A week at the Eco Summer Camp at Lassalle-Haus in Switzerland

A few weeks ago, I had the incredible opportunity to go to Switzerland for a week-long Eco Summer Camp on the themes of sustainability and climate change. I met about 50 young people aged 18 to 35 from all over Europe (and even beyond) and what a pleasure it was after these months heavily impacted by the pandemic! 

We attended different sessions and workshops. We met, among others, Jonathan Dawson from Schumacher College, a college where sustainability and ecological learning is at the core, but also Gaël Giraud, French economist and Jesuit priest. We talked a lot about economics, business and sustainability. Not having an economic background at all, it was quite difficult for me to follow these discussions, I must admit. However, I became aware of the importance of economics and realized that it was essential for me to learn about the economy, both past and present. I have always rejected “money”, I am scared to death of it because I often only remember the negative sides. Utopianly, I have sometimes dreamed of a world without money. But, in any case, the transition will not only need to be ecological, social but also economic.  

I particularly liked the last day at the camp: we went to the campus of the University of Zurich and participated in various workshops. The workshop with Thomas Kimmich, head gardener at the ZHAW (Zurich University of Applied Sciences) and teacher, was the most memorable for me. He succeeded in conveying his passion for plants to us, which was a very touching moment. We had the chance to observe plants whose seeds have not been genetically modified. I learned a lot and it made me want to acquire this essential knowledge, which is forgotten by many of us nowadays. 

At the end of the camp, I felt various emotions. It would be difficult for me to summarize all the learnings and the impact that this camp had on me. To present an extract of what I remember, here is a list of ideas/emotions/actions: 

– Satisfied with the full and enriching times Eco Summer Camp; 

– Happy to have the privilege of learning more and more about the climate crisis; 

– Happy to have met inspiring people and new friends; 

– Anxious about the scale of the problems our generation will face: we need real change;  

– More at peace with myself; 

– Reconnection with nature is necessary (easy reconnection in a setting like Lassalle-Haus); 

– Re-motivated in my fight against climate change as an activist;