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Young people's participation against facism and extreme-right in Europe

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Young people's participation against facism and extreme-right in Europe

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Gender-based violence - working with young men

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Gender-based violence - working with young men

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Co-living for peace building

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Bar & restaurant

This coworking space will have a big kitchen with open-source recipes. Local agricultors would bring veggies and groceries every day and they might create ideas as COlive.

People can cook together, or they could just buy their meals which local chefs from both sides with prepare.

Cooking and eating together at the same table is more powerful than one big international organization peace mission.
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How exactly we are going to make peace between the two sides with coliving and coworking?

The armed conflict usually works like this:

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Both sides attack each other (some attacks more, some less). There are casualties on both sides. Each side only sees its own propaganda in the media (including social media) and enforces its own belief that they are right, and others are wrong.

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Because they never mix, under the same roof to talk and empathise, the anger gets worst.

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That's where coworking & coliving comes in.

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People are hardwired to assume, stereotype, and put a group of people in one box (assuming that they are all same). But you know very well that once you meet someone, then you start building totally different opinions.

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I had a chance to learn and teach about conflict resolution on many frozen conflict borders and hate-borders all over the world.

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During the first two days of these trainings on conflict resolution, people from conflicted sides don't even look people from another side in the eyes. They almost project each other as invisible human beings.

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But after 8 days of working on conflicts, dialogues, and human rights topics, these "eternal enemies" often become (best) friends and love couples. We all cry and laugh without imagining that the 8-day process could change anything.

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When you put people from both conflict sides under the same roof in a creative space, then you add people from other countries and you ensure creative liberty, the peace just happens. That's it. We saw it over and over, and over again.

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Maybe some people will not "fit" each other's personal taste and they will not become friends. That is OK. But the reason will not be war. The reason will be shity music taste, or whatever!

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Marketing and social business

Let's say that we have already built a coworking & coliving space (between the conflict borders). Locals prepared their houses too, so they can host digital nomads.

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Now we need to make this place financially sustainable and tell the world about it (this last part is also known as marketing).

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If Sende builds this space, it would probably come with free access.

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Locals would earn their money by opening their homes for digital nomads (while emerging in intercultural experience).

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Coworking space would be for free for all local visitors from both sides.

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Only digital nomads would pay a fee to use the coworking space and to be part of this project. With that money, we would cover all current costs (electricity & water cost bills, rent of the space, and salaries).

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Everyone chips in for the food groceries that are being cooked together. When someone doesn't want to cook, they can buy food from our restaurant.

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Organizations and companies would be encouraged to rent this coworking for their events and retreats.

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The marketing part is easy:

Name me one journalist would not like to cover the story of a peacebuilding coworking & coliving space on the conflict border?

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Challenges

This kind of projects comes with obvious challenges:

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How to get border access and build this coworking space? How to provide trust so locals from conflicted sides actually come and mix with others? How to explain to soldiers on the border that we are trained to make peace with hearths while they are trained to make peace with weapons?

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Well if it were effortless someone would do it already. But there are possible ways:

1. To get this space, we would need some good lobbying with both sides where they literally have to do nothing. Just to direct us to the abandoned building and give us the liberty to build.

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Positive part in this negotiation: Politicians from both sides don't need to do any extra work.

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The negative part is: Why they should do it, what they get? If they prefer peace, they would already do something. Until we ask, we don't know.

2. How to gain the trust and attract local entrepreneurs, students, and artists from both sides?

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First, we start bringing more open-minded people who are not full of hate.

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These are people who understand that it's not their fault that war happened and that people on the other side are in the same mess.

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Believe it or not, there are many people in the war zones who do see the big picture.

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The next phase will bring people who have less trust in this project. They neither trust so much the other side. Bringing them in will happen very slowly. Digital nomads who will be sleeping in the local homes will speed up this process.

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Children and neighbors from the locals who are hosting digital nomads will start spreading the positive stories of their experience as hosts. Bit by bit their neighbors will go and sneak peek into coworking space, then they will enter, then they will start collaborating.

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There is also a group of people who would never admit that peace is possible. They will never ever enter our coworking space. And that is ok.

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Peacebuilding process is very slow.
3. How to explain to the military the presence of such space?
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With a lot of patience, they befriend people from the space. Then they could befriend militants from the other side, then they might understand that their job is actually obsolete and they will leave forever.

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Are we going to build this for real?

Yes. At least as the partners or consultants. This blog post is the start.

Do you know about the border, that is "open" for building such a space? Contact us please.

Traumbajter made a cover photo with the Mostar bridge. We sent him the shortest brief possible (map and the bridge), and he came back with a quick solution. You can hire him for your blog posts here.

Photos in this article: Unsplash (Aladdin Hammami, @freetousesoundscom, Sende)
Special thanks to Agata and Haker

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Coliving space on the conflict border - The plan

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Bar & restaurant This coworking space will have a big kitchen with open-source recipes. Local agricultors would bring veggies and groceries every day and they might create ideas as COlive. People can cook together, or they could just buy their meals which local chefs from both sides with prepare.

