Jacques Cousteau began to do underwater research, which led him to conclude that the planet was in serious distress in the 1950s. Earth Day, which was 52 years ago this April, marked the first mass recognition of the need to do something about the environmental condition. A year later, Greenpeace was established. Al Gores’ primal scream over the planet baking garnered millions of followers and an Academy Award in 2006. Unfortunately, the environment and climate have continued their decline since then.
Climate change is a major threat to Greece, which is especially vulnerable and has much to lose. It is evident that the top-down approach taken by past governments is not sufficient. The country will need to engage with civil society, just as other countries, if it is to be closer to sustainable development and fully take advantage of its opportunities.
Enter the Ecogenia of Greece
It is a brand new model for Greece. It is an exciting model. It has a bottom up approach to the environment, the climate, by engaging and educating young adults in solving the problems within their communities. This helps ease Greece’s sustainability challenges and climate issues.
Ecogenia was founded by Lia Papazoglou (a 34-year old Greek-American woman who is full-of-energy and confident). She is determined that Greece will benefit from a lead by example strategy that positions it as a model for sustainability and climate action.
Her roots are deep in Greece. Her father, who was born and raised in Xanthi by her mother, has roots in Katerini near Mount Olympus. Papazoglou is still surrounded by family and a home that she has returned repeatedly to over the years. Like many Greeks in diaspora, her love of Greece is strong. After completing her education in international affairs and environmental sustainability, she joined AmeriCorps, an American civic service program. This was during the 2009 economic crisis. Here her idea for Ecogenia was born. She realized that Greece didn’t have the same ethos when it came to civic service and giving back in their communities.
I love Greece. Like many others who have lived far from Greece, I feel a strong pull to return to it. Papazoglou explains that I wanted to do something for Greece in order to help them and make them proud.
She has extensive experience in developing and organizing volunteer programs and coordinating initiatives for companies large and small (think Google) and she thought: What about a national paid civic service program for young people in Greece? This would allow them to learn more about the environment, clean it, and create a sustainable future. After being encouraged by friends and feeling empowered from her own experiences, she and her American husband (who designs sustainable packaging for commercial goods), moved to Athens.
Papazoglou explains, Greece has so much to offer and there is a real opportunity here to build an army of sustainability-minded young people who will turn their challenges into opportunities by acting for their community. Papazoglou isn’t the only one who is building Ecogenia.
Through a mutual friend, she met Erika Spagakou, 34 years old. She is also an expert in sustainability and international politics. The economic crisis in Greece forced the native Athenian to seek a job in Abu Dhabi. She is a strategic communication adviser for entities like Abu Dhabi’s national energy company. She was previously employed in the press office of Greece’s Ministry of Tourism. However, this was before the economy collapsed and jobs disappeared. Meeting Papazoglou and establishing Ecogenia together fulfills a long-held dream of hers: to return home to help build a Greece that is more viable and lives up to its potential.
Greece has so many potentials and so much to be proud. It is not enough to rely on our history as Greeks from antiquity. We need to redefine our identity in light of the current challenges. She says the climate is an existential threat that concerns young Greeks and presents a window of opportunity for Greece to transform its identity by supporting climate action in Southeast Europe.
Spagakou and Papazoglou are building Ecogenia. They have been a dynamic team that has engaged companies and schools to engage them in the process.
Ecogenia’s pilot project is in Dorida, which lies closer to Athens than Patra. A group of young people will start work on trails for hiking around Dorida. This will also help to connect local villages that have been disconnected. This will encourage ecotourism in the area, and hopefully attract more people to other areas of Greece. These are beautiful in a different manner to many of the fragile and popular islands that are often overrun during the summer.
Ecogenia will also be offering after-school enrichment programs to teach children younger than school age about sustainability, and what it means being a citizen. Spagakou said: Citizenship itself is a political act. What can I do? How can I make a difference? And we Greeks are very political beings. What better place than Greece to encourage civic engagement?
The organization has big goals for the future. It will train in disaster preparedness and relief. Consider the devastating fires that have decimated parts of Greece. It plans to mobilize sustainability efforts in local villages and communities throughout Greece and will make environmental conservation efforts. Is Greece actively composting Are there ways to efficiently recycle on the island and across the mainland? How can we help our islands to ensure that they are not more vulnerable each year, as tourism is a major driver of the Greek economy? How can we manage all the trash generated each year by millions of tourists? And how can tourism be sustainable? Spagakou believes that we need to preserve our vast natural resources. Papazoglou adds that we must use them to our advantage.
Ecogenia has attracted the attention and support of many influential people in Greece and abroad. However, the organization is always looking for new partners and supporters to make their vision a reality for Greece. They have a collaborative approach to the Greek third sector, encouraging synergies between other nonprofits, and working to improve the culture of nonprofits in the country by mobilizing additional resources to amplify the outstanding work of other organizations in sustainability and climate.
They will also collaborate with youth exchanges across Europe via the European civic collective. This will include hosting young people in Greece from other countries and sending them to other European civil service programs. Papazoglou states: We want to show young people that serving their country, their community, and their villages is both rewarding and lasting. We promote high-impact practices.
No matter what project it is, each cohort group will receive two weeks of training. The first week will focus on sustainability and civic engagement. The second week will be specific to the project they are working on. A week of professional development will be offered to students on a variety subjects. Ecogenia will continue to engage an expanding alumni base and to help them plug into actual jobs, green jobs, wherever and whenever it is possible.
Ecogenia’s youth is vibrant. It is a new Greece. A Greece that lives up its potential and becomes a global leader in combating the climate crisis. Ecogenia was invited as part of the prestigious Athens Democracy Forum in October at the Hotel Grand Bretagne, Syntagma Square. Democracy works only if its citizens take part. Only a small part of our responsibility as citizens of democratic countries is the act of voting. To make any changes they want, citizens must vote.
Spagakous stated that Greece should not rely on its identity from antiquity. Its people created democracy and a participatory system in the first place that thrived so many millennia back. The very idea of citizenship is a result of their ancestors. This DNA can be traced back to the Greeks who are able to draw a line from what they do today.
Like Socrates, a citizen of the whole world, young Greeks must consider themselves to be citizens as well as doing something for their country.
Ecogenia is a great place to start.
The organization is taking applications for its pilot program in Dorida until February 28 at ecogenia.org/application/
Mary Cardaras is a producer of documentary films, a writer, and an associate professor of communication at California State University East Bay.
To learn more about Ecogenia, please write to [email protected]
