VARA radio interview roadie Jesse did whilst driving his electric scooter.

Read the complete manifesto

We put one of our super stylish electric scooters up for auction at 3FM Serious Request, a very famous annual charitable fundraiser in the Netherlands. It is, of course, one of the scooters that came with us on our road trip to Copenhagen. The scooter is signed by all roadies that took part in the Road to Copenhagen.

All proceeds of 3FM Serious Request are going to the Red Cross this year, to a project fighting malaria.

Bidding on the scooter ends Tuesday 29 December 11.30 hrs. 

Check it out!
Check out the electric scooter on offer (and perhaps make a bid?)

Audio: Roadie Chantal offers the R2C electric scooter to 3FM presenter Giel Beelen (skip to 12.50 min; in Dutch)

Here are a couple of video clips shot by our ‘roadies’. These were all made during our road trip by electric scooter from Den Bosch to Copenhagen (COP15).

Here are a couple of short videos of speakers that gave lectures during the Road to Copenhagen.

Wednesday 15 December the Road to Copenhagen (R2C) caravan arrived in the Danish capital to present its manifesto on personal sustainable mobility.

Jacqueline Cramer
After being warmly welcomed into town by Danish MP Per Ørom Jørgensen, we were honoured by a visit of the Dutch Minister of the Environment ms. Jacqueline Cramer. She spoke to us enthusiastically not only about the efforts of the participants, but also of the usefulness and aptness of the statements that make up the manifesto.

Bella Center
Last but not least, a few of us were lucky enough to get into the Bella Center, where the COP15 conference was taking place. There, they spoke about the manifesto to a.o. Dutch Development Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders, Dutch MP Diederik Samson and alderman Marijke Vos of Amsterdam. Watch the videos here!

A manifesto with 12 concrete recommendations to ensure that mobility will be clean, affordable and cool. That is what the participants in the Road to Copenhagen delivered today in Copenhagen to ms. Jacqueline Cramer, the Dutch Minister of the Environment. The manifesto was written during the electric scooter trip that was undertaken by around 300 Danish, German and Dutch young people over the past 2 weeks. The trip was made in various stages from Den Bosch (the Netherlands) through Germany to Copenhagen, where the UN climate change conference COP15 is currently underway.

In the manifesto, the young people call on the negotiators in Copenhagen to ensure that, amongst other things, sustainable mobility is included as a subject in schools and that car driving lessons are offered in electric cars. They also state that sustainable mobility can be encouraged through suitable tax measures, cool vehicles and uniform charging systems.

‘On the one hand, the Road to Copenhagen made it clear to me how great the need for change is and, at the same time, this trip has inspired me to effect that change’, said Peter Hardy, one of the participants and writers of the manifesto.

Anne Schoemaker, one of the participants: ‘On the one hand the past two weeks has seemed like two years, but on the other hand it seems to have only lasted for two days. When I consider that we are now in Copenhagen, it seems like only yesterday that we were still in Den Bosch. But if I think about how often I have felt cold, how much I have learned and how many fantastic people I have become acquainted with, then it seems like two years. However long it lasted, it was fantastic!’

Although the ‘road trip’ to Copenhagen has come to an end, this does not mean an end to the Road to Copenhagen, because, as the participants state in the manifesto: ‘ It’s not about how we got to Copenhagen, but where we will go from there.’

About the Road to Copenhagen

The Road to Copenhagen was a trip by electric scooter that was made in three five-day stages between Den Bosch and Copenhagen. The participants, approximately 100 per stage, attended lectures and workshops given by scientists, politicians, energy experts and specialists from the automotive sector. They also visited innovative projects and held discussions about climate objectives, a more sustainable world and about practical solutions that will make our lives more pleasant and more sustainable. Using the knowledge and experience gained whilst ‘on the road’, they worked on the manifesto which they delivered today to Minister Cramer.

The Road to Copenhagen arrived in Copenhagen today.

