Sustainable Living in a Big City

June 30 through July 6, 2019 TED Istanbul College Foundation Private High School and the Turkey Branch of CEI

Conference Chair NURTEN SELDA MERSİNLİOĞLU

The 33rd Caretakers of the Environment International (CEI) Conference took place between the 30th of June and 6th of July this year in Turkey for the first time. The conference was hosted by the TED İstanbul College Foundation Private High School.
232 delegates from Turkey, America, Mexico, Russia, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Indonesia, Pakistan, South Africa and Malawi presented 42 projects on this year’s theme, “Sustainable Life In a Big City”.
Venue for the conference was the Doğa Resort in Şile. The conference opening ceremony, the presentations and the debate activities took place in the TED İstanbul College Foundation Private High School.
In the Expert Speeches segment, Prof.Dr. Levent Kurnaz, Gülin Yücel from Brika Sustainability, Serhan Süzer from EkoRE and Emrah Bilge from the Mind Your Waste Foundation joined the conference with their inspiring and informative presentations.
In the conference trips, the Atatürk Arboretum, the Boğaziçi University Kilyos Campus Biological Filtration System, Şile, The Ömerli Dam Filtration Facility, The Fenerbahçe Community Park and the Sain Joseph High School Natural History Museum were visited. After the trips, beach cleaning was done with the help of the Şile Municipality.
Workshops took place in the venue. Delegates made terrariums, seed balls, wood press design, a conference poster, a sculpture of sand lily from electronic wastes, designed clothes from used goods and many other hands on activities.
The best moments as always been, were the moments shared together such as the culture night and the food market that brings people together to create unique shared experiences and memories.

Nurten Selda MERSİNLİOĞLU

 Photos a courtesy of Ali Chou Li Lin and Nurten Selda MERSİNLİOĞLU