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Promoting quality youth arts practice in the youth work sector

We work with you to realise the potential of young people through good quality youth arts practice within youth work organisations and the non-formal educational sector, and to develop appropriate policies and activities at local, regional and national level. The NYCI Youth Arts Programme is a strategic partnership of The National Youth Council of Ireland, The Arts Council and The Department of Children and Youth Affairs.

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Youth Arts - National Youth Council of Ireland

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We work with you to realise the potential of young people through good quality youth arts practice within youth work organisations and the non-formal educational sector, and to develop appropriate policies and activities at local, regional and national level.

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In response to the rapidly evolving circumstances which have arisen from the COVID-19 crisis, the deadline for the Artist and Youth Work Residency Scheme, which is administered by the National Youth Council of Ireland, has been extended.

The new closing date for applications is 12pm, Wednesday 20 May 2020.

Note to those who have already submitted applications: any applications received to date are still valid, although applicants are permitted to resubmit in advance of the new deadline.

For further information please contact the National Youth Council of Ireland at saoirse@nyci.ie or (01) 425 5952

Operated by the National Youth Council of Ireland

This scheme is managed by the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) on behalf of the Arts Council and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. Please note that the award may be subject to different conditions and criteria than awards directly administered by the Arts Council. Requests for information or application forms should be directed to the Youth Arts programme at NYCI.

Description

The Artist and Youth Work Residency scheme is designed to promote innovative partnerships between youth groups, artists and (where relevant) arts organisations. A residency may take the form of an artist in residence in a youth work setting and/or a youth group in residence in an arts setting.

There are two strands to the artist and youth work residency scheme: Strand 1 - Youth Arts Explorer, and Strand 2 - Artist and Youth Work Residency scheme.

Strand 1 - YOUTH ARTS EXPLORER GRANT €1,500

This grant is for projects, services and organisations that are beginning to explore introducing youth arts experiences to their youth work setting but are not yet sufficiently experienced/confident to develop or manage a larger scale residency project.

The aim of the grant is to support an organisation to explore the introduction of arts practice to the youth service through a flexible approach.

Potential activities could include to test an idea or concept, host introductory sessions, facilitate exploratory meetings between artist, young people and youth service, or connect the group to a local arts centre, cultural venue, etc. for a performance, workshop, or exhibition (with a view to facilitating further partnership).

Strand 2 - ARTIST AND YOUTH WORK RESIDENCY GRANT €5,000

The aim of the Artist and Youth Work Residency Grant is to promote innovative partnerships between youth groups, artists and (where relevant) arts organisations. A residency may take the form of an artist in residence in a youth work setting and/or a youth group in residence in an arts setting.

This grant is intended to support residency programmes that have been jointly developed by the partners involved (i.e. the artist, youth group and any other key partner organisation) and that fully meet the criteria for the award.

Deadline
12pm, Wednesday 20 May 2020 (Extended Deadline)
Further information
For information on the scheme and how to apply contact:
National Youth Arts Programme
National Youth Council of Ireland
3 Montague Street
Dublin 2
Ireland

Email: saoirse@nyci.ie
Tel: 01 4255952
Web: visit www.youth.ie for further details.

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In response to the rapidly evolving circumstances which have arisen from the COVID-19 crisis, the deadline for the Artist and Youth Work Residency Scheme, which is administered by the National Youth Council of Ireland, has been extended. The new closing date for applications is 12pm, Wednesday 20 May 2020.

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This paper explores what the arts do for / in youth work, reporting on a study into the Arts Award.
Introduction: what the arts do for/in youth work

The current emphasis on structured activities, achievable measurable outputs and providing value for money of both youth and arts projects are situating them in risky terrain. Public-funding and evidence-based policy-making since New Labour has meant that arts and youth work programmes have become increasingly instrumentalised. The arts are frequently referred to in youth work as a 'tool', vehicle, medium or means, however we should be highly critical of any relationship between cause and effect that may ignore the often unaccountable complexities within young people's lives.

The policy-produced instrumental shift in youth work positions young people as 'problems' to be solved (Coburn 2011), or victims to be 'saved' through targeted approaches echoing neo-Victorian rhetoric (Davies 2010). There has been a focus on working 'on' rather than 'with' young people, a preoccupation with targeting groups labelled by their deficits and the 'buying-in' of a youth work approach, where youth workers are called upon to run particular programmes, such as those with hard-to-reach young people or those excluded from school. With the re-emergence of pedagogical expectations, of which the young people's Arts Award can be seen as an example, youth work has become more 'organised' and about 'participation' (Van de Walle et al, 2011). Having to justify public expenditure and prove value for money has shifted to a 'product approach' (Ord 2014), which focuses on accreditation and recorded outcomes. This new authoritarianism undermines the traditional democratic and educational approaches (MacDonald 1997, Davies 2010).

