are convinced that joint forces over Europe will enlarge our impact, we can reach out to our MP’s in Brussels, support their work and demand climate friendly policies – grounded on evidence based information – from the European parliament. Further we believe that the exchange of information on successful national or local projects will expand our area of activities, we will learn from each other!
What do you expect to get out of the Oslo summit?
I hope that the EGC will be strengthened by getting to know each other on a more personal level, that we can find effective ways to motivate more members to take an active part and have good discussions on how to expand our reach and join forces in Brussels. For me personally positive communication is a very important topic: storytelling through visuals. I look forward to exploring how the EGC can best use this approach. I am also very curious about Oslo’s climate strategy, as Oslo is one of the cities O4F features in its new communication approach with ‘Gelingende Geschichten’.
