GREEN POWER Nowadays noise pollution is one of the biggest problems that affects the health of Europeans citizens. According to the EEA (European Environment Agency) noise levels from road traffic that are greater than 55dB affect an estimated 125 million people. Noise pollution cause hypertension and cardiovascular disease leading to an estimated 10.000 premature deaths annually in Europe. These figures show us the magnitude of this problem. Juan Ramón Jiménez school (Coordinator center.Spain) want to launch a European project based on this theme, noise pollution, but linking it with other concepts related to environmental care: fewer emissions, healthy living habits, renewable energies, clean transport, sports, sustainability, livable cities etc. We call this global concept GREEN POWER. Looking for appropriate partners is a really important aspect in order to conduct a successful project. Our strategic partners come from Poland, Denmark, and Norway. This is due to the fact that we were interested in joining European partners from different cultural perspectives of the subject. Our partner from Oslo provides us the opportunity to introduce in the theme since Oslo is the European Green Capital 2019. This is one of the strongest points of our project. In the same way, our partner from Denmark offers the possibility to visit the European Environment Agency located in Copenhagen, which will give us the right perspective of the subject. Last but not least, our partner from Poland is a high exponent of eTwinning with two national prizes consequently it will give us the opportunity to enrich our eTwinning level. Education is today more than ever, the powerful tool what we can use in our society. The way we face the education of our students will mark our future as European Citizens. Furthermore, in order to develop conscious and committed students to European values, we have to reinforce it. Working together to solve the common problems that affect millions of people in Europe must be our priority. Internationalize our problem and encourage our students to develop the necessary skills to face the future with a guarantee, motivating them and giving the right tool to make little things that mean a big change in our European society. The main goal of this project is to inform about the real situation of Noise Pollution, its effects on the health of European citizens and try to reduce it. Research about the different policies and how each country develops suitable tools to fight against this problem will be one of the strong points. The state with the participant cities shows about this topic, and how they deal with noise pollution in order to reduce it, will be fundamental in the project. It aims to raise awareness society about noise pollution imply a chain reaction which means slow down emissions, use clean transport, renewables, or better wellness. To improve linguistic skills, motivate the use of ICTs and clean transport are also objectives. The range of activities we have designed is completely adapted to the new methodology in education: active methodology, Flipped Classrooms (High Tech), We will potentiate self-learning and suiting the collaborative work, encourage students to reach a good level of self-esteem, as well as keeps students involved through visual, auditory and kinesthetic techniques and finally encourage students to overcome barrier and limitations. Cooperative learning or Project-based learning will be used. The results we hope to reach are basically to have less noisy cities and to draw attention to raise awareness of people in order to build eco-friendly cities. We plan to part from the educational environment to reach the rest of society. Our strategic partnership will mean a positive reinforcement of our educative system. We expect to prepare better-trained students and encourage them to solve their own problems in a democratic and respectful way. We hope to change in a way the participant's cities in order to reduce road traffic (less noise) and encourage people to use clean transport, renewables or promote healthy living habits (sports) In long-term thinking, we expect to use the result of this project to create common thinking from the educational environment to reach as many people as possible. WE BUILD BETTER CITIES FROM SCHOOLS. Concluding by dreaming.. we imagine better cities, cities with fewer emissions, integrated into nature and the environment. We imagine Europeans cities where the ecological footprint was zero per each habitant. We imagine cities with awareness students, more prepared to solve the problems that the future presents. We imagine houses in our cities where the power was green. We imagine cities with healthy living habits where people put into practice a life, respecting the environment and nature. We imagine that making this project we educate people for a sustainable future together. A Green Future a Green Europe. GREEN POWER.
Green Power against noise pollution is a project based on the main topic of noise pollution. This is a huge problem that affects around 125 million people in Europe, according to the EEA (European Environment Agency), and also causes 10.000 premature deaths in Europe. From this perspective, we wanted the set a project that informs people and educates them about this problem. The idea was to compare different environments in different countries with different cultural and social perspectives. The involved countries were Poland, Norway, Denmark, and Spain (coordinator). One of our main goals was to reflect on the noise and its effects on the health of European citizens and try to reduce it. This main topic is also linking it with other concepts related to environmental care: fewer emissions, healthy living habits, renewable energies, clean transport, sports, sustainability, livable cities, etc. We call this global concept GREEN POWER. The project means a connection between European countries in order to collaborate together to reach a clear goal: to reduce noise. For this project, we designed a range of varied activities covering the main topic and the rest of the themes. We developed 5 mobilities, the first one in Copemnhague where we had the possibility to visit the EEA and know about the current situation in Europe. Each country organized and developed one mobility. These mobilities were directly related to the project and students collaborated together to develop materials, info, resources, noise maps, proposals, etc. About the results, one of the most notorious was to be received by the local authorities in all cities (Oslo, Varde, Inowroclaw, and Cieza) we obtained them compromised for educating people, try to reduce noise, and keep the policies they already applied. We need to remark that, at the beginning of the project, Oslo was awarded as European Green Capital. For this reason, we set the first mobility to Oslo. We took advantage of this fact and it had a real and rich impact on our project and its development. This project promoted healthy living habits and clean transport. It means fewer emissions and less noise in our cities. In every mobility, we fostered sports and healthy living habits, especially for young people. Our idea of a future Europe is with less traffic noise, more green areas, sustainable development, One of the main activities was to make some measurements in every country, first of all, by national groups, and, during the mobilities in international groups. Students developed some noise maps using the mobile phone app. They measured the sound level, assigned one color, and located the calculations on the map. They work with maximum, minimum, and average. The impact of our project was remarkable, it appear on the local and regional radios and press, so we fulfilled the objectives we set for the project. The project represents also a benefit for the schools, students, families, teachers, cities, and people in general. One of the goals was to reduce noise not just in the cities but at the schools. So, we can ensure that we have aware students and teachers at the school, and many people talking now about noise pollution and its effects on our health. The project represents also an opportunity to work together in a European context. It means collaborating to solve common problems in Europe. This way shows us the right form to face the European problems in an educative context. In the future, so much in the European countries, we will face the same problems, and Erasmus projects like this one, show us that is better to collaborate in order to solve it, instead of work in an individual context. The project "Green power against noise pollution" ensures as well the possibility to keep developing some actions between authorities, schools, associations, families, etc. We have worked closely to ensure activities and maintain the project in the future. Finally, we would like to focus on the impact that our students, schools, and environments have experimented with. Not just for the teachers, or students who traveled, and their families, of course, but for the rest of the students in class and, in the school, it was an incredible and fantastic experience and one opportunity to grow as a person. We focus not just on educational enrichment but to acquired European values like freedom, respect, liberty, compromise, collaboration, solidarity, taking care of our European environment, etc Without doubts, we can affirm that this project has contributed to developing some ways to "fight" against noise pollution, at the same time, encourage people to work together in order to make conscious people and try to reduce noise. Today, more than ever, we can say that we are green power, a green power that has a real impact on our European society. GREEN POWER AGAINST NOISE POLLUTION.