Over the last fifteen years, cultural policy has argued for the arts' contribution to health, crime, employment and education and various research has demonstrated impact in order to justify continued public expenditure (Ruiz 2004, Matarasso 1997, ACE 2004). The arts were positioned by government policy as integral to a civilised society and a flourishing economy. However, this desire 'to do good' has often obscured the most innovative and engaging approaches (O'Brien & Donelan, 2008). An entirely instrumental viewpoint of the arts and culture has been highly criticised (Belfiore 2002, O'Brien & Donelan 2008) in terms of evidencing social impacts, claims of 'value for money' and the absorption of cultural policies within existing social policies. Targeted programmes are an instrumentalised approach to investment in culture (Rimmer 2009) and the arts were made to conform to the 'cult of the measurable', through economics and statistics (Belfiore & Bennett 2007). With the over-emphasis of the economic impact of the arts, the key value placed upon the Arts Awards was its 'economic' currency as an accreditation.

This paper draws on findings from an ethnographic study of three youth projects, which used the young people's Arts Award. This paper aggregates observational and interview data around the value, experience and practice of the Arts Award within youth settings. It presents a three part heuristic based on the example of the Arts Award programme, of three different ways on a spectrum of arts 'use' in youth work.

Findings: tensions around expression, responsivity and accreditation

Young people in this study welcomed the opportunity afforded by the Arts Award to engage with the arts as a means of expression, experimentation and identity formation. Working with artists was one of the key affordances of the programme as some of the young people learnt that their youth workers were also artists. Young people had the opportunity to 'try-on' identities and frequently made affiliations through music and style, using the arts as a badge. The creation of rap lyrics in particular, enabled young people to get their voices heard and get their messages across. The language that young people chose to use was significant, exploring their multiple and inherited identities and the stories they chose to tell about their lives through their work, whether that was film or music or dance. Young people valued the new experiences that undertaking the Arts Award gave such as working with new people, going to new places and developing new arts skills. They also demonstrated entrepreneurial spirit in setting up their own record labels or production companies using social media to promote themselves and others.

Despite the diverse backgrounds and arts interests of the young people on the programmes, they felt an affinity as a group through undertaking the award in a youth setting. Young people reported a strong sense of collective identity and the benefits for them of 'feeling part of something', becoming part of certain communities, which were viewed in a positive light by the workers, as opposed to deficit groupings. Individually young people were using their cultural practice to negotiate their own identities and part of this identity work was discovering and joining informal arts networks, getting to know where their artform happens and how to take this forward beyond the life of the projects. Building their own informal arts networks and tapping into the 'local scene' through the connections of local artists or youth workers was important to the young people as they were able to develop shared interests, experience and understandings, as well as shared languages and resources. The sharing of work and ideas was key in this arena as performing was also strongly taken up by the young people and linked their identities to particular learned discourses of performing, particular ways of being.

Youth workers also valued the award as a means of responsivity, as a way of being flexible to young people's interests, often reacting quickly and positively to their needs and ideas. Previous research (Davies 2011, Kiilakoski & Kivijarvi 2015) has argued for the value of youth workers skills in terms of improvisation, using the arts as a tool to approach sensitive subjects with young people and an addition to youth workers' own personal 'tool box' to create activities for their settings. Workers interviewed as part of this research did view the Arts Award as a useful framework through which to structure youth sessions. They saw the award as an opportunity for young people to achieve, to engage with something new, develop artistic skills and access culture, for example by taking young people out on trips or to galleries.

The arts were considered a useful tool for getting to know young people, building relationships and springboards for conversation. Some youth workers developed techniques around using different parts of the Arts Award for exploring and developing shared interests with the young people. They reported that they valued the programme for the opportunities that it afforded young people for decision-making and creative problem-solving, as well as the importance of conversation, negotiation and co-creation of knowledge. Echoing social integrationist agendas, youth workers considered using the arts as a way of bringing people and communities together. The impact of the arts was through the enjoyment young people had in working with them and this enabled signposting to other services or further education and supporting with English, reading and writing and other 'transferable skills':

And that's opened up the door for us to actually be able to work with them and mentor them with other areas of their lives as well. And once you build up a relationship with some of them through the Arts Award, helping them to achieve they do come back time and time again. I'm helping quite a few of them now, look for volunteering opportunities or college or things like that. I don't think we would have built up those kinds of relationships in the first place, had we not used the Arts Award as a creative vessel to be able to work with them and build up those relationships. (Youth Worker)

The Arts Award was viewed by youth workers as a means of accreditation, suitable for targeted, intensive and creative work with young people. The arts are frequently used in youth programmes as a framework for education, the currency on which the Arts Award is presently recognised. The proposal for the development of an accredited curriculum for youth work, has been problematic and contested (Merton & Wylie 2002, Ord 2004). Whilst there is the potential for the Arts Award as part of this curriculum, youth workers in this study often felt that accreditations meant a loss of focus on the actual project and the work with young people.

