Young people from Germany and the Czech Republic met in Hamburg to complete the joint project

We were glad to be invited to the final event of the three-year environmental project “Youth-4-Elbe” in Hamburg. The participants came from seven schools from Germany and the Czech Republic. In total, we were 42 students. We stayed in an international youth hostel close to the river Elbe.After the check-in, we enjoyed a foggy and fresh. We were guided by Mister Barandat, a member of the Federal Foreign Office. In the evening, every student introduced himself and his school in a short presentation.

On the boat trip around the Hamburg Harbor

On the sightseeing tour

The next day we did a rally in the city center of Hamburg for getting a better overview. During this activity, we discovered lovely details on our own.The lunch took place in the cafeteria of the Marine Office. After that,we took the subway to an information pavilion on environmental protection of Hamburg. Back in the youth hostel, we worked on certain topics in different groups. One highlight of the day was rehearsing the self made “Elbesong”. On this day, Miss Eikermann of ALCOA-Foundation – the major supporter of our project – accompanied us.

One of the self-made boats

Miss Eikermann gets the first exemplar of our calender

On Tuesday morning, we toured a ship called Rickmer Rickmers that is opened to the public. A presentation of important, environmentally committed people followed (Prof. Dr. Töpfer, Mr. von Rudloff, Mr. Lange and Mr. Baake). After the presentation, we launched our self-made “nature boats” on the Elbe river. Each participating school. On its sails, we wrote our wishes and hopes for the future of the Youth-4-Elbe project. Later, one of the long-time sponsors of the Living Elbe project, Unilever, offered us lunch in their cafeteria. In the afternoon, we had some spare time in the city of Hamburg and visited several places. Some students went to the DOM, a great amusement park. In the evening, we had a final meeting where the whole project was evaluated.

Student discussing with Dr. Klaus Töpfer	Students discussing environmental protection
Launching our self-made boats	The participants

Great thanks to all participants and organizers. We hope that there will be more projects like that, because we acquired such a great amount of new knowledge, responsibility for our environment and new friendships, to name just a few things we took from the project.

(written  by  students from  Agricola- Gymnasiums Chemnitz;  Gesamtschule  Kleinmachnow und  Gymnasiums „Jan Palacha“ Praha)

First of all, a big „Thank You!“ to all of you who sent in their photos.

The jury has reviewed all entries and has finally decided which pictures they liked most and which will be awarded our prices.

In the category of individual entries, we liked the following pictures the most:

First Price: Ole Seidel

Second Price: Anja Krone

Third Price: Saskia Arndt

We also had a great number of group entries. Here, the prices go to:

• First Price:          Oberschule Premnitz
• Second Prize:     Gymnasium Burgstädt
• Third Prize:         Maxim Gorki Gesamtschule Kleinmachnow 

Congratulations to the winners and thanks again for all teams and individuals who entered the competition.

From 6th to 11th of november, the final event of Youth-4-Elbe will take place in Hamburg. The preparation team has already started to plan a great event for all schools alaong river Elbe. Please note the date and register already as places are limited.

Registration is possible via the Lebendige Elbe Projektbüro.

More information about the program of the single days will be published here as soon as it’s confirmed.

From 24th to 26th June the preparation team for the final event in Hamburg met in Lenzen / Elbe. The team of teachers and students from both countries, Germany and Czech Republik, reviewed the project activites during the last years and developed ideas and visions for the program in Hamburg.

One important result was a detailed project planning including milestones and tasks. The students took responsibility for these tasks to help making the Hamburg event in fall a successful one.

Besides the preparation work, the students and their teachers had the opportunity to visit the new dyke that was built in Lenzen to give the river Elbe it’s flooding space back. This project is one of the many best practise examples in nature conservation, that can be found along the river.

Rittersporn auf der Insel Film (Foto: Ines Wittig)

We are looking for the most beautiful photos of the Elbe and its tributaries.

The Elbe’s disitinct natural and cultural habitat is the element that connects us in the “Youth-4-Elbe” project.

Its meadows render the Elbe one of the most interesting habitats from an ecological point of view: two opposed areas of life meet here, water and land. The forces of water shape the landscape: parts of the riverbanks are moved, sand and gravel banks dislocated, back waters cut off and dead wood accumulated. Furthermore, the Elbe and its tributaries are endangered because of the multitude of competing human interests: intensive agriculture, discharge of poisonous sewage waters from industries and mining, mining of gravel and sand and extensive tourism and recreation strain the Elbe’s ecosystem.

Because the Elbe and its tributaries constantly change their face, we ask you to go on “photo safari” at “your” rivers. Have a closer look and record which characteristics and secrets your rivers hold.

We are looking for the most beautiful and meaningful photos of the Elbe and its tributaries.

There will be many attractive prices to win:  a canoe trip, a digital camera, books, magazine subscriptions, etc..

The best photos will be published on the website of the project (www.youth-4-elbe.org) and in DUHwelt. Later on, we will print a wall calendar for 2012 with the best pictures.

Entry rules:

• Eligible for participation are all pupils of the schools being part of the German-Czech exchange project “Youth-4-Elbe”.
• Individual and group entries are evaluated by an independent jury. The jury’s decisions are not appealable.
• Each group may submit up to 10 photos, each individual up to 2 photos.
• Please send your digital pictures or scans of slides with a resolution of max. 8.37 megapixels.
• The title of the digital files must include the name of the school, the author’s name, the name of the river and river stretch, and the number of the picture (1-10) (e.g. SchoolA_MaxMueller_Elbe_Eiche_1.jpg).
• Please send your entries via e-mail to lebendigeelbe@duh.de.
• The deadline for entries is 29th May 2011!

In case of any question, please contact:
Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V., Ines Wittig, Projektleiterin Youth-4-Elbe, Poststr. 7, D-06366 Köthen, Tel.: +49 3496 210009, Fax: +49 3496 210008, mobile: 0160 532 1053; E-Mail: lebendigeelbe@duh.de