Environmentally friendly Europe - the future begins now! The idea and the application for this project came amid the Corona Crisis . Nature has proved its power, unraveling how feeble humanity really is, and the vast degree to which we are dependent on the environment we live in. Following the return to our usual routines, we cannot forget what we have learned, meaning we need to co-exist with Nature and act in accordance with it. Environmental protection is now as relevant as ever. Responsibility for the environment and fellow humans is vital for our existence, as environmental issues are limitless. The unjust treatment of the Mother Earth has been debated for decades, yet little has been done about it. But it is not too late: our students see the dangers but fail to come up with their own initiatives. As project coordinators, we want the students to evolve from passive observers and become active players in the fight for the environment. We all share one, single planet, Seas and Oceans are international as we all breathe the same air. Hence, we want to create an international project, underlining the environmental issued need to be combat collectively as a wider society – a project, where young people exchange experiences across borders and generate impulses. The main goal is to give the students increasing responsibility as they grow to become active environmental activists. They will be encouraged to take concrete contributions striving towards the reduction of the environmental burden. Our project aims for 150 students (age 12-16) from 6 countries to work together, in unison with teachers, school communities, families and participating institutions. The first focus of this project is nature. The students will learn the different landscapes of their countries. In Germany, they will follow wolf tracks, learn about the forest as an eco-system and appreciate biodiversity. Through the second focus of this project, students will debate about energy, the pros and cons of alternative energy sources and visit a biofuel plant in Denmark. In addition, they will build a windmill out of recyclable materials. As a third topic, students will research and discuss their countries’ water balance. In Portugal, a country with an extensive coastline, students will examine sand searching for Microplastics. To build up on their findings, students will visit a sewage-treatment facility. During the fourth focus, students will explore the topic of waste in Rhodos, Greece. A recycling center will be visited, where students will participate in the “Old becomes New” workshop. They will learn to develop little daily habits, which help avoiding generating waste and increase recycling. Every school will then organize exchange markets. The fifth focus of this project will be set on food consumption in Turkey. Students will learn ways to avoid food waste and will visit a “Bio-company” that turns organic waste into fertilizer. The School-STEM-Club will present an app developed to control the watering of plants. As a sixth and final focus, students will visit Poland to create guidelines for a sustainable school, basing on their experiences and knowledge gained throughout the project. The project should follow the subsequent methodical steps: discover, share knowledge, take proactive measures, and use STEM, all supported by various handcraft techniques. It is expected that as a direct result of the project, schools, as well as the mindset of the students, will transition towards further consideration of sustainability in the daily life, while students’ sense of responsibility will be strengthened and a proactive attitude developed. A tangible outcome will be the guidelines created by the students themselves, outlining concrete recommendations on running a sustainable school. These will be created in German, English, as well as each country’s official language. Following the completion of the project, all experiences will be shared and discussed between the participating schools as the relationships will be nurtured though the eTwinning platform alongside a reporting system being put in place. In the past few months, we have discovered the terrifying power of a minuscule virus to turn the daily lives of billions of people upside down. An empty plastic bottle, an unnecessarily lit lamp, a brown banana that lands in the trash can be just as minuscule. Nature has warned us. Now it is our turn and that of the students. The action must be taken. The future starts now!
Environmentally friendly Europe - the future begins now! The idea and application for the project came about during the Corona crisis. Nature has shown us how powerful it is, how small we are and how much we depend on it. After returning to normality, we must not forget that we live together with nature, act in it and for it. The issue of environmental protection was and is more relevant than ever. We now know: Responsibility towards the environment and fellow human beings is essential for survival. We now know: environmental problems are limitless. The problem that we treat mother earth unfairly has been discussed for several decades - too little has been done. But it's not too late: Our SuS see the danger, but don't show enough active attitude. That's why we, project coordinators, wanted our students to change sides, from observers to active actors. We all live on one earth, seas and oceans are international, we breathe the same air: that's why we chose an international project. It is a project in which young people exchanged experiences across borders and gave each other impetus. Our main goal was and is to strengthen the students' sense of responsibility and to win them over to active environmental protection. They should be able to make a very specific contribution to reducing the burden on the environment. 150 pupils (age 12-16) from six countries worked together in the project. In addition, there were teaching teams at the project schools, school communities, families and participating institutions. The first focus was nature. The SuS got to know natural landscapes in their own country. In Germany they hiked in the footsteps of wolves, got to know the forest as an ecosystem and learned to appreciate biodiversity. On the second topic of energy, the pupils discussed the advantages and disadvantages of alternative energy supplies and visited a biofuel plant in Denmark. They also built a windmill to generate electricity from recycled material. For the third topic, water, pupils first researched the water balance for their country. In Portugal, a country with an oceanic coast, pupils examined beach sand for microplastics in the laboratory. They also visited the beach and cleaned it. Fourth, the issue of garbage on Rhodes was explored. The pupils visited a recycling center and took part in the "Make new from old" workshop. They got to know everyday environmentally friendly habits in the area of waste avoidance and waste recycling. We visited the Zero Waste Island together. Swapping events were organized at the schools. The fifth topic, food, was explored in Turkey. Pupils learned ways of avoiding food waste. They visited an organic company that produces fertilizer from organic waste. An app for controlled watering of plants was presented. Finally, in the sixth focus, the pupils in Poland have summarized their project experiences into a guide for a sustainable school. In the project we followed the following methodical steps: getting to know each other, sharing knowledge, and then taking action, using STEM and using craft techniques. The following results were expected and achieved: the conversion of the schools and the way of thinking of the students to sustainability, strengthening of the sense of responsibility, development of a proactive attitude to life. As a result, the pupils wrote a guide for a sustainable school with concrete examples in German, English and their national languages. After completing the project, we shared our experiences at and with each school. We stayed in touch and shared our experiences with each other. In recent years we have had to witness how a tiny little virus has changed life all over the planet. An empty plastic bottle is just as "small", an unnecessarily lit lamp, a brown banana that ends up in the rubbish bin. Nature warned us. Now it's our turn and our students. We have to take action. The future starts now!