By Kristina Mihelič at Gimnazija Ledina, Young Reporter for the Environment, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Ljubljana - the capitol of the Republic of Slovenia - welcomed the climate baton of the largest and longest international climate initiative "Running Out of Time" on the 18th and 19th of October, 2022. The baton arrived at park Tivoli near city center before midnight on 18th of October 2022 in hands of the British Ambasador to the Republic of Slovenia, Mrs. Tiffany Sadler. It was taken over by the team of the Faculty of Education in Ljubljana, the first Green Flag awarded faculty (FEE Eco-Campus) in Slovenia.
Stojan Kostanjevec, Urška Lamovec and Nejc Kavka, runners from the Faculty of Education, took two stages: first, they ran 5 km from Park Tivoli to the Faculty of Education. From there, they took the baton through the city center, passing Three bridges, Ljubljana castle and other monuments. After 12 kilometres, they arrived to Lavrica where they handed the baton to cyclist Luka Štrubelj from the company Gen.
Stojan Kostanjevec, Urška Lamovšek and Nejc Kavka with the baton in front of the Faculty for Education in Ljubljana.
At the Faculty of Education, Stojan Kostanjevec is a member of the Commission for International Cooperation, department coordinator for exchange and international cooperation, coordinator of the Eco-Committee, he also contributes its valuable knowledge and shares experiences in the Eco-Schools program in the implementation of the project »Hrana ni za tjavendan« (“No Waste Food”). He also participated in the project “We Eat Responsibly”. His biggest motivation for participating in the Running out of Time is the desire to be enable to run, cycle and sail in a healthy and clean environment in the future, and therefore we must keep it that way.
Baton in Slovenia carried by the president and the Ministry for the Environment
Baton taken over by the Faculty of Education team from Mrs. Tiffany Sadler, the British Ambassador in Slovenia.
The baton arrived to Slovenia in a small town Volčja Draga on Tuesday, October 18 in the evening. It was welcomed by the team of the Ministry for the Environment and Spatial Planning, including the Minister, Mr. Uroš Brežan, the Secretary general Mr. Uroš Vajgl, State Secretary, responsible for the environment, Maja Kostanjšek, Head of Minister Office at the ministry, Tina Hočevar from the Environmental Affairs and Climate Change Office and Tina Kobilšek, Head of Climate change division. They handed the baton to Polona Razgoršek and Ema Kotnik, coordinators for kindergartens in the Eco-Schools program in Slovenia.
The climate baton in Slovenia took 245 kilometres, split to 23 stages. It passed through Ljubljana, Vrhnika, Grosuplje, Ivančna Gorica, Trebnje, Mirna Peč and Novo mesto. On the last three stages, the baton was carried by Borut Pahor, the president of the Republic of Slovenia, the teams of the U. S. Embassy, Slovene Forest Fund and company GEN. On three locations: Kostanjevica na Krki, Leskovec pri Krškem and Krško, special ceremonies were prepared including more than 1.000 pupils from primary schools including more than 1,000 pupils.
Stojan Kostanjevec and Nejc Kavka in front of France Prešeren (Slovene poet) monument in Ljubljana (Slovene capitol) center.
Urška Lamovec from Faculty of Education, Ljubljana, taking over the baton from Tiffany Sadler, The British Ambassador in Slovenia.
Gimnazija Ledina joined 36,000 youngsters all over Slovenia on school climate actions day
Stages of the relay run by the team of the Faculty of Education, the first Green Flag awarded faculty in Slovenia (FEE Eco-Campus).
During the climate relay in Slovenia, school or local climate days were organized by Eco-Schools and Young Reporters for the Environment members in which 36,000 children and young people from all parts of Slovenia participated. On the 19th of October, the students of Gimnazija Ledina also ran with our own baton to the Ljubljana Castle and Tabor during sport lessons. Together, we added up all the meters to the baton and marked that special climate actions day in Slovenia.
The biggest and the longest climate relay carrying a message to COP27
The common goal of all participating countries in the initiative “Running out of Time” is to take action against climate change, for the preservation of biodiversity and natural resources. It is a relay with a climate message, supported and signed by thousands of young people and their companions. It takes 38 days on a 7,767 km long route through 18 countries while running, cycling and sailing.
The relay started on September 30, 2022 in Glasgow, where 3,000 children accompanied it on its way. From there, the baton carrying the youth message about climate change travels over 732 stages, passing through the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Cyprus , Israel and Egypt - and will arrive in Sharm-el Sheikh on November 6, 2022, when the COP27 Climate Conference begins.
About Kristina
Kristina is in her fourth (last) grade of secondary school Gimnazija Ledina, located in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. She is actively involved in the whole-school initiative “Green Ledina” intended to encourage students to seek for sustainable solutions and take sustainable actions in their school and everyday life. She is a part of the Eco-Schools and YRE teams. In March 2022, she actively participated in the YEEC (Youth Environmental Education Congress) in Prague.
Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) is a programme developed by the Foundation for Environmental Education. In Slovenia, the YRE programme is coordinated by our member, Društvo Doves (FEE Slovenia).