Climate Councils, Choreography and Camels

Image

Tomás, a camel, roams through a city, observing people in traffic jams, restaurants, and their own homes - and their wasteful behaviours. A Portuguese performer presents the water footprint of daily products, deforestation, and the damage to our natural water cycles. Tomàs is the mascot of the “Water of the Future” campaign created by the EU DEAR project “People&Planet”. The performer is from Teatro dos Aloés, which also partnered with “People&Planet” to produce ‘All your tears won’t be enough.’

With the camel Tomàs, performers, and many young activists, People&Planet, brought to the forefront the tensions and resistance to changing habits, and the contemporary urge for non-stop consumption. Tomàs was the protagonist of a TV spot, launched in 2022. By the end of 2023, the camel spot reached over 151 million viewers in eight European countries and Cape Verde - raising awareness about water scarcity.  

The theatre performance ‘All your tears won’t be enough’ spurred a reflection about our excessive personal, industrial, and agricultural water consumption. “By connecting audiences emotionally with the challenges of sustainability, theatre can inspire real and lasting change”, a project author writes. Young citizens of Amadora and their thoughts on water scarcity were also integrated into the performance. Participants were convinced that “the arts can be a powerful vehicle for environmental awareness and education.” 

But public campaigns and performances are not enough. “People&Planet” also worked in depth with individuals, who multiplied project results over time. “People&Planet” helped establish Youth Advisory Climate Councils. One young member from Italy, Livia, described the multiplying and expanding impact of effective youth engagement work: “I think there are different levels of engagement and they said that if you are at a low level, you can start with yourself. And then slowly you can have a larger impact with more people that are involved.” 

During the spring of 2024, 29 members of Youth Advisory Climate Councils from different countries participated in an international bootcamp. They discussed the climate challenges of their communities, as well as the localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals. They used design thinking and collective intelligence to co-create innovative solutions to shared ecological problems - to propose concrete actions back in their local communities. “It’s not about just talking – we also want to take action, we want to make it happen” Livia highlights. 

The final exercises created fictional future (and hopeful) newspaper headlines: more forests, plastic-free oceans, global warming being reversed. Another young advisor described her first small step towards that positive future: to work “with local authorities to make the city better and greener.”

More info: 

People & Planet supported local authorities, working together with civil society organisations, to become more visible and impactful in helping their countries and the world to reach the Sustainable Development Goals.

Watch the camel TV spot and check out the practical tools produced by the EU DEAR project: 

• Tips for reducing water waste: waterofthefuture.org/tips-for-reducing
• A “cookbook” for Youth Collective Action
• Creations from seven other partner countries.

Read more about the 

• Youth Advisory Climate Councils
• Theatre as a tool for reflection.

For more visuals and facts about camels, check out the “Water of the Future” social media campaign.