The project „Ich und meine Nachhaltigkeit – Entscheidungsmöglichkeiten des Verbrauchers“ („Sustainable Me – my power as a consumer“) is in some ways a response to people‘s growing awareness for climate change, its causes and its consequences. We included the pronoun “ich/me” in the title because we have chosen a hands-on approach in order to make clear to our students that they actually can make a difference. Our main aim is to make people think and change their minds and attitudes. Guided by the motto „reduce and innovate“, the pupils are to realise the necessity of limiting one’s consumption and to make suggestions for possible changes they could operate themselves. These ideas are then to be presented to the school community where they will hopefully be implemented in the long run. To this purpose, partner schools from Italy, Spain, Finland, Belgium and Germany will cooperate in the project. There will be around 25 to 30 pupils aged 14 to 19 in each school who participate in the activities. These activities will take place both at the occasion of the learning activities on site, but also in-between the meetings when the pupils meet online and work in national and transnational teams to prepare the next or follow up the last meeting. We plan to extensively use eTwinning to share reports from the learning activities, upload results and make arrangements for further work. Apart from content-based factual input, we also intend to promote key skills which are considered crucial when growing up and becoming a responsible and self-determined citizen in a digitalized and globalized world. Such skills include for example ICT skills for the gathering and assessment of information, flexibility, team skills, intercultural understanding, communication and language skills and presentation skills. Each of the five learning activities is devoted to a topic relevant to the respective region, e.g. “avoiding packaging waste” in Italy, “from fossil to renewable energy” in Germany or “buy regional” in Belgium. The topics will be prepared and followed up in-between the meetings by means of various online activities. Finding out about one’s own ecological footprint before the first meeting will help to get aware about the current state-of-affairs and to decide on the points we should focus on throughout the project. A number of products will we created on the basis of increased learning and finding out about the subject matter. This knowledge will be acquired by means of internet research tasks, creating and doing webquests, exchange with experts and excursions to sites such as an incinerator, a wind power station, an open pit mine or an ecologic farm. The products to be created range from organising information campaigns and panel discussion in school to the creation of memes and a project logo or upcycling projects such as making collages from waste or upcycling clothes. At all stages, the pupils will be asked to reflect upon the topic with respect to their own handling of resources. The results of our work will already be communicated in the schools during the project and will hopefully start some changes such as reducing waste, offering sensible choices in the cafeteria or using increasingly alternative energy. By implementing measures in all partner schools, we make sure that the results will outlast the project and maybe be carried even further. Specific activities on the topic “Sustainable me”, e.g. in project weeks or school festivities will contribute to the lasting effects of the project. The material compiled throughout the project (e.g. CLIL-material, webquests, memes) will be made available to the colleagues for use in their classes or projects. Moreover, the project homepage, which is going to keep the participants and others informed throughout the project, will be online after the project, too. We also intend to include the local public (interviews, information campaigns) and thereby hope to appeal to all people, old and young alike, to take over responsibility for preserving the environment. With press articles in the local press and specific activities such as campaigns on how to reduce waste, presentation of project results or collecting waste (public spring city clean up), the participants will raise awareness for the potential each and every citizen has to make a difference.
Our goals of becoming aware of one's own possibilities regarding a contribution to the topic "me and my sustainability", getting to know other cultures and ways of life, the development of IT and language skills as well as other key competencies were largely achieved despite the adjustments due to the Corona restrictions. The initial project meeting of the coordinators planned for fall 2020 had to be cancelled due to Corona. Due to the travel ban, the project was extended until 2023. The first meeting in Italy could not take place until March 2022. The partner school from Belgium had to drop out of the project. Contrary to the plan, the participants did not stay in families but in hotels. However, the four meetings could be carried out in the planned order. Two teachers and between eight and twelve students arrived from each of the partner countries. The introduction to the topic "me and my sustainability" took place online in (trans-)national groups during the first year and a half due to corona. The students creatively explored the topic using positive and negative adjectives, designed project logos, chose the winning logo, calculated the ecological footprint of all participants, visualized and discussed the results on eTwinning and worked with them further at the first meeting in Italy. The focus topics set for the meetings (waste reduction, regional agriculture, fossil vs. renewable energy, recycling) allowed participants to explore different areas of the broad topic of "me and my sustainability". The action-oriented approach as well as the question of implementation possibilities in everyday life were focused and were deepened through excursions, discussions with experts and research. The results are, for example, the project logo, video films on local agriculture with a recording in the Forssa television studio, explanatory films on experiments conducted on green energy, memes, PowerPoint presentations, a kahoot on the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), and upcycled products made from old jeans. During the project, all participants have become aware of which adjusting screws each individual can turn inside and outside of school in order to live more sustainably and to steadily reduce their own ecological footprint. We expect the school as an institution to serve as a role model and to sustainably expand the students' existing motivation by strengthening the path from a negatively valued culture of renunciation (more renunciation = more sustainability) to flexibility and a more positive attitude towards a more sustainable way of life. The progress and results of the project could be followed at the four partner schools during the entire project period not only internally via various channels, but also on the project homepage www.thinkandsustain.eu, which is maintained by the coordinating school, and is still available there. The responsible teachers are satisfied with the results and the commitment of the participants. The efficiency and flexibility with which the young people exchanged, worked with and developed creative ideas were impressive. During the meetings there was an open atmosphere between the participants. From the beginning, they mixed internationally. Many are still in contact now. In addition to the work on the topic, the intercultural experiences gained throughout the project should not be underestimated. Since all project participants were able to travel to a meeting once, they gained many impressions of the country and its culture on site (carnival, dances, cuisine, Finnish sauna, etc.), discovered similarities and differences in lifestyle, culture and mentality. Through communication in English, action-oriented approaches and online activities, digital competences were also promoted, as well as key competences such as teamwork, intercultural understanding, communication and language skills as well as presentation techniques. All four partner schools are accredited for the current Erasmus+ program. Due to the good, constructive cooperation so far and the relevance of the topic "sustainability", joint activities are already planned for the next school year(s).