Sustainable development has become a global concern in the last decades. Younger European generations have been raised aware of global environmental issues, but have not been engaged in actively contributing to those ‘global problems’ through stepwise local actions. Youngsters are not aware of their potential as active citizens and their role in the sustainability desired by modern societies. And in fact, young citizens could be a major force of imprinting sustainability concepts in society. IMPRINT+ aims at the promotion, at a transnational level, of an ecological reasoning based on the changing power of local community and on the participation, empowerment and entrepreneurship of young European citizens. A training methodology involving both students and educators will be implemented, stressing the concept that each person has an ecological footprint that should be (over)compensated, if the ecological, social and economical balance is to be achieved. As a result of the training of youngsters and educators, and of a strong IT-based dissemination strategy, the project foresees the engagement of a much wider audience. IMPRINT+ is a transectorial project that brings together 6 partners from 5 countries, each with different experiences and perceptions: University of Aveiro is a leading university in Portugal with expertise in different fields of knowledge. The project team is largely experienced in science communication, public engagement (namely through IT tools) and sustainability issues. Lousada is the Portuguese municipality with the youngest population and is fully committed with good sustainability and education practices. LeaveNoTrace is the leading Irish NGO in promoting outdoor ethics and environmental education, namely with schools. Their know-how is internationally recognized. IISS Cipolla-Pantaleo-Gentile (Italy) and IES Pedro Jiménez Montoya (Spain) are teaching institutions (secondary) that will allow the incorporation of teaching/learning experience in the educational context of two different European countries; and increase the potential for dissemination of outputs. E.N.T.E.R. GmbH is a private company specialized in the dissemination and promotion of results and outputs of European Union granted projects. The project’s methodology will be based on establishing the state-of-the-art approaches regarding education for sustainability, IT technologies and ecological footprint compensation. The project will start with an integrative research that will enable the project team to consolidate already existing knowhow in the above-mentioned areas and better define the project’s innovative edge within its context of use. It will also help the team establish a roadmap that will reinforce the project’s up-to-date nature in the long run. The implementation phase of the project corresponds to the set of tasks involved in the development of: 1) a training package that educators can use to further teach and promote eco-friendly proactive attitudes; 2) a toolkit to help anyone assess the environmental status of their area and implement compensation measures; 3) the implementation of a pilot program that will embody all conceptual framework in visible field action; 4) the design, prototyping and testing of a mobile application and a web-based platform used to manage the georeferenced content produced and shared, the communication tools for the communities and users; 5) a tutorial to help youth to engage in green entrepreneurship. Also, the project will adopt a strong, effective and multi-channel dissemination strategy, aiming at enlarging the project's audience, geographical range and outcomes. Stakeholders and further local/regional partners of each participating organization will also be engaged with the project's goals, fostering its outreach and replication. The notion that environment, education and economy, and thus overall human and social well being, are all integrated and share the same roots is the key impact that IMPRINT+ project aims at achieving at all levels: local, regional, national and international level. To do so, we will engage the stronger driving force for social behavior changes and perception: youth, but also local communities and stakeholders. The project is aligned with the European’s growth strategy, focusing on inclusion, education and intelligence to promote the necessary shift towards sustainability. Ultimately, direct and indirect participants will gain key competences to embrace sustainability and align their individual expectations with nature conservation, economy and education. As the issues the consortium is trying to address are not of regional or national concern, but global, the cumulative impact of IMPRINT+ will help creating a more generalized (and international) will to shift Europe and its communities towards true sustainability, empowering youth and local actors with the needed key competences to do so.
Sustainable development has been a global concern in the last decades. Younger European generations have been raised aware of global environmental issues but have not been engaged in actively contributing through stepwise local actions. European youngsters are not aware of their potential as active citizens but could be a major force of imprinting sustainability concepts in society. The main IMPRINT+ aim was to promote an ecological reasoning based on the changing power of local community and on the participation and empowerment of young European citizens. We implemented a training methodology that conveyed the concept that each person has an ecological footprint that should be (over)compensated, if ecological, social and economic balance is to be achieved. Specifically, IMPRINT+ aimed to: - Provide tools to help young citizens to put the concept of ‘think globally, act locally’ into practice, becoming a major changing force in their community; - Educate about environmental sustainability, nature conservation and environmental footprints; - Promote hands-on nature conservation activities to offset the environmental footprint; - Raise awareness that global environmental problems also need to be addressed locally. - Train educators on the IMPRINT+ methodology and tools; - Promote the view, among young citizens, that the environment can be a source of green entrepreneurship, new jobs and positive contribution to a more sustainable development; IMPRINT+ is a trans-sectorial project that brought together 6 partners from 5 countries with different experiences and perceptions: 1) University of Aveiro is a Portuguese public university with expertise in different fields of knowledge. The project team has strong background in science communication, public engagement, IT tools and sustainability. 2) Lousada is the Portuguese municipality with the youngest population, being committed with the best sustainability and education practices. 3) LeaveNoTrace is an internationally recognized Irish NGO in promoting outdoor ethics and environmental education, namely with schools. 4) IISS Cipolla-Pantaleo-Gentile (Italy) and IES Pedro Jiménez Montoya (Spain) are teaching institutions that allow the incorporation of teaching/learning experience in the educational context. 5) E.N.T.E.R. GmbH is a consortium specialized in the dissemination and promotion of the outputs of European Union granted projects. The project’s methodology was based on state-of-the-art approaches and started with an integrative research report (IO1) that enabled the project team to consolidate already existing knowhow. During the project, six international partner meetings, three training courses and five multiplier events were hosted by partner institutions. Other main outputs of this project were: 1) a training package (IO2) for educators, designed to promote eco-friendly proactive attitudes; 2) a toolkit (IO3) for independent assessment of the environmental status of an area and the implementation of compensation measures; 3) the implementation of a pilot program (IO4) in Lousada; 4) a mobile application (IO5) and a web-based platform (IO6) all contents and tools produced by the project team or users; 5) a tutorial to help youth to engage in green entrepreneurship (IO8). Most outputs - including the dissemination package (IO7) and the final report (IO9) - were produced in the five languages of the project (PT, SP, IR, IT, GE) plus FR. In short, IMPRINT+ offset actions included: 140 compensation actions; 20 559 native trees planted; 6 hectares of invasive plants controlled; 6 176 items of garbage recollected; 200 m2 of organic vegetable gardens, 204 wildlife shelters and 13 wildlife ponds constructed. Dissemination actions resulted in 87 presentations and 119 articles in social media. IMPRINT+ engaged: more than 18 000 people from at least 12 different countries; 1090 students, 103 teachers and 106 other organizations. Additional impact was attained through website and webapp access, with almost 16 000 and more than 5 000 views, respectively. Also, there were more than 1000 views of the training course. We expect that these figures will continue to grow because of the continuous active dissemination of the project by team members. Additionally, outputs where designed for independent use by individuals or institutions. In some cases (e.g. training course), the materials and strategies are highly customizable, which further expands the possibility for increasing impacts and benefits in the future.