It is often heard that shifting to the circular economy could be the solution for the climate crisis we live in today. Turning to circularity would mean changing the way we currently live completely. For the transition to be as smooth as possible, society needs to understand how to live circular, therefore, we need to educate about circularity, and the Circulents alumni project is here to tackle this issue.
Circulents alumni project originates from the ReGeneration 2030’s project in collaboration with the Swedish Association for Responsible Consumption named Leadership Programme in Circular Economy. During the spring of 2021, 33 motivated future circular leaders participated in an eight-week online course, covering four broad areas defining circular change - sustainable lifestyle, entrepreneurship, political advocacy, and systems thinking.
After the course, participants created an eight-theme action plan, tackling areas in which change is necessary for a smooth transition to the circular economy. This dedicated group also presented their action plan and held a workshop session during the ReGeneration Week 2021.
Now the group is continuing their work on advocating for the circular economy under the umbrella of ReGeneration 2030 and from now on are focusing on circular education. The Circulents project aims to educate high school students in the Nordic and Baltic Sea region.
“We cannot have responsible consumption without knowing what it is, thus, I see education and dialogue about Circular Economy as one of the most important things we can do today, especially as young people,” says Justina Jemeljanovaitė, Circulents project co-manager.
Circulents are stepping up to be a unique project for circular education in the region by providing peer-to-peer interactive educational workshops in their national languages for the youth provided by youth leaders around the Nordic and Baltic Sea region.
The team is also aiming to present the concept of circularity in an exciting way while also breaking a stereotype about the difficulty of the transition to circularity. Another important aspect of the Circulents project - empowering and mobilizing youth in the region to be future circular leaders, working in collaboration with each other.
“Choosing a peer-to-peer education approach is both creating a sense of community of fellow young circulents while also showing that circularity is not overwhelmingly difficult and can be easily taken over by everyone,” says Ugnė Budriūnaitė, Circulents project co-manager.
In more general terms, the Circulents project is reaching for initiating action for circular change among youth while also providing them necessary tools for the action to be successful – a motivated community and an education package about circular economy.
“Taking action is one of the best ways to manage our concerns for our own and our world's future wellbeing. I hope the final concept would make it very easy for anyone to pick up and use in their own area,” says Lennie Jansson, Circulents project co-manager.
For this ambitious cause, the team is opening up for new members to join the Circulents team in order to help organise and host educational workshops. Circulents are looking for partners, who could help them develop an educational package about the circular economy. If you are interested, write us a line at info@regeneration2030.org, and we’ll reach out to you!