1. IDEAS
for your events
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2. IDEAS FOR
YOUR EVENTS
1. WHAT ACTIVITIES, AND
TO ACHIEVE WHAT?
Firstly, for your project to succeed it is important that the
campus players know you and support your cause.
The aim is to raise public awareness, and in
order to do this it is also necessary to have the
funds to finance events for your projects.
Sharing your success will help you to rein-
force your contacts with the various play-
ers, to involve them in your initiatives and
above all to make them aware of the fact
that you are making steady progress.
Learn how to celebrate your achieve-
ments! It is essential that your team be
tight-knit in order to work effectively.
Finally, it is always interesting to combine an
information point with your activities in order to
make them really visible.
When looking to organise an interesting event that can
reach out to the maximum number of people, many teams find themselves
bereft of ideas and fall back on the usual standard pairing of “conference &
stand”. It would better to try to imagine an event with some originality, adapted
to your aims and requirements.

3. 2. ACTIVITIES TO RAISE
PUBLIC AWARENESS
Mostly, you will wish to organise events in order to raise awareness amongst
your fellow students about global warming and more specifically, about
energy issues, for example, clamping down on wasting energy. Variety is
essential in order to have a powerful impact over time. In brief, abandon the
“conference & stand mode”. For an event to be a success concentrate on
communicating (see. ‘Guidelines: How to organise an event’).
3. A FUNDRAISING EVENT
Events should also be organised to finance the activities of your organisation.
There are dozens of activities that can be adapted to each specific situation.
For example, the sale of ecological products (targeting the Christmas market)
or competitions (artistic, sports…)
4. EVERYBODY
GATHERED TOGETHER
TO CELEBRATE
Of course, being a green campus also means celebrating victories such as
the signing of a charter, the implementation of energy saving measures or
even the installation of solar panels. These events are also occasions for offi-
cial ceremonies with your college administration. They should be organised
with great care. Try to make them significant events. Examples would be
improvised theatre or a fair trade dinner.

4. 5. HOW TO UNITE A TEAM?
Amongst team members, it is absolutely essential that there is a united team
spirit, and there are certain ways of achieving this. For example, after each
event/activity take the time to have a little debriefing meeting over a drink, or
go to environmental or sustainable development shows, festivals, exhibitions,
demonstrations, films etc., together.
Of course you can organise an awareness event that will also enable you to
raise funds. Don’t forget to take plenty of photos when you organise an event.
LIST OF EQUIPMENT MADE AVAILABLE TO CAMPUSES BY SOLAR
GENERATION (depends on country, so check for availability):
solar powered bar
solar powered sound system
climate change exhibition panels
energy revolution exhibition panels
banners
small wind turbines.
You have access to highly effective means of communication.
Solar Generation covers the costs, although expenses can be high
(solar bar, solar sound system). They are consequently reserved for
large-scale events.
Reference: The GUERILLA KIT by Morjane Baba
(published by’ la découverte’)

5. So here is a list of ideas – non-exhaustive - of interesting and fun
activities, that can be developed, revised, transformed, evolved, or
experimented with…
1. Bring a block of ice and let it melt on the campus and mark it with a
flag that says “Global warming is in the here and now”.
2. Borrow some solar panels in order to charge
mobiles and laptops.
3. Organise a “solar lunch” day with a solar powered oven, a crêpe
stand and a solar powered bar.
4. Assemble some sun squads (groups strolling about
disguised as suns).
5. Make banners with designs and messages that
can be hung from the university windows.
6. Organise a “human banner” (a banner whereby the
letters or symbols are formed by people).
7. Form a large parade with people in disguise carrying symbols.
8. Set up a photo-messaging system.
9. Organise little solar vehicle races.
10. Bring in a solar cinema.
11. Set up a workshop to make solar torches.
12. As for the associations, ask your partner groups to come up with
games that can be played so that people can join in.
13. Organise a debate over coffee followed by a quiz
to see who has been following the issue.
14. Show films.
15. Organise a competition and a photo exhibition.
16. Ask the university refectory if you can use paper napkins, cups and
table settings to get your message across.
17. For your competitive games, quizzes and tombolas give away
original prizes (low-consumption light bulbs, solar lighters, multiple
sockets, model windmills, a visit to a renewables installation site…)
18. Arrange a darts competition. A darts game (with darts shaped in
the form of windmills or suns) with the target being a coal-fired
power station or the building you wish to demonstrate about.

