Young, Loud and Green

In a world hit by energy crises and inflation📈, how do small businesses stay afloat? The answer might be greener than you think 🌱. This week, we’re joined by Miruna and Adelina from Social Innovation Solutions to discuss about the practical side of the green transition in Central and Eastern Europe.​🛡️The Inflation Shield: Why smarter resource management is the best defense against the current energy crisis.💰Beyond the Hype: Moving sustainability away from being a "luxury" to becoming a practical Day 1 requirement for 22-year-old founders.​🎫 The Festival Energy: Why climate action should feel as engaging and inclusive as a Coldplay concert.​✔️Regional Power: How 6 countries in CEE are sharing "best practices" to stay competitive. #​ycdf #youngloudgreen #unesco #sis #sustainability

“We don’t want money. We want a seat at the table”.In our latest episode, we’re zooming out of the European bubble to talk climate power with Michael Kakande, founder of @Resilient40.Michael dropped some mind-blowing reality checks that we can’t stop thinking about: 📊 The Leadership Gap: The median age in Africa is 19, but the median age of its leaders is 65. How do we bridge a 46-year gap in climate policy? 🚫 Beyond the Victim Narrative: Why Africa is no longer a “problem to be solved”, but a partner bearing the solutions. 🕊️ Climate as Peacebuilding: How youth-led action is healing post-conflict regions. 🤝 True Allyship: How European youth can support the Global South without overshadowing their voices.We wrap up with Michael’s “green and peaceful regards” and a must-watch movie recommendation that defines African innovation. 🎥 hint: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

The Planetary Plate: Mindful Eating for a Changing Climate 🎙️What if the secret to a sustainable planet was already on your plate? 🍽️ This week on Young, Loud and Green, we’re sitting down with Sofia Botelli to reframe the conversation around healthy eating 🥗 - moving beyond weight loss to focus on planetary impact. We dive into the three pillars of a “Planetary Health Diet”: Eating Local, Eating Smart, and Eating Mindfully.In this episode, we discuss:​Soil vs. Soul: How supporting local farms builds resilience in both our bodies and our land. 🌾​The Seasonal Immune System: Why eating with the weather matters more than ever. 🍎​The Overconsumption Paradox: How much could we slash global emissions if we just ate what our bodies actually needed? ​Ditching the "Almond Mom" Trend: A sensitive look at why “eating less” isn't about restriction - it’s about mindfulness and respecting your body’s limits. 🏋️Sofia helps us navigate the tricky balance of staying healthy while staying green. 🌱

More than Words on Paper: The Eco-Manifesto 🎙️Starting an environmental NGO in Bulgaria isn’t just about protecting the scenery - it’s about breaking through a wall of inertia. 🧱🌱With the founder of ManEco, Vihren Mitev, we’re going behind the scenes of the Ecological Manifesto. We discuss the real-world barriers of launching a movement where the topic was once non-existent, and why we need a cultural reboot across Southeast Europe.In this episode:​🇧🇬 The Founder’s Hurdle: What it’s really like trying to put climate change on the map in Bulgaria.​🛑 The Inertia Problem: Why humanity’s fast-paced development made us forget our connection to nature.​🏫 Education as the Engine: Moving from zero awareness to standardized tools like Climate Fresk that have reached 2 million people.​🤝 Building the Wave: How to create a bottom-up and top-down collaboration between youth, business, and policy.It’s time to stop looking at nature as an infinite resource and start seeing ourselves as planetary beings. 🌍

Spilling the Tea (and the River): Hydropower 101 🎙️Hydropower is usually sold as the “ultimate” green energy - but is it actually a win for the planet, or just a win for the people building the dams? 🌊🤔This week, with Redon Katroshi, Chair of YCDF Albania, we’re looking past the marketing to see what’s really happening in the Balkans. We’re breaking down the physics, the finances and the friction. ​💰 Green vs. Greed: Is it renewable energy or just a massive PR campaign?​✊ The Balkan Resistance: Why young people are protesting the very energy we’re told will save us.​〰️ The Bottom Line: Who’s actually getting the electricity (and the profit)?​🚩 Red Flags: The questions you should be asking before a dam project lands in your backyard.

“Just Transition” is the phrase on everyone’s lips, but who is it actually for? In this episode of Young, Loud, and Green 🎙️, we sit down with Nikoleta to look past the buzzwords and get back to the roots of the movement. We dive deep into the messy origins of the term -born from labor organizations- and tackle the elephant in the room: Can we truly achieve a “just” transition within a capitalist framework ⚖️? From governance models to the deep-seated gaps in current climate policy, we explore how to build a future that doesn’t just swap oil for lithium, but actually changes the power dynamic. 💥

Individual responsibility, climate anxiety, collective activism, and touching grass all in one episode. 🌿This week we’re joined by Eva Iliadi, Corporate Relations Officer at We4All, a tree-planting NGO that has already planted 3 million trees worldwide. 🌳🌍We talk about:✨ Why policy must center the most affected communities✨ Why you do matter - even when it feels like you don’t✨ How tree planting builds more than forests: it builds communities✨ Why “touching grass” might actually be part of the solutionYou may feel small alone - but together, we’re unstoppable. ✊