However, a young person gaining a qualification is a measurable indicator with a real 'tangible' outcome: a piece of paper, the printed certificate, that is given to the young person. Some youth workers felt that this gave an 'extra-added value' to their project and argued that as funders frequently look for accreditations, they add the Arts Award into funding bids. Using the arts as an accreditation meant that some young people were encouraged to re-engage with education, and the Arts Award in particular measures soft skills such as 'leadership' and 'communication'. Young people saw the award as a CV builder that would help them get into college or university.

Discussion: which way for the arts in youth work?

This paper has explored what the arts do for / in youth work, using the Arts Award as an exemplary programme. Findings have shown that the award was valued as a means of expression by young people, as a means of responsivity by youth workers and as a means of accreditation by both. However, there are tensions between these values and the differing ways in which the arts can be used in youth work - from primarily instrumental towards more human approaches. There was a dissonance between the current economic and social focus of youth policy and the relational and wellbeing approach that the youth workers found much more valuable in practice.

Data showed that the young people's Arts Award can be considered a useful tool for youth work, however simply viewing the arts as instrumental re-iterates the rhetoric of arts for social good, as well as demonising those who take up places on these programmes. Often these programmes are seen as diluted and remedial as a way of 'repairing' young people rather than inspiring and empowering them. The impact of these targeted programmes and measurable outcomes on youth work may be detrimental to its democratic and responsive nature.

We need to be more critical about informal and arts education's claims of impact and consider that an emphasis on achievable measurable outputs and value for money can endanger the sustainability and future funding of both youth and arts projects. It is important that we interrogate key assumptions about the arts and young people as a 'social project' and that we consider how to influence future policy, so that it begins to value more human factors in its measurements. But, how can the academic field influence these measurements and weave new pathways towards demonstrating the value of young people's journeys rather than outcomes? It might be that engaging with the expressive arts is an ideal way of doing just this.

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Last Updated: 27 July 2017
References:
Arts Council England 2004). The impact of the arts: some research evidence, Arts Council England. Available online.

Belfiore, E. (2002) Art as a means of alleviating social exclusion: Does it really work? A Critique of instrumental cultural policies and social impact studies in the UK. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 8(1), pp: 91-106.

Coburn, A. (2011) Building social and cultural capital through learning about equality in youth work. Journal of Youth Studies, 14(1), pp: 475-491.

Davies, B. (2011). This Is Youth Work: Stories from Practice. In defence of youth work. Unison and Unite. Available online at: http://www. indefenceofyouthwork. org. uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20252-Youth-stories-report-2011_4th-11. pdf (accessed 18 January 2012).

Davies, B (2010) Straws in the Wind: The State of Youth Work in a Changing Policy Environment. Youth & Policy, 105.

Kiilakoski, T. and A. Kivijärvi (2015). Youth clubs as spaces of non-formal learning: professional idealism meets the spatiality experienced by young people in Finland. Studies in Continuing Education 37(1): 47-61.

MacDonald, R. (1997). Youth, the'underclass' and Social Exclusion, Psychology Press.

Matarasso, F. (1997). Use or ornament. The social impact of participation in the arts. Available online.

Merli, P. (2002) Evaluating the social impact of participation in arts activities. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 8(1), pp: 107-118.

Merton, B. and Wylie, T., 2002. Towards a Contemporary Curriculum for Youth Work. National Youth Agency.

O'Brien, A. & Donelan, K. (2008) The Arts and Youth 'At Risk'. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Ord, J. (2014) Aristotle's Phronesis and Youth Work: Beyond Instrumentality. Youth & Policy, No.112, pp: 56-73.

Ord, J., 2004. The youth work curriculum. Youth & Policy, (83), pp.43-59.

Rimmer, M. (2009). 'Instrumental'playing? Cultural policy and young people's community music participation. International Journal of Cultural Policy 15(1): 71-90.

Ruiz, J. (2004). A literature review of the evidence base for culture, the arts and sport policy, Scottish Executive Social Research.

Van de Walle, T., Coussee, F., & Bouverne-Du Bie, M. (2011) Social exclusion and youth work - from the surface to the depths of an educational practice. Journal of Youth Studies, 14(1), pp: 219-231.
Biography:
Frances Howard is a doctoral researcher from The University of Nottingham's School of Education. She has worked previously in local authorities, arts education and youth work. For her PhD research she is undertaking an ethnographic study of 'dis-engaged' young people's experience of the Arts Award programme within three youth project settings.

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The arts in youth work: A spectrum of instrumentality?

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Frances Howard asks what the arts do in and for youth work.

