TUNZA: The UNEP Magazine for Youth

In February 2003, the Governing Council of UNEP adopted a long-term strategy for engaging young people in environmental activities and in the work of UNEP. The strategy was entitled the TUNZA Youth Strategy.

The word “TUNZA” means “to treat with care or affection” in Kiswahili (a sub-regional language of Eastern Africa). The overall TUNZA Concept, therefore, is built around this theme. It is an initiative that is meant to develop activities in the areas of capacity building, environmental awareness, and information exchange, with a vision to foster a generation of environmentally conscious citizens, capable of positive action.

Important by-products of this strategy include the annual TUNZA International Youth Conference, Tunza Advisory Council, TUNZA magazine, and the book "A Time for Action" provide up-to-date information and resources that support the environmental empowerment of young people.

EDITORIAL:

It’s been quite a party. For the past couple of centuries – and particularly over the past 60 years – we have been squandering the planet’s vast treasury of ancient sunlight. Coal, oil and gas – fossil fuels made from life that flourished in the sun of prehistoric times – took many millions of years to form, but we have been burning them up in one massive binge. They have brought previously unimaginable prosperity and mobility to a minority of the Earth’s people, and changed the very face of the planet, covering it with settlements that shine with light in the night sky. But now the party is ending.

Concern is growing that production of oil, the most important and versatile of the fossil fuels, may soon peak – turning what was for so long a cheap and abundant source of energy into an increasingly scarce and expensive one. If so, there will be widespread economic dislocation, for nothing else is yet ready to take its place. Even more importantly, the carbon dioxide released when the fossil fuels are burned is even now irrevocably changing the climate. Global warming is already occurring far faster than expected, and the world’s scientists have repeatedly warned that unless we rapidly start to kick the carbon habit, and reduce emissions, dangerous climate change will be unavoidable.

It is falling to our generation to undertake this task, the most fundamental transformation ever attempted in the way we use resources. By 2050 the world will have to be emitting no more than half as much carbon dioxide as now.

And far greater cuts than that will have to be made by those who have benefi ted most from the fossil fuel bonanza – the industrialized countries and the wealthy in developing ones – in order to leave room for the poor to develop. And we will need to stop and reverse deforestation, the second biggest emitter of carbon dioxide.

It’s a tall order, but it can be achieved, even using technologies that we already have to hand. Clean, renewable sources of energy are rapidly developing, and can both tackle climate change and lift the poor out of their poverty. Above all, there is tremendous scope for dramatically cutting the waste of energy. Practical steps are spelled out in this issue of TUNZA, but – in the end – it begins with us. Let’s make a start this World Environment Day.

Download Tunza Vol. 6 No. 1: Kick the Habit

PDF format, 4.7MB, 24Pages.

CONTENTS
Editorial 3
Kicking the habit 4
Unlocking the future 5
Lights out 6
Flicking the switch on standby 6
TUNZA answers your questions 7
Green cities 8
How high is your carbon awareness? 9
Good ideas 10
Every little helps 10
Counting carbon 12
Titanic struggle 14
Anatomy of a climate change campaign 15
Low carbon chic 16
Making a stand 18
Techno-genius... 20
Seven wonders 22

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COOL & COOLER

COOL: Substituting your petrol-powered lawn-mower for a hand mower. A standard mower pollutes as much in one hour as a car driven anything from 200 to 500 kilometres, so switching to pushing power is a great way to trim your emissions, your waist and your grass all at once.
COOLER: Organic power. If cutting the lawn makes you feel sheepish, take inspiration from the parks of Curitiba in Brazil or Fort Saskatchewan in Canada, and break new grazing ground. In Canada, 50 sheep maintain 8 hectares of parkland – could some rabbits keep a small lawn in check?

COOL: Sitting down and reading your favourite environmental magazine, TUNZA, in a cosy café that serves coffee in a ceramic mug.
COOLER: Carrying your own mug to use for take-away coffees, cutting down on disposable paper or plastic cups.
COOLEST: Enjoying a cuppa while seeing how our world will look if the polar caps melt. The ‘Global Warming mug’ sports a map of the world which diminishes as hot liquid is poured into it, simulating sea-level rise.

COOL: Putting your computer to sleep rather than just turning off the monitor.
COOLER: Turning your computer all the way off when you’ve fi nished using it.
COOLEST: Switching to a laptop, which uses about half the energy of the equivalent desktop PC.

COOL: Making your calls from a water-powered phone. Motorola have teamed up with Angstrom Power to manufacture a mobile that runs on hydrogen fuel cell technology.
COOLER: Reliving your childhood with Horizon Fuel Cell’s H2 racer – a mini model hydrogen car that runs on solargenerated hydrogen – while dreaming of driving off into the sunset when they develop the real thing.

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