In 2015, the UN's 193 countries agreed on a World Future Treaty, in which 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were set, with the goal of transforming the world by 2030 in terms of sustainable economic, social and environmental development. With its focus on Energy and resources, Environment and climate change, climate justice, EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy the present project builds on these SDGs and focusses a wide range of it. The project combines education for sustainable development with democratic and European education. It will empower students to engage actively, to take responsibility for themselves and their actions, and to encourage them to become involved in the SDGs for a livable world. The project is intercultural, interdisciplinary, multi-perspective and aligned to the concept of holistic learning. Four secondary schools from Finland, Greece, Poland and Germany participate in this project. Some of the schools got to know each other by former bi-national Cooperation or exchange projects. It is the first joint Erasmus project of the participating schools. All participating schools appreciate the value of international exchange projects. Together, they face the above mentionned global challenges of the project that will decisively shape the future of the students who graduate. The project is aimed at students between the ages of 14 and 17 years Content issues include climate justice, careful use of resources, critical consumption, waste prevention, and energy transition towards renewable energies. During the course of the project students will recognize that global challenges cannot be mastered on a national base, but can only be managed together in a strong and united Europe. In the spirit of Climate Justice, the solutions have to consider the well-being of all people worldwide. According to the motto "think globally - act locally" the topics will offer the opportunity to examine political, social, economic and ecological aspects from an interdisziplinary, multi-perspective and international approach. Finally, perspectives for a socio-ecological transformation will be developed. In the sense of a democratic and European education, pupils will be able to form their own judgment based on a critically reflected analysis, to deal with forms of political participation, classify and evaluate conflicting goals and conflicts of interest. Students are empowered to develop individual and socio-political action alternatives and will be encouraged to participate for their future. Global or international cooperation can only succeed on the basis of mutual respect, fair interaction and mutual trust. So the project also contributes to intercultural understanding. It will increase intercultural competences as well as language skills. The project not only aims to connect youth in the EU, but to empower them to become an active EU citizen and to sensitize them in the sense of education for sustainable development within the meaning of the SDGs. At the same time, it also promotes the strengthening of the profiles of teaching professions by promoting the exchange and collaboration of teachers from different disciplines from different educational and learning cultures. Both groups will benefit from an open and holistic education through international cooperation in scholastic as well as extracurricular learning venues and broaden their perspective and competences. The results of the projects will be published by digital means. In consultation with the students for example by e book, internet-platform, film, audiobroadcast etc. In this way, the students will expand their media and digital competences. The results are disseminated via the school homepage, press reports and school events and made accessible to the general public.
The project "Together in Europe for a sustainable future" is based on the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and focused on environment, climate, sustainable energy and sustainable consumption. Climate change is tangible in all partner countries and present in the students' horizon of experience. Even if the topic of energy initially seemed very abstráct to the students, it was made tangible through excursions and interviews with political actors. In Aachen, for example, there was an excursion to the Rhenish lignite mining area, in Greece there was a guided tour of the largest solar power plant near Volos, in Poland there was a visit to a pumped storage power plant, and in Finland there was a visit to the country's largest paper factory, which is operated with sustainable energies. The excursions were accompanied by technical discussions with experts, political actors and activists. Through these discussions, the students were made aware of the conflicts of interest between economy and ecology, and at the same time, through the selection of the discussion partners, the problems were shown to them in a multi-perspective manner and different alternatives for action were presented in the sense of European citizenship. In addition to the above program items, the following thematic activities were carried out in the respective partner countries: 1st Germany: Berlin: - Guided tour through the "Museum of Capitalism" and the interactive exhibition "Climate Crisis and Capitalism", - Guided tour of the Futurium, House of the Future and discussion of sustainable options for action in various areas, - Interview with Oliver Krischer, MdB, on German and European climate policy. Aachen: - Guided tour of the Garzweiler open pit mine with the energy company RWE, - Visit to the "Terra Nova" viewing platform; - Guided tour of Hambach Forest and discussion with environmentalists - Workshop with "Energybirds" on individual and social options for sustainable action. - Discussion with the environmental office of the city of Aachen about the municipal climate emergency. - joint exchange of pupils from the partner schools about individual and societal options for action - Presentation and discussion of prepared work assignments on perspectives for a social-ecological transformation. 2nd Greece: Athens: - Visit to the Stayros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, which has received several awards for its sustainable construction, energy use and efficiency, irrigation and greening has received several awards. Volos: - Guided tour of one of the largest solar parks in Greece. - An excursion to Lake Karla, once a natural paradise of 180 km2, which was completely drained in 1962 in order to gain agricultural land, and is now to be renaturalized after the failure of the project. - Visit to the Lake Karla Museum, - Presentation and discussion of the prepared work assignments on renewable energies. 3rd Poland: Gdansk/ Czestochowa - Visit of the museum of the II. world war - Visit of the pumped storage power plant in Zarnowiec - Presentation and discussion of the prepared work assignments on a comparison of the negative effects of fossil and renewable energies - Future workshop, in which the students designed their own ideas of a sustainable future for all. 4th. Finland: Petäjävesi/Äänekoski. - Visit to the sustainable paper mill Metsafibre, - Presentation and discussion of the prepared work assignments: - Visit to the Serlachius Museum in Mänttä - Paper production by the students - Linking the goals of the forest industry to the UN SDGs. - SuS think about ways to save energy and reduce CO2 emissions. In addition to the content-related examination of the subject-specific topics, central cultural sites were visited in all partner countries, such as the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Acropolis and the Meteora monasteries in Greece, the Jasna Gora monastery in Czestochowa and the old wooden church in Petäjävesi. The project results can be summarized as follows: The students benefited from the project in many ways. In addition to raising awareness of climate change, they learned about forms of political participation and were able to reflect on their own options for action. Furthermore, the international cooperation strengthened their intercultural, social and linguistic competencies. The exchange took place in English. At the same time, appreciation for non-hegemonic languages of the EU was also strengthened. In addition, media and digital skills were trained through preparation of presentations, digital meetings between mobilities, as well as hybrid forms of work conditioned by Corona, as in Poland. The European idea was sustainably strengthened. This can be seen, among other things, in the continuation of the friendships made beyond the project.