Brussels, 05/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - EU Information Strategy Commissioner Margot Wallström commented on Monday 5 October, as she presented the Play to Stop project launched by TV chain MTV, that she was particularly keen to reach 18-24 year olds because they will have to suffer the impact of climate change. MTV's project will raise awareness among young people about more environmentally-friendly economic development. Play to Stop was launched in July 2009 and will run until the end of the year in 11 EU member states (Germany, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, the United Kingdom and Sweden) re-broadcasting sports events and updating websites. Back Street Boys will play a concert in Copenhagen on 7 December at the launch of the UN conference on climate change, following concerts by Moby in Stockholm on 20 August and Budapest on 19 September. The winners of an online competition will be attending the Copenhagen concert.
The combination of global artists and mass media (the television and internet) will make it possible to raise the greatest awareness, explained Antonio Campo dall'Orto, speaking on behalf of MTV Networks International. He explained that Play to Stop aimed to raise young people's awareness and to try to get them to get involved in the process of tackling climate change. Asked what real impact such schemes could have, he said that some 15 million people had been affected by a previous EU information raising campaign about the EU elections earlier this year, in which MTV had also been involved. Margot Wallström said that statistics were still being gathered for a report, regretting that not all member states had supplied information. For further information on the campaign, see http://www.mtvplay4climate.eu (M.B./transl.fl)