Young, Loud and Green is back for 2026 with a new episode that’s sure to inspire you. ⚡️We sit down with Danielle Lanyard, the founder of Climate Quilt, to explore why this moment in history is unlike any other, and why youth are at the very center of climate solutions. Danielle speaks emotively about why today’s social movements can only succeed by bringing together generations, cultures, and belief systems. Bringing a sobering and deeply human perspective, she speaks openly about climate anxiety and the importance of staying connected to one another. 🔗About Climate Quilt & How to Get Involved 🖼️The Climate Quilt is a global youth art initiative that supports young people in exploring climate and systems change through creative practice. The project is building an international youth climate art collection 🌐 that elevates emerging voices from around the world.Climate Quilt is currently hosting an open call to youth globally to submit an artwork responding to climate change under one of two themes:​The Here and Now - the status quo​Paint the Beautiful Tomorrow - the future, when nature winsListen in to learn why art matters, why youth leadership is essential, and how creativity can help shape the future of climate action.

Our 10th and final episode of 2025 is here ✨Since August we’ve been building this community one conversation at a time - and we saved this one for last.We came across Global Nation this October in Romania at the Climate Change Summit - reshaping how we think about solidarity, activism, and the future we’re stepping into. 🌍Together, with Anna Hope, we explored generational tensions, how climate anxiety sits at the heart of today’s solidarity challenges and what that means for climate action.An episode to close 2025, but also an invitation for reflection as we enter the new year. 💭

From self-organized energy communities to reclaiming collective agency 💥, this episode dives into what hope looks like when institutions fail. A conversation about networks, community power, and why democracy sometimes starts with your neighbors. 🧍‍♀️🧍

What’s the difference between climate and environmental justice and what does it really mean in Southeast Europe - a region caught between ambition and inequality?In this conversation with UNICEF, we dive deep into environmental justice, youth activism, and the quiet contradictions of the green transition. From climate gentrification to the myth of “leaders of tomorrow,” we ask: Who’s carrying the real weight of change, and who’s just talking about it? 🌱⚖️

As the world gears up for COP30 in Brazil, we’re diving deep into what this Conference of the Parties really needs to achieve and who actually gets a seat at the table.In this episode, we unpack:🌍 The priorities of COP30 and why they matter.🏝️ How small states like Tuvalu and Barbados have made global waves - and why the Balkans could be next.🧠 Why some young leaders unintentionally gatekeep and how leadership training can change that.🗣️ What real diplomatic channels exist for youth before ministers sign anything.✈️ And yes - the paradox of holding a climate conference that comes with a carbon footprint of its own.

As the Youth Climate Diplomacy Forum marks its first full year of operations and ahead of its 2nd Regional Conference, we sit down with Professor Emmanuella Doussis, Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair on Climate Diplomacy, under whose auspices the YCDF operates. 🌱In this insightful conversation, Professor Doussis unpacks how language shapes our understanding of the climate crisis, what solutions are most urgent, and why climate diplomacy is becoming a defining field of global cooperation. We also explore how education systems can better prepare young citizens for the challenges ahead, and why youth voices in climate advocacy are not just necessary, but transformative. 🗣️Tune in for a deep dive into the ideas, values, and global efforts that will determine the planet’s future. 🌎

From coffee shop chats to climate action. ☕️🌿In this episode, we sit down with Florent Demelezi, Chair of YCDF Kosovo who organized the YCDF Café workshop at the Western Balkans Youth Forum 2025, organized by RYCO within the Berlin Process, to unpack how young people from across the Balkans turned flipcharts, quizzes, and maps into powerful conversations on pollution, policy, and cross-border collaboration. Tune in for stories, insights, and a taste of how youth are brewing change - one conversation at a time. 🗣️🎙️

What does the world need now more than ever? Hope ✨. That’s why we invited Başak Almaz, Research Assistant at Istanbul Aydin University and Chair of Turkiye’s Local Council 🇹🇷, to join us and share how hope can reshape the way we think about climate change 🌱. This might not be Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism album 🐬, but it’s packed with fresh perspectives to lift you out of climate doom and into action 🌞.Until the next episode, stay young, loud and green. 📣

🌱 Climate as a Bridge: Rethinking the Balkan Future 🌱What if climate action could do what politics never has-bring the Balkans together? Join us as we speak with a young NGO founder reshaping the region’s future, turning environmental challenges into opportunities for cooperation, peace, and youth-led change.

🌎 Who’s really leading the fight for our planet and who’s being left out? This podcast dives into ecofeminism, climate justice and gendered power, asking why women are on the frontlines but absent from global negotiations. Bold questions, uncomfortable truths, and a fresh lens on the climate movement 🌿🎀.

🎙️ SEE-ing Green: Youth Climate Diplomacy in Southeast EuropeYoung, Loud and Green is here, crossing borders and spotlighting the unstoppable rise of youth voices in climate diplomacy.From what even is youth climate diplomacy (and why it matters) to whether young people should work within broken systems or build new ones from scratch, we’re asking the bold questions and getting real answers.We sit down with the Chair of YCDF (Youth Climate Diplomacy Forum) - a youth-led initiative reshaping green transition politics in Southeast Europe - to talk inspiration, frustration, and action. Expect honest takes on:🌍 What drives and blocks climate action in SEE🔥 Rage vs. hope: how young leaders channel both📚 Climate books and films that spark the fire🧭 Real advice for those who feel it’s “too late”Because turning down the heat starts with turning up the volume.