The Road to Copenhagen is well on its way to Copenhagen, where we will present our manifesto on personal sustainable mobility at the COP15 climate conference. Our caravan of 100 scooter ‘roadies’, 100 electric scooters and 100 orange helmets has already crossed the Danish border. After Odense (Sunday 13 December) and Roskilde (Monday 14 December) we will arrive in Copenhagen Tuesday 15 December. Here are some of the highlights of our program that day.

09.00 - 10.00 hrs On our scooters from Roskilde to Copenhagen

10.00 hrs Arrival of our caravan of 100 electric scooters at the Danish parliament building Christiansborg. Here, we will hand over our manifesto to Danish member of parliament Per Ørum JØrgensen (of the Conservative People’s Party of Denmark).

12.30 - 16.30 hrs Presenting the manifesto at the Bella Center (COP15 venue)

14.00 - 15.30 hrs Arctic traveller and environmentalist Robert Swan talks to the participants at the Custom House. A few lucky roadies will get to go on a short boat trip with mr. Swan.

16.00 - 16.30 hrs At the Saga Queen boat, we will present our manifesto to Dutch Minister of the Environment, ms. Jacqueline Cramer.

17.00 - 17.15 hrs We will present our manifesto to Jürgen Grossmann, CEO of RWE.

17:30 - 18.30 hrs Talkshow with Per Meilstrup (Climate Director at Mandag Morgen/Copenhagen Climate Council), Prof. dr. Pier Vellinga (chairman of the Knowledge for Climate research program and vice chairman of the Climate Changes Spatial Planning program), Leo Meyer (IPCC) and a youth representative about the role of the new generation in the climate summit.

From 21.00 hrs Road to Copenhagen party at the Saga Queen boat (only for R2C participants, press and guests)

At this very moment, the Manifestos are being printed at the Danish Design School (Danmarks Designskole) in Copenhagen.

10 copies, which will be handed over to selected politicians and diplomats, amongst whom UN Climate Chief Yvo de Boer, and 100 small versions of the Manifesto made for the press.

So here we are, in Copenhagen. Countdown has initiated. Tomorrow is the big day. We have made it, obviously, but as our slogan says: It’s not how we got to Copenhagen, but where we’ll go from there!

“If you turn on the light in Denmark, 20% of the energy will be wind power.” This morning a lecture on energy by Hans Mogensen from the Danish energy comapny EnergiNet.

In four years there will be an increase of 30 to 40% of wind power and already Denmark leads by far compared with all the EU countries, when it comes to using wind power for electricity consumption. Today you can find somewhere around 500,000 wind turbines spread all over the country.

The three main challenges with wind power:

- What if there is no wind?

- What if there is too much wind?

- How to make sure there will always be enough energy from wind power?

Tools
Two of the most prospected tools the Danish are looking into is the heat pump (creates heat for in house warming) and the electric car. However, intelligence must be put into the system. When only electric cars are build, there still we be a great demand of coal power. Electric energy must be generated in large numbers, so it is necessary to build one or two more power plants for renewable energy.

Market leader
As a market leader Denmark has a respectable status, but there are still enough decisions to be made. Lower the use of coal power, and be careful with the turbines in the sense most people don’t want them in their back yard and their high costs.

COP15 is situated in one of the greenest EU countries. May all the delegates, diplomats and politicians be inspired!

Tonight we will have a lecture on media and environment by the Danish broadcasting organization TV2!

Today the first real scooter trip was a fact for shift 3 riders. After an inspiring morning on campaigning strategies, we hit the road for a cold but beautiful 40 kilometer scooter trip.

Infrastructure
During lunch we shared our first thoughts on our topic of the manifesto: Infrastructure. A lot of ideas came up on how infrastructure should be used in order to stimulate electric mobility. Then we took off again for another 15 kilometers of a police escorted trip on the highways of Germany on our very nice electric scooters.

