"Cycling for Democracy", the web series of the World Forum for Democracy
Interview with Nicolas BOURION
13th episode - Backstage of the Forum
Visit the Council of Europe with Lana and Nicolas. Learn more about the history of the World Forum for Democracy, its aims and meet the team who works at the backstage of the event.
12th episode: FRANCE
Strasbourg is France’s bicycle capital. As Fabien from the local association CADR 67 tells us about this love story between the city and the two-wheeler, we learn how his initiative collaborates with the municipality to promote cycling in the European capital.
11th episode: GERMANY
From the streets of Berlin, Joe from Extinction Rebellion teaches us how democracy and ecology are closely linked. While cycling around the German capital, we learn how our democratic systems can be reinvented through new technology in order to become more participative and inclusive.
10th episode - FINLAND
From Finland, Johana shows us around the unusual town of Ii, all while telling us about its incredible ecological achievements. We are joining her to learn more about the old Sami city’s ambitions of becoming the world’s first zero-waste city.
9th episode - INDONESIA
With this episode, Nicolas takes us far away, in Palu, Indonesia, where Abizar and Fithriyyah are among the leading figures of Seangle, a social innovation lab. By focusing on marine debris, the two young activists and their initiative have a mission to tackle environmental issues through a wide range of local actions spanning from seashore cleaning to experimental educational workshops.
8th episode - SPAIN
In Madrid, Emmanuel from the pro-European youth organization Equipo Europa is inviting us on a cycled city tour. While showing us around the Spanish capital, we discover how the collaboration with municipalities around sustainable development can also manifest through symbolic acts
7th episode - ISRAEL
From Tel Aviv, Gidon Bromberg tells us about EcoPeace and its battle against water scarcity in the Middle East. As we follow Gidon's bicycle through the white city and through the old Jaffa, the relationship between ecology and peace grows clearer.
6th episode - CANADA
While guiding us through the streets of Toronto, Kehkashan and her Green Hope Foundation serve us the perfect example of how our youth are the citizens of tomorrow. This episode shows us how Making a difference doesn’t depend on age.
5th episode - GREECE
A social entrepreneur must be able to adapt to any kind of crisis. Melina from Wise Greece, a food initiative based in Athens, knows it. We meet her during the recent heatwave and wildfires burning in Greece, the last of a series of crisis faced by this Mediterranean country. The initiative has a double mission: to promote top quality Greek products and to raise money to buy food and donate it to people in need.
4th episode - BRAZIL
While exploring different areas of São Paulo, Jorge presents to us the civil organization Cidades Sustentáveis devoted to making the ecological transition sustainable for the Brazilian cities. We will see how developing custom made tools can help municipalities reduce inequalities for the improvement of life conditions of their citizens.
3rd episode - ITALY
While Francesca takes us on a nice bike ride around Rome, she tells us about her environmental initiative, Retake Roma. Visiting one of the organization's neighborhood workshops we discover why the group is collecting thousands of worn out gym shoes all around the eternal city.
2nd episode - KENYA
Rose is waiting for us in Nairobi to tell us all about the initiative Natural Justice, founded to ensure the rights of local communities. While wandering around the City in the Sun, Rose and her colleagues describe how legal empowerment is a precious tool in the protection of indigenous rights.
1st episode - ESTONIA
Sometimes great things come from crazy ideas. This is what happened in Tallinn (Estonia) with Heidi and her organisation Let’s Do it World. Discover how the world can become a cleaner place, and how we can strive towards becoming waste-free by joining our forces.
“Cycling for Democracy” or hitting the road in pursuit of original initiatives that help answer the question “Can democracy save the environment?”
In search of answers to the environmental challenges of our time, in 2019 Nicolas cycled the roads of France to discover various people-driven solutions. Now, with travel restricted by the pandemic, our cyclist reaches out from the Council of Europe Assembly Chamber in Strasbourg to the individuals running incredible environmental initiatives and interviews them.
From this venue which every year plays host to the World Forum for Democracy, Nicolas takes us to the four corners of the globe to discover a host of initiatives, large and small, that aim to promote eco-citizenship, environmental education, legal emancipation of rural populations, participatory democracy, ecology as an instrument of peace and much more.
As the interviewees navigate their cities by bike, in France, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Israel, Indonesia, Kenya or Brazil, Nicolas asks us: can democracy save the environment?
This original series produced by Urubu films will be available from 28 September 2021 on the World Forum for Democracy website and Youtube.
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