On Tuesday, October 4th, 2022 at 7 p.m., at the Celje Youth Center, we presented the first results of the project, which in Slovenia is called #ArcticAngels and operates virtually on Instagram @arcticiceforce.slo + on Facebook as Arctic Ice Force Slovenia and is part of a global initiative of the American-European philanthropic organization Global Choices. The #ArcticAngels project is active in Slovenia under the auspices of our Institute and supports motivated young women who are very engaged in caring for the #GlobalCommon (Global Commons are those areas, objects or resources of the world that are not part of the exclusive jurisdiction of any country. Examples of Global Commons are Earth’s atmosphere, ocean floor, airspace, outer space, Antarctica). As the voices of their generation, the girls are driving multimedia engagement to raise awareness and pressure to protect the Arctic and Antarctic. In Slovenia, that voice is Veronika Bastl, a former student at the Faculty of Environmental Protection who graduated under the mentorship of dr. Anje Bubik and my co-mentorship, who have been working in the field of sustainability and environmental awareness for many years. Veronika Bastl is part of the global #ArcticAngels community, where from the European Community so far there are only young women from Italy, Norway, France and Germany. As a very small European country, Slovenia is the first from Central Europe and the Balkans to join this incredible circle. At the event, a group of Slovenian girls presented their achievements so far and called on the audience to act more responsibly towards the environment. The main guests of the event were journalists Boštjan Videmšek and his wife Maja Prijatelj Videmšek, who for the first time in Celje presented their extraordinary book The last two: Najin and Fatu (about the last two northern white rhinos on planet Earth) and Aleksandar Plavšič, doctor of veterinary medicine, from the company Vets4Science, Celje, who shared his thoughts and scientific work on animal embryo transfer methods. The latter is the only hope for the preservation of the northern white rhino species.
I moderated the event myself, which was quite challenging, because all the participants, including the volunteers, were extremely good experts in the field. They managed to share their thoughts in a very popular way to the audience present, which actively participated in the debate and that was very rewarding. We were also joined by local food providers – Kmetija Podpečan from Galicija, Rukola&Paradižnik from Celje and flower decoration Cvetober from Slovenska Bistrica. The photographs were taken by Andraž Purg – GrupA.
The project, which is currently in its start-up phase, took on new dimensions with this event. We will try to transfer it from the local level to a wider one. #ArcticAngels in Slovenia deals with values essential for the times we live in – our relationship to the planet; the ways in which we can do something ourselves to make the world a better place and, above all, raise awareness about it with renowned guests and young (women), who are key players in the quality of our future. The project was partially co-financed by the Municipality of Celje.
You can have a look at the whole event at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6muVaa4ud8