Negiotiations
Arrived in Schlesswig we got a warm welcome from Robert Schliessler, film maker, teacher and communication expert. He gave an interesting presentation on how bring out your ideas towards your target group. The functioning and interaction of different parts of the brain seem to play a big part in this. This lecture was an introduction on a Negotions Simulations Game. This game made it very clear that decision making with a large group of stakeholders can be very complicated. Simulating voting on important environmental issues happening at the moment in Copenhagen showed the importance of clarifying your goal and employ fair voting techniques. So also parties who ‘lost’ the voting in first instance are to be given a second chance.Especially in climate discussions this is very important.

To conclude the day we can say that making your goal very clear and at the right target group is of the utmost importance in Copenhagen!

With regards,

Your roadies Michiel Wiggers and Marlou Scheltes!

The German radio station NDR warned their listeners for a group of electric scooter drivers… Sorry, that was us! (Audio file in German.)

The Road to Copenhagen caravan will cross the Danish border on Sunday morning, 13 December! This means we are getting closer and closer to our destination: the Danish capital Copenhagen. Tuesday 15 December we aim to arrive in Copenhagen, where the roadies will present their manifesto to, among others, Yvo de Boer, head of the United Nations’ climate office (UNFCCC) and the Dutch minister of the Environment Jacqueline Cramer.

Manifesto in the making
In the past 10 days, the riders attended lectures and workshops given by scientists, politicians, energy experts and specialists from the automotive sector. They will add their experience and newly acquired knowledge to their manifesto for presentation next Tuesday.

En route
On Sunday 11 December the participants will leave Schleswig in Germany for Fredericia in Denmark. They will pass through Odense and Roskilde on Monday. One day later they will leave for their final destination, the Bella Centre in Copenhagen, where the UN COP15 Climate Summit is being held.

Keep an eye out for our caravan of 100 scooters along the Danish roads!

A number of Dutch websites’ are keeping a close eye on what’s going on during the Road to Copenhagen. They do this by following one or more of roadies, who share their first hand experiences with these sites’ visitors. Get to know some of them here.

Vera and Jim
Vera and Jim report for www.doemaarduurzaam.nl, an online sustainability platform of a number of Dutch national broadcasters. Here’s one of their clips:

Jesse
Jesse, with the R2C for the whole trip, reports (a.o.) for GeR, Groots en Rebels (which means something like: great and rebellious). Read his reports on GeR.

Femke and Ine
First Femke and now Ine are XShero’s roving reporters. XShero is the website for 12 - 25 year olds from Den Bosch and Rosmalen. Femke and Ine write daily reports for this website. Follow them!

This evening the roadies went on a boat trip through the harbor of the German city Hamburg. The harbor authorities have already put a lot in effort to sustainability, though they admit they still haven’t reached to the point of sustainable satisfaction.

The sea transport is becoming more and more environmental friendly, but the ferry services departing from Hamburg all over the Baltic Sea are yet to be given the same sustainable healing the harbor is having right now.

Second largest harbor
Hamburg, having the second largest harbor of Europe after Rotterdam, will relate the port charges not only to boat sizes, but also on environmental considerations.

Energy
At this moment over 60% of all containers shipped in are transported by either small cargo ships or by train, thus leaving the polluting trucks on a side track. Another good point is the fact ships are able to use environmental generated energy, instead of electricity generated by their own diesel engines.

Polluting area?
Hopeful words coming from what on first sight looks like a enormous polluting area. And yes, it is nice to be told that most of the steam pipes all around the wide spread industrial area blow very less CO2 into the air, but still… Don’t people still judge books by covers, are opinions more often formed by what people see instead of what they know (and not even hear or are being told)?

Act now
Here lies the challenge. Not only for the roadies, but for everyone. Act now, and create solutions fitting into the selected knowledge of mankind. Only then can you widen their view, open their eyes and make them hold their breath for a minute. But only then.

Over ‘n out.