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Soon time for the finals in Volvo's environmental competition for youngsters

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Khatir Soltani
Press release
Source: Volvo Cars

Last year's winners of the Volvo Adventure, Green Sail from Russia, saved an entire park from being turned into a shopping centre in their home town of Nizhny Novgorod. On June 5-10, it is time for this year's finals in the global environmental competition. Will the consequences of the ten finalists' projects be equally dramatic?

Green Sail fought for two years to preserve Dubky Park and its unique ecological system in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, population 1.3 million. The Russian youngsters received 10,000 US dollars as first prize for their eco-awareness - and the money was invested in the ongoing campaign for the park's survival.

About a month after the Green Sail team members returned home to Russia, they received their big reward: the mayor of Nizhny Novgorod announced that construction of the planned shopping centre in the park had been stopped.

This year's participants in the Volvo Adventure may not be able to achieve such spectacular results, but ten very strong eco-projects have now qualified for the 2009 finals which are being held on June 5-10 in Göteborg.
Throughout their stay in Sweden, students in a class at Kullavikskolan outside Göteborg will act as hosts for the teams, which come from every corner of the world.

"All the finalists have really exciting projects. The youngsters' enthusiasm and dedication are mighty impressive," says Kikki Hugestrand, director of the environmental competition at Volvo Cars.

The Volvo Adventure is open to youngsters aged between 13 and 16. The winning team gets 10,000 US dollars, the runner-up gets 6,000 dollars and the third team receives 4,000 dollars.

379 teams from 56 countries took part when this year's competition got under way. Ten of these teams have now reached the finals.

Here are the finalists 2009:

 Grupo Escoteiro Guairaca
 
 Brazil
 Shanghai Pinghe School
  China
 Teenagers Conservation Task Force  Egypt
 Avasi Gimnázium / Naturedoctors  Hungary
 Govt. High School Tilak Nagar Gudhiyari  India
 Queen Elizabeth II High School  Isle of Man
 HUNAB proyecto de vida AC  Mexico
 Secondary school of Zelenogradsk  Russia
 Büyük Kolej/Young Producers  Turkey
 Leesburg High School  USA

photo:Volvo
Khatir Soltani
Khatir Soltani
Automotive expert
  • Over 6 years experience as a car reviewer
  • Over 50 test drives in the last year
  • Involved in discussions with virtually every auto manufacturer in Canada