This project draws on the European Union's commitment to reduce the environmental impact of its member states and to a low-carbon economy, and the need to develop educational alternatives that promote these goals. This view is expressed by the European Commission and various key papers such as 'A Healthy and Sustainable Environment for Present and Future Generations' (2014), as well by the Union's commitment to the global 2015 Paris Agreements that sets reductions in carbon emissions for the decades to come. At the same time, the European Union has asserted that legislation alone is not enough to achieve these goals and that "NGOs and citizens exercising their participatory rights" will be essential to implement the change that is needed. There is also growing evidence that shows that in the case of climate and carbon emissions, these targets might be missed. We at The Surefoot Effect think that much work is needed in terms of expanding the knowledge and experience necessary to motivate individuals, governments, companies and the civil society to contribute to both social and economic development while reducing our dependency on energy and resources and thus reducing our economic impact. In this sense, we see education as key, and namely education of adults with different backgrounds whose expertise could prove to be when integrated in comprehensive learning programmes. In this project, we would like to take our organisation's knowledge of environmental problems, including climate change, as well as our experience developing activities to help people and organisations reduce these problems with the experience that our partners bring to create an innovative programme that aims at helping people make informed choices about how they can contribute. In order to do that, we will be using new methodologies and an innovative approach based on the opportunities that new technologies that will see the use of illustration and a graphic novel, both used to explain key concepts. We will work partners from Italy, Poland, and Austria who bring valuable experience to the project. Volontariato Torino is an umbrella organisation based in the north-western Italian city of Turin. Their previous work with a wide range of organisations, from those working with the elderly, to others working in prisons or the environment, will facilitate the development of the early stages of the project, namely decisions on content of the e-learning programme by creating a survey and interviewing adults about their current knowledge on environmental affairs as well as how they would like to see the programme structured in a way that it responds to the needs of people without a scientific background on the subject. The Centre for Education and Entrepreneurship Support (CEES) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation with a focus on enterpreneurship that brings broad experience in the IT area and the creation of various IT solutions such as websites, e-learning platforms, web applications, interactive trainings, or mobile applications. CEES will be responsible for the project web-based platform and guiding and advising the partners to create adequate content for the e-learning programme based on these methodologies, as well as digitalising such content for the platform. E.N.T.E.R specialises in developing dissemination strategies within the EU and produces a wide range of dissemination materials to meet the individual needs of a project. It is also vastly experienced in the organisation of events and in the development of promotional campaigns. This experience in communication will be valuable when developing the concepts that will form the core content of the e-learning programme, particularly the use of illustrations and the graphic novel that will be at the center of the learning methodologies proposed in this project. E.N.T.E.R will also be at the forefront of dissemination activities throughout the funding period, including the implementation of the project's four Multiplier Events. In this project we would therefore like to create an e-learning programme about climate change and other environmental problems by using illustrations and graphic design to explain key concepts and activities of the e-learning programme, so to increase the learning success of the participants, as well as reaching out to more people who do not necessarily have a scientific background in the subjects explained. By adding a graphic novel to the programme, we also expect to reach out to more people outside those who will formally take the course. The novel will be freely available at the project platform for anyone to download. We hope that a lighter read on environmental issues will encourage more people to become interested in the aim of the project, and in following some of the suggestions we propose for people to reduce their environmental impact and even to start new projects.
The European Commission 2014 paper 'A Healthy and Sustainable Environment for Present and Future Generations' speaks of the European Union's long-term commitment to sustainable development. This paper also states that "Since the 1970s, the EU has agreed over 200 pieces of legislation to protect the environment. But legislation alone counts for little if it is not properly applied and enforced. The partners of “Environmental Learning Illustrated” wanted to contribute to the development of programmes that link adult education, training, and innovation in the digital era with the pressing environmental issues of our time. We would like to be at the forefront of the conversation and the transition to a low-carbon future using education as a tool, defining the channels and communication strategies to reach a wider number of people in various countries, and improving and extending the supply of high-quality learning opportunities for individuals in this field. To do that, we wanted to create an open e-learning programme where people can learn about the causes of climate change and what they can do to contribute to solving the climate crisis. The Surefoot Effect from the UK; Volontariato Torino from Italy; The Centre for Education and Entrepreneurship Support from Poland, and E.N.T.E.R. GmbH from Austria were the project partners. The Surefoot Effect (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. Volontariato Torino (VolTo) is the Volunteer Support Centre of Turin. VolTo is an umbrella non-profit organization with 160 member organizations and a network of more than 1300 voluntary associations. VolTo works to provide free services (such as training, consultancy, planning assistance) to assist the voluntary associations in the Province of Turin. The Centre for Education and Entrepreneurship Support (CEES) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that works in the field of youth and cooperates with businesses, universities, schools, enterprises and educational institutions. CEES promotes entrepreneurship to young people at school as well as to those who already run their businesses. E.N.T.E.R. GmbH (ENTER) is a European network and has more than 900 member organisations in 44 countries in varied fields and sectors. ENTER’s main objective is to provide a unique network structure for the dissemination and sustainable use of EU project outcomes. “Environmental Learning Illustrated” developed an online interactive learning platform for participants to learn about the cause of climate change and potential solutions according to four main themes: energy and climate change, food, transport and consumption and waste. These four main themes also included related topics such as climate justice, water consumption and environmental refugees. The programme included a 28-page graphic novel and 63 illustrations that served to convey the main topics covered. Under the principle that “people remember stories, not facts” partners wanted to add graphic content to make learning on climate change issues more memorable and more enjoyable and to engage with people for whom formal scientific learning is not optimal. This methodology also follows the work carried by Surefoot in which environmental problems are developed by letting participants explore their values, emotions and identity. The design of the programme was also based on information provided by 223 people on how they would like to see an online tool such as this one structured and developed. All objectives set in the original application have been met with over 50 people from each participating country taking part in preliminary surveys that informed the team on the best way to structure and develop the online course. Six people from participating organisations trained to develop content for Intellectual Output 01 under the guidance of two experienced trainers from CEES, and eight people from the participating organisations trained on how to communicate projects and activities that use storytelling and similar formats in order to facilitate the input ideas from the main topics of the project for the illustrations and the graphic novel. Finally, 416 people were happy to participate in the pilot of the e-learning modules. Recent events such as unprecedented forest fires in the Amazon and other rainforests and the premature melting of 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. This programme has offered an opportunity for partners and a large number of participants to engage in these topics in a positive light to learn and support the alternatives that already exist.