"The words 'There's nothing we can do' don't exist here…" wrote 16-year-old Neela Dolezalova in a letter to the Guardian last August. "The atmosphere here is amazing. 'What's your name, and where do you come from?' a line that won't be worn out. Here the word apathy is quite dead, and in its place a remarkable optimism, one that I know will stay with me for a long time after the solar showers have been taken down."

Her description of the Woodcraft Folk's 2001 International Camp appeared in the paper the following week and environment correspondent John Vidal packed his rucksack and took up Neela's invitation to "come and see for yourself".

So what was it all about? The Woodcraft Folk holds international camps about every five or six years - inviting guests from sister organisations around the globe. This year there were 3,500 participants including 700 international delegates from as far away as Nicaragua, Vietnam, India, Senegal and Peru.

Sust 'n' Able

The number of young people on the organising committee for the two-week long event greatly outnumbered the older members and it was from their interests and concerns that Sust 'n' Able emerged.

The programme was to offer ways of helping young people to understand the world's problems - becoming "sussed" - and also about taking action to make it a better place now and for the future - being "able". Both were seen as essential elements in creating a "sustainable" future.

Simulation game

At previous camps we have tried out simulation games as tools to convey an educational message. Whilst involving very large numbers of people, these games have been heavily role-play based and played in a limited time slot. This time we wanted to get away from the stresses of role play but instead to get everyone to make small modifications to their real-life behaviour. It was hoped that these lifestyle changes would become permanent … "Sustainability isn't just for camp" the slogan rang!

We boldly announced to our movement that:
The aim of the camp is to bring about a change in the attitude of every participant towards those transformations which will be required to achieve global sustainability. Whilst we know that many of our members are deeply concerned about the environmental, social and economic problems that the world faces, we also know that they are often complacent about the impact of their actions to change things.
Our objective is that this camp should be a life-changing experience for every single person who attends it. That change may be large or small. But no matter how minor it may seem, put it together with 3000 other small changes and it will add up to big. And we're hoping for some big changes too!

Well, to deliver this objective in the form of a programme of activities for 3,500 people, lasting two weeks, did seem a little ambitious but at least no-one can complain that we aimed too low! Over a twelve month planning period we developed the 'game plan', educational resources to support it and lots of materials to enable groups to prepare in advance.

Preparation

A few months before the camp, Woodcraft Folk groups all over Britain were frantically constructing solar powered showers, planning low 'food miles' menus and calculating the relative environmental costs of different methods of transport to get there.

Lots of people found themselves on a steep learning curve but by the time of our annual conference in May debates were raging about, for example, the relative energy consumption of producing ceramic mugs compared to that of making a life-times supply of polystyrene ones - and how to calculate into the equation the cost of disposal of the latter and the environmental impact of the land-fill they would create.

By the time the tents went up in Sherwood Forest last August a large part of the awareness raising we had set out to do had already been achieved - and the best was yet to come. What happened (sparing a lot of detail) went something like this

Footprints

On the first afternoon each of the camp's 39 villages (groups averaging about 100 people) ran a workshop to introduce the theme. This included making 'feet' three times normal size (to represent the environmental impact of the UK lifestyle) and trying to play games whilst wearing these - to make the point about how infeasible a footprint this big is.

Later that day each village was given a set of credit targets which it had to try to meet.

During the first week the aim was be to achieve sustainability within the village unit. This was to be done by the village reaching or exceeding its credit targets.

Credits

There were a number of different types of credits and these were awarded for different things: Food; Energy; Health and Housing; Waste; Education; Labour; Conflict; Culture; and Co-operation.

Each afternoon a wide variety of activities were on offer at a range of centers - Peace, Global Links, Performance, Craft, Energy, Media. Most of the activities had something to do with sustainability, for example, the Craft Centre made recycled paper whilst the Energy Centre built bicycle trailers.

The Council of Ministers, made up of young people from all the villages, was responsible for the allocation of credits. Some credits could be claimed 'by right', for example, those for participation in activities. This was done by credit stickers being given to the participants at the end of each afternoon. Credits could also be bid for and awards were made for innovations in camping practices which the Council of Ministers considered to be sustainability-positive.

Disaster

Just like the real world, the goal posts didn't stand still. One the second day a (virtual) typhoon hit thee low-lying villages on the south-east corner of the site, causing massive (virtual) flooding. This wiped out all their Health and Housing credits and nearby villages found their targets increased to simulate the impact of their relief efforts.

Of course, no-one could resist the opportunity for a bit of drama and in no time at all tents, food, blankets, tarpaulins and medical supplies appeared and refugees from these three villages were taken away to be fed and sheltered by their neighbours. A village at the far end of the site organized a benefit concert.

Amongst the foreign delegations in one of these three villages was a group from Egypt. The very real fears about the danger of the flooding of the Nile delta, which is predicted as a result of rising sea levels caused by global warming, was a hot topic of discussion.

Sadly, the weather during the second week of the camp was not kind and the very part of the site which had been targeted for virtual disaster found itself under very real, very wet, water.

Earth Summit I

At the end of the first week, the Council of Ministers convened the first Earth Summit with representatives from each age group in each village. The progress towards sustainability across the camp was discussed and a number of resolutions emerged: 'Villages should not put up barriers'; 'The whole camp ought to eat less meat'; 'This camp should have an education policy for no litter'; 'Every village should have a conflict resolution strategy' and so on.

The most significant resolution was one which abolished the credit target system and opened up the way for inter-village co-operation. During the second week the focus moved outwards.

Earth Summit II

On the final afternoon of the camp a second Earth Summit took place. The issues which had concerned young people within the camp environment were translated to their counterparts in the big wide world. 'All villages should attempt to filter water and re-use it where hygienically appropriate' transformed, for example, to: 'There should be clean water and equal access to health care worldwide. We call for action to preserve and not pollute clean water supplies. Whilst this need is commonly accepted it has not been achieved. Now do it.'

Under the glare of the Newsround cameras, and using a pedal-powered PA system, the 250 Summit delegates - aged between 6 and 20 - discussed, amended and agreed upon the clauses of a Declaration which they hope will be presented to the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. Later that evening, copies of the Declaration were being signed by campers in every village.

In Neela's words: "This manifesto will represent a 3,500-strong voice of young people from across the world, from South America to children from refugee camps in Western Sahara to the 6- to 9-year-olds I work with back home in London. These are the issues that we really care about and we want to say 'this is what needs to be done - this is how we can do it.' We want to submit this declaration to the Rio + 10 World Summit, and this is something we have a chance to do. Over the past few days I've learnt so much. Awareness has replaced indifference, and this is more than just a start."