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The New European Bauhaus is a creative and interdisciplinary initiative, convening a space of encounter to design future ways of living, situated at the crossroads between art, culture, social inclusion, science and technology. It brings the Green Deal to our living places and calls for a collective effort to imagine and build a future that is sustainable, inclusive and beautiful for our minds and for our souls.

Beautiful means inclusive, accessible spaces where the dialogue between diverse cultures, disciplines, genders and ages becomes an opportunity to imagine a better place for all. It also means a more inclusive economy, where wealth is distributed and spaces are affordable.

Beautiful means sustainable solutions that create a dialogue between our built environment and the planet's ecosytems. It means to realise regenerative approaches inspired by natural cycles that replenish resources and protect biodiversity.

Beautiful means enriching experiences that respond to needs beyond our material dimension, inspired by creativity, art and culture. It means appreciating diversity as an opportunity to learn from each other.

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New European Bauhaus : beautiful, sustainable, together.

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The New European Bauhaus is a creative and interdisciplinary initiative, convening a space of encounter to design future ways of living, situated at the crossroads between art, culture, social inclusion, science and technology. It brings the Green Deal to our living places and calls for a collective effort to imagine and build a future that is sustainable, inclusive and beautiful for our minds and for our souls.

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Youth Skills | ySKILLS Project | H2020 | CORDIS | European Commission

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PROMISE: Youth involvement and social engagement

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PROMISE explored the ways young people with a history of stigmatisation or conflict participate in society. The focus was on the different ways they engage with social, environmental and political issues, and how they create opportunities for social change. The following recommendations on Promoting Youth Involvement and Social Engagement in Europe are based on ethnographic case studies with young people and quantitative research using the European Value Survey and other secondary data sources.

Our results show that to support the development and implementation of policies to promote youth involvement and social engagement, European countries need a variety of measures. Member States need effective policies to encompass youth support in all areas (educational, employment, social) to make all voices heard, especially those of young people facing multiple life challenges. Therefore, they should:

Recognise diverse life paths of young people

Enhance the recognition and support of youth-led initiatives

Promote support structures for young people

Create safe (urban) spaces for youth

European Policy Brief 2018_PROMISE_Trusting all youth to build a better Europe (report) PROMISE European Policy Brief poster April 2019
Click here for short videos on PROMISE recommendations

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Policy briefs - PROMISE: Youth involvement and social engagement

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PROMISE explored the ways young people with a history of stigmatisation or conflict participate in society. The focus was on the different ways they engage with social, environmental and political issues, and how they create opportunities for social change.

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Policies attempting to mitigate the effects of urban inequality, often disregard affected citizens' experiences, and thus fail to affect maximum impact. By incorporating these perspectives into the policy design process, UPLIFT aims to find innovative interventions in a bottom-up approach.

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Societal and political engagement of young people in environmental issues

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Societal and political engagement of young people in environmental issues

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Here are listed the deliverables that will be submitted to the European Commission during the STEP project progress. You are able to download the deliverables which dissemination level is "Public". A Roadmap for the delivery of e-Participation: lessons learned from the STEP project D1.2 -

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MOVE goes beyond the results of the current state of research and asks how the mobility of young people can be 'good' both for socio-economic development and for individual growth of young people, and what factors foster / hinder such beneficial mobility?

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The new EU research project MIMY has set out to improve the situation of young migrants in Europe through a multi-level analysis of the related integration processes. Collecting qualitative and quantitative data and conducting case studies in various countries, the interdisciplinary consortium will analyse the social and economic effects of (successful or failed) integration in order to derive evidence-based policy recommendations. Over the next three years, the 12 European partners will receive EUR 3 million funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme.

Especially since 2015, migratory flows to Europe have driven EU member states to adopt different national strategies regarding integration efforts and policies. Moreover, in the context of an ageing population and a need for certain professional skills, migrants make an important economic contribution to these countries. Therefore, with young people representing a large proportion of migrants, societies need to find new ways to tackle the challenges arising from integration of young third-country nationals and to avoid social exclusion.

Launched in February 2020, the EU-funded project MIMY addresses these issues by examining the effectiveness of integration policies in a comparative and interdisciplinary research endeavour. The 12 partners from 11 disciplines, such as sociology, cultural and political sciences, economics and psychology, will focus on the dynamic, open-ended process of integration across macro (EU migration policies), meso (regional economic and social systems) and micro (individual practices) level. Aiming to offer tailor-made, actionable policy recommendations, the multi-method approach will provide in-depth analyses of:

the long-term socio-economic effects of successful and failed integration

factors fostering or hindering integration processes of young migrants (considering the heterogeneity and diverse biographical backgrounds)

diverse social actors and institutions supporting the agency of young migrants by further strengthening their resilience and resistance strategies

The experiences of young migrants, which have often been neglected in past examinations, will be put at the centre of the MIMY project. "Taking their needs and expectations into account, we want to contribute to the empowerment of this vulnerable group enabling them to become active citizens within an inclusive society", said Professor Birte Nienaber from the University of Luxembourg, who coordinates the project. "Directly involving young migrants as peer researchers and through participatory research, we want to actually make their voices heard in the policymaking bubble."

