Background: We are at a turning point in our history in terms of relationship with nature. The man realizes that he has to protect his surroundings, not from predators, but above all from himself. To have young people become aware of all this is to make them the actors of tomorrow. To be able to do it's important for them to know and understand their environment around them. Objectives: to become aware of the differences in environmental management between different European countries or close to Europe, trying to improve the management, mainly for the management of resources, the preservation of ecosystems, and endemic species.Number and profile of participants: 150 Students of 12-18 years, attending natural sciences or environment study programmes Description of activities:- Waste treatment and management-related visits, - Water treatment plant visits- Identification of climate, geology, location, and resources of each country (visit of mine, wild harvest, national parks, etc)- Identification of protected endemic species or species to be protected, the methods used to protect, and what could be improved (natural park visit preserved ornithological reserves ...)- Cultural visits (in order to better link the culture of each country and protection of their natural resources)Methodology: Various projects in places, realisation of a website, discussion forums, political debates, local awareness and perhaps a larger scale ...Description of the impact and results: Attempting to train young people to think otherwise, in respect of the world and life around them, to make them responsible citizens, actors in the world they will protect through their gains.Potential long-term benefit: Improved environmental management through simple gestures, better informing the public about the importance of nature conservation and resource management, information transmission by 'smugglers', possibly increase political awareness if the proposed solutions are sufficiently interesting, innovative and effective.
In our present World, everybody is able to notice problems linked to environment. The Earth often sends us messages, showing it is time to take the future in our hands, and to ACT. Who, better than young people, will be able to impact our future, to make it greener, more agreable, for our own good ? This project was first aiming at understanding the reasons why some species disappear. The purpose was to make the students realize that we were part of the problem, that we have major responsibilities (at least for some parts), direct or indirect, and that is was never too late to start acting (but that the later we act, the bigger the problems...). So we decided to group with colleagues from 5 different European countries (the most different countries possible), Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Portugal and Spain, that have different climate, geology, geographical situation... We set up a collective strategy to stimulate students' will power and creativity. With the help of the movie 'Demain', we initiated seeds of reflection, and they realized that nobody's too small, too Young or too unexperimented to try to act at his level. They also realized (which is important for project's sustainability and future) that protecting environment, is made of course by first acting for the nature, but also in a social, cultural way... and that only a real change of mentalities will be efficient. So we decided, for the purpose of studies and analysis with students and colleagues, to create in each school, at our own scale, a 'Green Zone'. It has been elaborated by the students, with their own ideas. In Germany, it is a garden with aromatic herbs and vegetables (with also homes for bats, which are really numerous in the school's neighborhood). In Estonia, they have built a big aquarium, split in 2, with fishes from their own country and others from another place). In Portugal it is mostly a fruit garden. In Spain, it is a fruit and vegetables garden. In Belgium, we created a flower garden, an insect hotel, we planted some aromatic herbs, and created a 'no stress' zone. We also established partnerships with two external partners : ASBL Coren in Belgium, and Museum Ludwig in Bonn, Germany. These partners have been implied in activities linked to the project (Awarding of quality label 'School for Tomorrow' for the Lycée Technique Provincial Jean Boets, setup of a 'Biodiversity Day' for Elisabeth Selbert Gesamtschule). The Green Zones are sustained by teams (called Green Teams) created in each school, composed by teachers, students, educators and other members from the school. The Zones will evolve in the future, according to the ideas, thoughts and desiderata of students, while keeping in mind the maintain of environment respect. The impact has really been positive, on life quality in each of the schools (greener school, students feel better and more implied in school's cleanliness)