Interview
Paula Alves Silva: “Our best tool is to inform in order to educate and
change”
change”
Published on June 19th, 2015
Living and working in the United States, the 29-year Portuguese Paula Alves Silva, embarked on a World Bank project focusing on awareness and education on climate change. Involved in Connect4Climate since February 2014, the journalist, who collaborates in the creation of multimedia content on this topic, described in an interview with Clima@EduMedia, some of the activities and results of this initiative.
When and in what context was Connect4Climate project created? What are the main goals?
Connect4Climate is a partnership between the World Bank and the Italian Ministry of Environment, created in 2011. It aims to inform, to stimulate local actions that will catalyse a more international, broader and multifaceted movement in the fight against global warming and its impact on the planet. This work is the result of a partnership with more than 200 organisations around the world.
What are the main activities carried out under the project? Does it also involve the younger community?
The project is primarily directed to the younger community; however, some of the initiatives involve broader age communities. Over the years, Connect4Climate has been forming different initiatives that are dedicated to different areas. We, therefore, have projects linked to cinema, fashion, academia and sport, which seek to make those worlds more sustainable whilst simultaneously providing each individual with a role in this shift towards a greener world. Giving a concrete example, we have recently launched Film4Climate, created as an alliance between different producers and film organisations to implement concrete measures to produce films that enable a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Alongside this work, we promote through our online platform news related to climate change, always globally aware.
What are the main results already obtained from this initiative?
The results are floating and are always dependent on each individual project. But we have noted a stimulant growth of our online community and consequent interaction. For instance, through our Action4Climate competition, we have obtained over 200 documentaries from around the world with relevant stories about the implications of climate change at local or national level and solutions are being found to deal with these problems, and we had also the opportunity to reward a Portuguese director. More recently, in collaboration with other partner organisations, we have held an event in Washington DC dedicated to the Earth Day celebrations with numerous artists, which brought together more than 250,000 people.
What differences do you find between the United States and Portugal when it comes to raising awareness of climate change?
Actually, I have never worked on any project with this goal in Portugal, but I think that, in general, Europeans believe more strongly that climate change is a result of human action. In the American case, there is a percentage of the US population that has strong political or religious beliefs on the issue of global warming and whether this is caused by humans. In this sense, our work has to take into account these sensitivities and thus, our best tool is to inform in order to educate and change.
“If governments do not implement adaptation and mitigation measures, in 2030 we will not be able to recognise the world we live in today”
Connect4Climate is a partnership between the World Bank and the Italian Ministry of Environment, created in 2011. It aims to inform, to stimulate local actions that will catalyse a more international, broader and multifaceted movement in the fight against global warming and its impact on the planet. This work is the result of a partnership with more than 200 organisations around the world.
What are the main activities carried out under the project? Does it also involve the younger community?
The project is primarily directed to the younger community; however, some of the initiatives involve broader age communities. Over the years, Connect4Climate has been forming different initiatives that are dedicated to different areas. We, therefore, have projects linked to cinema, fashion, academia and sport, which seek to make those worlds more sustainable whilst simultaneously providing each individual with a role in this shift towards a greener world. Giving a concrete example, we have recently launched Film4Climate, created as an alliance between different producers and film organisations to implement concrete measures to produce films that enable a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Alongside this work, we promote through our online platform news related to climate change, always globally aware.
What are the main results already obtained from this initiative?
The results are floating and are always dependent on each individual project. But we have noted a stimulant growth of our online community and consequent interaction. For instance, through our Action4Climate competition, we have obtained over 200 documentaries from around the world with relevant stories about the implications of climate change at local or national level and solutions are being found to deal with these problems, and we had also the opportunity to reward a Portuguese director. More recently, in collaboration with other partner organisations, we have held an event in Washington DC dedicated to the Earth Day celebrations with numerous artists, which brought together more than 250,000 people.
What differences do you find between the United States and Portugal when it comes to raising awareness of climate change?