The MIMY consortium comprises 12 European partners from Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden and the UK. On 10-11 February 2020, they come together for the official project kick-off in Luxembourg.

Contact

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Launch of EU Research Project MIMY: Towards a Better Understanding of Migrant Youth Integration

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The new EU research project MIMY has set out to improve the situation of young migrants in Europe through a multi-level analysis of the related integration processes. Collecting qualitative and quantitative data and conducting case studies in various countries, the interdisciplinary consortium will analyse the social and economic effects of (successful or failed) integration in order to derive evidence-based policy recommendations.

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Zero Waste Youth is an international and independent movement, organized by young people and focused on integrating and empowering our generation towards a more sustainable world through Zero Waste ideas and practices.

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These bloggers treasure taking a sleek, modern approach to reducing waste in their efforts to save the planet - but they face their fair share of criticism, too

athryn Kellogg, a 25-year-old print shop employee, spends four hours a day on her lifestyle blog Going Zero Waste. She posts on Instagram, engages with Facebook followers, and writes about homemade eyeliner and lip balm, worm composting, and shopping bulk bins - anything to avoid unnecessary waste. Her trash for the past year - anything that hasn't been composted or recycled - fits in an 8oz jar.

Kellogg is earnest, enthusiastic, and admittedly still figuring out what it means to be zero waste. The aspiring actor has also weathered her fair share of criticism. "I'm not even that big yet and I get so much hate mail," says Kellogg, who draws 10,000 unique page views a month and has 800 subscribers.

Since the launch of Going Zero Waste in March 2015, she's been criticized on social media and in private messages for driving and flying, for not installing a grey-water system, and, no joke, for using toilet paper (she does have a bidet, by the way). She's been chastised by vegans for eating eggs, and one visiting relative walked around Kellogg's house pointing out anything made of plastic.

She's also been called out as overly privileged, even though she lives in a modest two-bedroom house in Vallejo, a blue-collar city 32 miles north-east of San Francisco.

"They just nitpick every little thing because zero waste sounds like such an ultimatum," Kellogg says. "My boyfriend thinks that I should change the term, but it's there, and I don't know what else to call it."

The leaders of this zero-waste lifestyle movement are young millennial women like Lauren Singer of Trash is for Tossers, Celia Ristow of Litterless, and Kellogg. They all embrace a sleek, modern aesthetic over the crunchy, hippy stereotypes of yore.

Most of these women trace their lightning bolt moment back to Bea Johnson, a charismatic, 42-year-old mother of two from the wealthy enclave of Mill Valley, California. Outspoken, French and with a taste for a stark minimalist aesthetic, Johnson solidified her status as a zero-waste lifestyle guru in 2013 with the publication of Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Reducing Your Waste.

Ariana Schwarz, 27, runs the Paris-to-Go zero waste blog. As a sustainability major, Schwarz was frustrated by the focus on theory over meaningful lifestyle changes. Then, her geology professor sent her a copy of a Sunset magazine feature about Johnson and her 16oz jar of trash. "Here was a woman actually living as sustainably as possible," Schwarz says. Inspired, she completed a school project, living zero waste for a month, then three months, and then a year. "Once I realized how easy it was, it kind of stuck with me."

These young women aim to reduce their landfill trash at a time in history when, on average, every American produces nearly three pounds of trash per day. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 40% of US greenhouse gas emissions come from hauling, making, using, and throwing away stuff and food.

Food waste in the US: 40% of greenhouse gas emissions come from hauling food.

On a drizzly, grey day back at the Vallejo farmers' market, Kellogg shows off zero-waste grocery shopping in action. She dumps organic strawberries from the plastic trays into her own jar (after asking the stand worker whether he would reuse the container). She uses cloth produce bags for shelled peas, kale and raisins. She orders cheese in reusable glass containers from a local goat farmer. Kellogg says she aspires be a "strong, moderate voice" for the zero-waste lifestyle, which she discovered after health issues pushed her towards a more natural lifestyle.

"Anyone can participate in waste reduction practices," Kellogg says. "I'm from Arkansas; I know that I'm so fortunate to live in California. None of this stuff - bulk stores, recycling programs, municipal composting - exists back home in the south. But I think absolutely anyone can participate, it's to what degree they can."

Rob Greenfield, 29, wrote Dude Making a Difference about his zero-waste journey across the US on a bamboo bicycle. He agrees that any effort counts, even if it's not as extreme as his own. He's also one of the few male zero-waste bloggers around.

Once I realized how easy zero waste living was, it kind of stuck with me

Blogger Ariana Schwarz

Greenfield admits, so far in his travels, he's only come across female zero-waste bloggers. "I don't really know why that is," Greenfield says. "But I don't feel isolated by it because it doesn't matter to me whether my comrades are male or female. I find great joy and passion in my work."