6. 19. Arrange a competition to establish the most energy
efficient hall of residence in order to encourage everybody
to take action.
20. Install a barometer, designed and made by the Art students,
to measure the conditions in the faculty. Leave it there
throughout the campaign, adjusting the arrow in accordance
with the progress of your project.
21. Increase eco activism in the lecture theatres.
22. Organise a Green Olympic Games amongst the
various associations or societies that are taking action
on your campus.
23. Provide two sets of bicycles, one with low-consumption
lamps and one with glow lamps so that people become
aware of the energy required to illuminate the various
facilities.
24. Organise an on-the-spot demonstration, with everybody
wearing swimming costumes and carrying banners to high-
light our vulnerability to global warming.
25. In order to raise money organise lotteries, tombolas, charity
bazaars, auctions, garage sales or treasure hunts.
26. Organise a blind test on different issues.
27. Put together a questionnaire whereby people can win and
accumulate “solar points”; after a certain number of points
prizes can be won.
28. Rig up two arches at the exit of the school - one labelled “I
will consume more” and the other “I will consume less” - and
ask students to sign up to either one. Count the participants
and use this figure in order to petition.
29. Close all the blinds in order to convey the message
“We must use the sun”.
30. Circulate a rumour about polar bears on bicycles.
31. Organise a theme-based graffiti competition or create
a symbolic and permanent work of art.
32. For an official inauguration in addition to the obligatory
handshake, don’t forget to cut the ribbon, take the photos
and provide the cocktails.
33. Organise taxi bicycles in order to chat with the
students along the way.

7. 34. Create a symbolic image, such as boats on the campus,
to illustrate rising sea levels.
35. Hand out “fortune cookies” with messages in them.
36. Collect signatures on a windmill-shaped petition and then
plant a field of windmill petitions.
37. Release a large number of biodegradable balloons.
38. Publish a journal dated 2050 that would illustrate a pseudo
piece of news typical of that time (with games and
drawings too).
39. Organise a “virtual walk” for your project by collecting videos
or photos and displaying them.
40. Organise a “die-in” of polar bears or penguins.
41. Set up a giant hourglass on the campus to represent “time
is running out”.
42. Make a “minute of noise”, with everybody shouting
out the message at once.
43. Illustrate the impact of global warming locally (flooding, melt-
ing glaciers, drought…) with, for example, everybody dressed
up in boots, oilskins and in boats to illustrate the floods.

8. 44. Ask people to commit to an energy-saving measure,
make note of all the commitments they agree to and
illustrate the total energy saved in this way.
45. Rename the various buildings and roads on the
campus and officially inaugurate them.
46. Organise a communal event and finish off the
evening with a concert on each campus.
47. Organise a big event involving all the campus players
(staff, and other students).
48. Involve the president or director of a school,
or another strategic person in your plans.
49. Consider images and ideas that can be achieved at night.
50. Organise a Climate Parade with a float and bicycles
to carry a lot of people.
51. Create models of the campus and the buildings being
targeted, illustrating the desired improvements and renew-
able energy installations.
52. Erect a giant board on which everyone can write
messages or draw pictures.

9. NOTES

12. TESTIMONIES
DENISE MATIAS, SOLAR GENERATION PHILIPPINES
« Solar Generation showed me what I
can do, as a Filipino and as citizen of
the world. The ADB AGM last year (2006) at
Hyderabad is testament to this. All SG gathered
there are youth from all over the world, all com-
moners in our own country yet by being together
and by working together, we were a force to
reckon with! In this case, power in numbers does
not hold true but rather power in being one voice
created the much-needed buzz which made
ADB worried (and hopefully think twice of their energy projects as a develop-
ment bank). I realized how important SG work is, in approaching strategic
decision-makers and in showing that the youth are concerned about and very
much involved in the shaping of their own future. »
AKSHAY, 21 YEARS OLD, SOLAR GENERATION INDIA
« The Solar project was launched in India during my first year at univer-
sity and I was there from day one, which was the project launch day!
Greenpeace International Ottho Heldringstraat 5 1066 AZ Amsterdam Netherlands
One of the eventful activities in which I participated was the documentary I
made with six other Solar members. We filmed it for the Solar Generation Hot
Spot Tour, which was collecting pictures of the locations most affected by cli-
mate change in order to bring them to the COP/MOP conference that was
held in Montreal in 2005. Our project was about the socio-economic impact of
climate change on fishing and farming communities in the Indian state of
Orissa. The image of fields flooded by the rising sea level will remain with me
for a long time. This documentary is the first project that I did with Solar and it
helped us make the reality of climate change much more tangible. »
Printed on 100% post consumer recycled chlorine-free paper
FRANK ERNST, 24 YEARS OLD, SOLAR GENERATION SWITZERLAND
« During the five years I’ve been active in the Solar Generation project,
I’ve successively convinced politicians to implement climate-friendly
policies, installed hundreds of solar panels with young people from all over the
world, talked to people from every kind of background from behind a Solar
www.solargeneration.org
stand, learned about the technical side of sustainable energy, organized
awareness events for other students, was part of a delegation that partici-
pated in the conference on sustainable energy, and I wrote about all those
experiences in a blog.. »