Climate change has been on top of the agenda for governments, business and civil society for decades now and the European Union has been a global leader in developing policies that help tackle this global problem. However, the discourse about climate change often focuses on scientific facts as well as detailed descriptions of the catastrophic consequences of inaction in the future. Jeni Cross, sociology professor at Colorado State University, defends that that contrary to common sense, giving information to an audience about a problem does not necessarily lead to behaviour change and she emphasises the importance of highlighting the personal stories of those who are taken steps to reduce their environmental impact to inspire others to do the same. Authors G. Gardner and P. Stern explain in a similar fashion that when it comes to global problems, statistical information rarely leads to behaviour change while authors Dan Heath and Chip Heath argue that focusing on 'what's broken' (about the energy system that uses fossil fuels and is therefore responsible for climate exchange), instead of emphasising 'what works' may lead to apathy instead of action - people are less likely to take part in the transition to a low-carbon future.In this Erasmus+ project, we would like to address the above two points. We want to focus communication about climate change on the personal stories of those who make change happen. With the experience of three partner organisations in the fields of adult education, e-learning and environmental literacy we want to support people and other organisations undertake small actions as well as start new small CO2-saving projects. We will focus on personal stories of people reducing their environmental impact through the Carbon Conversations programme. The programme, managed by The Surefoot Effect, focuses on values, emotions, and identity and over 3,000 participants in Britain have shown to reduce their personal carbon footprint by 1 T CO2 a year on average and pledged to halve it in the long term. We therefore want to adapt Carbon Conversations that uses social, economic and cultural references to carbon emissions in Britain to the social, economic, and cultural backgrounds of Spain and Lithuania. Volunteer facilitators run the programme in Britain for participants and in this project the three partners will collaborate to develop the volunteer networks in Spain and Lithuania.We will also focus on narrating a story of the benefits of a low-carbon future by showcasing 200 projects that have saved or are saving CO2 in Europe but also in some neighbouring countries and other large industrialised countries. These examples will be displayed in the project's Online Open Interactive Educational Platform. This way, we can show what options are available for people to reduce their environmental impact so that i) others can replicate them; ii) we can contribute to create a positive picture of a carbon-neutral economy, an 'optimistic tale of the future'.Eco-innovation is seen as a one of the key enablers of the transition to a green economy under the EU's startegy ECO 2020. In this project we want work in the adult education field to develop innovative methods to support people and organisations reduce their environmental impact. The Surefoot Effect will contribute with experience in environmental education and literacy while DomSpain and Ziniu Kodas will add their experience working in digital technology and e-learning programmes and community engagement, including working with groups of people with fewer opportunities, respectively. The skills and knowledge gained through the project will increase participants' learning and life opportunities and encourage them to take part actively in modern society within a field whose importance is expected to increase over the coming decades.Our primary target groups will be i) educational as well as environmental organisations in our partner countries, willing to train inthe Carbon Conversations programme and become volunteer facilitators and ii) organisations and individuals who would like to undertake CO2-saving projects and personal actions by looking at what other organisations and people are doing elsewhere. The project needs to be carried out internationally because in order to present a positive picture about the future, we must work with partners from different backgrounds, including cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. The project must also work at the transnational level because often, national economic policy determines a higher or a lower use of clean energy or public transport, for example. Thus, citizens in Lithuania will not go about purchasing renewable energy or travelling by train in the same way as citizens in Spain. Having examples from both contexts means that a wider number of people can identify with at least one of these examples and will therefore be able to replicate them.
The European Commission's 'Europe 2020' strategy for economic growth acknowledges lifelong learning and skills development as key elements in response to the current economic crisis. Meanwhile, the Council of Europe's resolution on a renewed European agenda (2011/C 372/01) for adult learning states that "improving adult literacy and numeracy skills, developing digital literacy and providing opportunities for adults to develop the basic skills and forms of literacy" are needed for "participating actively in modern society". At the same time, the European Union has been a global champion in reducing the consumption of fossil fuels to power its economy and tackling climate change, a policy that was confirmed when the EU joined the so-called 'Paris Agreement.’ The project “A Tale of Two Futures” marries these aims: the learning of key skills for adults to reduce the EU’s environmental impact. The project provided educators in the non-formal sector with the knowledge, basic skills and key competencies to train groups of people to take action on climate change and how to conserve energy and resources. The Surefoot Effect from the UK (Surefoot); Dom Spain (DS) from Spain; and VšI “Žiniu kodas” (Knowledge Code, ZK) from Lithuania were the project partners. Surefoot equips people with lifelong skills for sustainability by providing (i) space to think; (ii) time to explore motives and feelings regarding more sustainable lifestyles, and (iii) leadership that inspires action. This process has led thousands of people to successfully reduce their impact on the environment. DS is an adult training and development organisation delivering courses for adults: foreign languages, information technology, communication skills, leadership, employability, and enterprise skills. ZK is a non-profit institution with the mission to create an educated society and knowledge that would help reduce social exclusion and enable people to actively participate in the labour market. “A Tale of Two Futures” had three main parts or Intellectual Outputs. In the first part, partners have adapted the Carbon Conversations programme that has been successfully rolled-out in the UK over the last 9 years, encouraging participants to explore their values, emotions and identity to reduce their carbon footprint. New Country Guides in Spanish and Lithuanian reflect the cultural, economic, and social context of Spain and Lithuania for participants to make changes to their lifestyles in these two countries. The second part of “A Tale of Two Futures” has documented the stories of 392 organisations, governments, and companies that are saving carbon emissions from the EU and other parts of the world. These stories can be accessed at the project's platform at www.tales2future.eu which also includes the stories of 50 people who have taken steps to reduce their environmental impact in their everyday life. The third part of this project helped organisations to start new projects based on those documented. DS's work included workshops to teach children to grow vegetables at their school and working with adults to transform old, discarded objects into functional and unique pieces. ZK held workshops to show children how to grow and cook vegetables and liaised with the organisation Kampas 360 to invite people to bring clothes from home for recycling. Surefoot held workshops with various community groups to define growing, transport and reuse projects, for example, providing used wood for people to create new items and started a collaboration with United World Colleges to support offices in seven countries to reduce their environmental impact. The project included a photography workshop and exhibition organised by ZK and an online competition run by DS for participants to depict environmental and solutions to these and to climate change. This work has been documented in the “Carbon Handprints programme,” available to all on the project platform in English, Lithuanian and Spanish. All objectives set in the original application have been met and, in most cases, exceeded. For example, 353 people participated in the Carbon Conversations programme, exceeding the target of 256. Partners have also documented 392 projects saving carbon emissions instead of the initial goal of 200 and have additionally included projects from countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Overall, the project has saved an estimated 1,451.5 tonnes CO2e from the 822.6 that partners expected to save, or 76.5% extra. Recent events such as large fires in the Amazon and other rainforests and the premature melting or large areas of Greenland and Antarctica are making people from all over the world more concerned about the conservation of nature and willing to initiate activities that protect it. ZK and DS are now environmental education and awareness hubs in their respective areas and we believe projects such as "A Tale of Two Futures" could easily take part in every EU and industrialised country.