It's no coincidence that young women are leading the movement, says Kate Bailey, program manager at Eco-Cycle Solutions, a not-for-profit group that provides recycling and composting services in Boulder, Colorado.

"Women everywhere are deeply concerned about the health effects of the growing amount of chemicals and toxins in our everyday lives," Bailey says. "Women are also the primary purchasers in the household so they are on the frontlines of hyper-consumption in the US. They're frustrated by the growing prevalence of single-use, disposable products, the trend to over-package everything, and the lack of choices when it comes to sustainable, less toxic products."

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Kathryn Kellogg checks on her compost bin, where she uses worms to break down biodegradable waste. Photograph: Andrew Burton for the Guardian

Celia Ristow, a 24-year-old tech company worker who started the blog Litterless, gives smartly written tips for minimizing waste when traveling, eating out, and in the domestic sphere. Unlike other zero-waste bloggers, she doesn't track her trash in a jar. It's misleading, Ristow says, and doesn't take into account the fact that trash often accumulates in the production stream before products end up on store shelves.

Ristow admits that she'll probably never be completely zero waste, but that doesn't stop her from striving to produce as little trash as possible. She thinks of it as a daily lifestyle choice, a way of finding no-waste solutions to small decisions. Refusing samples in plastic cups. Saying no to the granola bar in non-recyclable packaging on the snack table at work. Bringing along a reusable water bottle - always.

Living in an apartment in Chicago does make taking the zero-waste route easier than it might be for, say, a family of six in rural Illinois. A composting service picks up Ristow's food scraps each month. She buys shampoo, conditioner, bar soap and lotion in bulk at a local store. For clothes, she shops second-hand and doesn't buy anything with packaging. Food is the easiest to procure, with a wealth of farmers' markets and specialty grocery stores. She also takes advantage of an excellent city public transportation system.

Though Ristow has eliminated disposable products from her daily life, she admits that as one of 7 billion people on the planet, those actions have a microscopic effect on greenhouse gas emissions, at best. But, these choices are also the best way she's found to individually combat climate change and live by her values.

"I can't, and don't want, to control what other people do," she says. "I can only change my own actions. I support stores that sell bulk, zero-waste food. I buy from smaller companies that make sustainable, compostable, zero-waste home and hygiene goods. To the people around me, I'm modeling what small daily actions can look like."

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Kathryn Kellogg at a farmers' market in Vallejo, California. Photograph: Andrew Burton for the Guardian

Personal efforts to reduce waste should be applauded, says Dr Daniel Kammen, professor of energy at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. "Seeing [zero waste] become part of the social dialogue is a wonderful first step," he adds. Yet, in reality, it can be a challenge to quantify just how much reduction is actually happening, since "waste lurks in many corners".

To that end, he and his students built a calculator to help people track their personal and household waste. To make true inroads on waste, according to experts, we'll need stronger pricing of waste, attention to behavior science, and rewards from the public and private sector for low-waste lifestyles.

In the meantime, zero-waste devotees are "first-movers" and "latter-day Thoreaus", says Edward Humes, who profiled Johnson's work in his 2012 book Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash. "Their neighbors may look at them askance, perhaps, or as extremists," Humes says. "The early adopters of rooftop solar power a few decades ago were viewed in the same way. Now they look like visionaries. I think the zero-waste-istas are in a similar place, showing the rest of us what's possible, spreading the word. Ten years from now, they will seem much more mainstream."
Topics

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Zero-waste bloggers: the millennials who can fit a year's worth of trash in a jar

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These bloggers treasure taking a sleek, modern approach to reducing waste in their efforts to save the planet - but they face their fair share of criticism, too athryn Kellogg, a 25-year-old print shop employee, spends four hours a day on her lifestyle blog Going Zero Waste.

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Sexual and reproductive health education

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Sexual and reproductive health education

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A number of other countries have lowered or scrapped taxes on period products - including a dozen states in the US and countries including Kenya, Canada, Australia, India, Colombia, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Nigeria, Uganda, Lebanon and Trinidad and Tobago.

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Period poverty: Scotland first in world to make period products free

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MSPs unanimously approve a bill giving a legal right to free access to sanitary products in public buildings.

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Having to pay for your lunch at school is considered one of the costs in education or often referred to as a hidden cost. Everyone needs food, and everyone deserves to take part in education without having to pay extra fees to survive.

In most European countries, a free school lunch is not considered to be a right that school students have. OBESSU wants to change this set of mind by putting the light on something that most people do not care about: what school students today eat. How much do you actually know about school lunches in other countries? Did you know it should be free?
We therefore urge school students everywhere to take part and raise awareness with us simply by:
1. 1. Taking a picture of their school lunch 2. 2. Posting it on social media (facebook, twitter, or instagram) using the hashtag #freemeals 2. 3. Writing what they paid for the meal

Spread the message and join our campaign!