Actually, I have never worked on any project with this goal in Portugal, but I think that, in general, Europeans believe more strongly that climate change is a result of human action. In the American case, there is a percentage of the US population that has strong political or religious beliefs on the issue of global warming and whether this is caused by humans. In this sense, our work has to take into account these sensitivities and thus, our best tool is to inform in order to educate and change.
“If governments do not implement adaptation and mitigation measures, in 2030 we will not be able to recognise the world we live in today”
In Portugal, the introduction and reference to the terms adaptation and mitigation, as measures associated with this issue, is recent. Are these concepts familiar and is there sufficient knowledge about them in the US?
The information is fully available and there are numerous resources available for obtaining data in this field. Furthermore, as is well known, the actions of the White House in the field of climate change are striking. Obama has taken as one of his key measures of action the combat to climate change, and adaptation and mitigation measures began to be taken by the government and by many public and private companies and organisations in the country. Obviously, it will take a few years to feel and measure the results.
What are the next steps for Connect4Climate?
The year 2015 is a tremendously important year for the planet and for us. In December, a highly significant meeting with world leaders will be held: COP21 in Paris. And so, Connect4Climate will focus much of its work on the events that will take place there and on impacting actions we can carry out during the meeting. I cannot reveal more for now. Obviously, the remaining projects will not be forgotten and we will continue to work throughout the year, in the areas of sport and cinema, finding out what can be done to reach an even wider worldwide audience that occasionally has some difficulty in accessing information.
You work in the development of multimedia content on climate change. What difficulties do you encounter when carrying out this type of work on this issue?
Generally, I do not find many barriers, but as we all know, climate change-related information is, as a rule, quite scientific. So the difficulty is sometimes related to the translation of information to a common language, so that the reader can understand the real impact of these data in their local context and in the global context.
What message on climate change do you want to give the young generation of Portuguese, taking into account the experience and learning in this project?
That the actions of each individual count. Our daily behaviours - what we consume, how we consume - has a tremendous impact on the planet and our future. We tend to forget that individual actions matter; that, when seen as a whole, they have positive or negative consequences that are visible. And therefore, you have the power to change the world, your world. Think locally to act globally. It is important to remember that if humans do not change their actions and if governments do not implement adaptation and mitigation measures, in 2030, we will not be able to recognise the world we live in today.
By: Renata Silva
The information is fully available and there are numerous resources available for obtaining data in this field. Furthermore, as is well known, the actions of the White House in the field of climate change are striking. Obama has taken as one of his key measures of action the combat to climate change, and adaptation and mitigation measures began to be taken by the government and by many public and private companies and organisations in the country. Obviously, it will take a few years to feel and measure the results.
What are the next steps for Connect4Climate?
The year 2015 is a tremendously important year for the planet and for us. In December, a highly significant meeting with world leaders will be held: COP21 in Paris. And so, Connect4Climate will focus much of its work on the events that will take place there and on impacting actions we can carry out during the meeting. I cannot reveal more for now. Obviously, the remaining projects will not be forgotten and we will continue to work throughout the year, in the areas of sport and cinema, finding out what can be done to reach an even wider worldwide audience that occasionally has some difficulty in accessing information.
You work in the development of multimedia content on climate change. What difficulties do you encounter when carrying out this type of work on this issue?
Generally, I do not find many barriers, but as we all know, climate change-related information is, as a rule, quite scientific. So the difficulty is sometimes related to the translation of information to a common language, so that the reader can understand the real impact of these data in their local context and in the global context.
What message on climate change do you want to give the young generation of Portuguese, taking into account the experience and learning in this project?
That the actions of each individual count. Our daily behaviours - what we consume, how we consume - has a tremendous impact on the planet and our future. We tend to forget that individual actions matter; that, when seen as a whole, they have positive or negative consequences that are visible. And therefore, you have the power to change the world, your world. Think locally to act globally. It is important to remember that if humans do not change their actions and if governments do not implement adaptation and mitigation measures, in 2030, we will not be able to recognise the world we live in today.
By: Renata Silva