Team Action Climat (TAC) is a project bringing together young people who want to take action in favour of the climate and the environment. In Tournai, many of them rallied during the climate demonstrations… but the Covid pandemic and then the war in Ukraine put a stop to that momentum.
TAC’s young participants decided to set up several activities throughout the year to revive the movement at local level, and following a musical blind-test evening on that topic, the group was eventually formed. Together, they decided to organise a series of events to raise public awareness on various issues: sustainable food, waste sorting, soft mobility…
Team Action Climat organised a film screening of “Animal” by Cyril Dion followed by a debate; they held a stand in the associative village at the Partnership Festival, organised by the “Mutualité Chrétienne”, to interview participants about cycling facilities in the city; they took part in a conference by Belgian climate activist Adélaïde Charlier; they held a conference on the “eco-score”. They also organised a workshop to build recycling bins to be used by associations as well as during events in Tournai, a bike march (“vélorution”), another film screening, “Qatarstrophe”, followed by a debate in the presence of a partner from Nepal…
All of those activities were organised by and for young people… with the support of CIEP Wallonie picarde and Infor’Jeunes, the associations in charge of the project, and their other partners.
The project is now slowly coming to an end. The young people are still going to record a radio programme with Radio Qui Chifel (RQC), an independent local radio station. They will present the actions they have carried out throughout the year and broadcast interviews of citizens and local elected officials. The programme will later on be released as a podcast to be listened to long after the project has ended.
Although only three young people were actually involved in the organisation of the actions, TAC succeeded in gathering a large number of people at the events organised by the group, especially during the bike march. A short film collecting testimonies from participants can attest to the enthusiasm! The heterogeneous composition of group led to interesting and enriching meetings, each participant having a different background: one was a student, another was already working, and another was looking for a job, but all of them were really motivated and engaged.
The future of the project will depend on whether the young people are willing to continue the action in the framework of this partnership or launch other initiatives elsewhere. But one thing is certain, both the young people and the associations involved in the project will continue to fight against climate change.