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Having to pay for your lunch at school is considered one of the costs in education or often referred to as a hidden cost. Everyone needs food, and everyone deserves to take part in education without having to pay extra fees to survive.

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Is government surveillance and security threatening young people's freedoms?

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Is government surveillance and security threatening young people's freedoms?

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Young people and homelessness - squatting as a solution?

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Young people and homelessness - squatting as a solution?

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Squatting, for some, is a way of life - an alternative lifestyle appealing to the anti-capitalists, activists and anarchists of this world. This, like so many things, was changed by Covid-19. The number of properties considered 'squatted' increased at the beginning of the pandemic - for those unable to access government support, squatting became the only option.

Cabbar, a musician originally from Turkey, became a squatter for the first time in 2020. Prior to March, Cabbar, known as Jabba, rented a ground floor unit in Omega Works - a warehouse in Harringay Warehouse District - along with four others. He's built up a successful career as a musician in the UK and is a percussionist for 'The Turbans', a well-known band on the UK's festival scene. In many respects, the two years he spent living at Omega Works pre-pandemic were joyful: "Before, the house was full of musicians. I'm a community person - it's good for my art. In this place, people were able to share good energy and good vibes - what I want in the world." But things were also turbulent. At points, the leaseholder of the property was taking rent from other housemates without passing it on to the property owner. Gas bills hadn't been paid for over three years, and the relationship between landlady and tenants was overly close and nosy.

This dynamic, when combined with Cabbar's immigrant status and loss of work, made him vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation. Because of the situation with the leaseholder, their landlady was now demanding rent. Cabbar lost any means to work because of the pandemic and was unable to pay, meaning that, along with two other housemates, he was now living there illegally. In April, she brought police, but new legislation brought in because of the pandemic meant she wasn't able to evict them or cut off their electricity and gas. On top of this, the police realised that the building was commercial and that she didn't have the right license to rent it out. Their landlady was forced to let them stay and acquire the correct licensing but continued to interact with her tenants-turned-squatters in ways most would consider wholly inappropriate.

Cabbar's visa to live in the UK only permits him to work in the music and events industries, and he's not eligible for government support. His landlady knew this and offered him work cleaning her house and garden. Thankfully, because he was helping her prepare for a party, he was able to write an invoice and work legally, but his landlady saw this as her chance to get rid of him and called the home office: "She knew I couldn't work, so she made me work for her. She wanted me to write an invoice. I was nervous about it, but because it was an event I was able to write her one. Then she started threatening me and called the home office. They didn't give me a visa for six months."

Despite not being able to work, the three remaining residents were able to get by thanks to the cooking skills Cabbar picked up in India, where he usually spends the cold winter months. They cooked communal pots of dahl, thali and kedgeree and scoured the local Sainsbury's for "reduced things and cheap grains". The space accidentally became a hub for musicians and artists, many of whom now had nowhere to interact with other creatives: "I had tailor friends that wanted to use the space," he recalls, "another woman wanted to paint. It all happened automatically, naturally."

Thanks to Cabbar and his housemates, musicians and artistic friends living nearby were able to continue to make music together over the summer of 2020. Every weekend, the outdoor space behind the warehouse became a place for musicians to gather and play together. Each jam session was given a theme, usually based around the music and cuisine of a country. This kept musicians inspired, and ensured that each session was different from the last. Cabbar believes the power of music lies in exchange. Playing with others is a necessity for him, and is where he feels most connected to his craft.

Inside, the unit was kept in beautiful condition. Cabbar and his housemates continued to maintain it even after they were considered 'squatters' and were under no obligation to do so. Rugs covered the floors and instruments lined the walls. A grand piano sat in the corner of the living room.

In the weeks before their eviction in January 2021, the property owner became increasingly present in the area, entering the courtyard and attempting to film her former tenants through the window on several occasions. As is so often the case, being ousted from the building meant the loss of many precious items. In this case, this meant the loss of the grand piano, as well as some of Cabbar's traditional drums and a guitar. "They didn't even want me to pick up my coat," he laughs.

Cabbar has been homeless since the beginning of the year, but is surrounded by a strong community of people willing to support him - he has friends around every corner, quite literally, as we found out when we walked round Finsbury Park with him for this interview. The whole thing is painfully sad - being ousted from their home in a pandemic, losing so many instruments and belongings - but Cabbar is still just as vibrant, and will surely create just as much magic and music wherever he goes next.

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Squatting in 2021: Hermitage Road London

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Squatting, for some, is a way of life - an alternative lifestyle appealing to the anti-capitalists, activists and anarchists of this world. The number of properties considered 'squatted' increased at the beginning of the pandemic. - for those unable to access government support, squatting became the only option.

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Racism, Islamophobia, Anti-colonialism in EU

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Racism, Islamophobia, Anti-colonialism in EU