Respect And Care about the Earth

In the second half of the 20th century, people around the world began to notice devastating changes in the  environment. The air around cities was polluted, species were dying out in record numbers, and even the rain was contaminated with acid. Most of us assisted passively to this decay and continued to live their lives with all the excesses and carelessness that have brought about the current state of things. A number of various questions about the human responsibility to the environment and the other species living on the planet has been set. It is obvious that man has exploited nature excessively at the cost of the environment. There is an immediate need to make people aware about environmental degradation and it is only through education and public participation that we can make a change and improve the quality of environment.

Therefore, through this project, we want to raise students’ awareness about the environmental problems that are produced and perpetuated by humans that have negative long-term effects on our planet. We want them to boost their ecological ego, become active and responsible citizens and work towards the goal of leaving a safe and clean world for future generations. We want to turn our schools into green schools in which environmental policies  are implemented and respected by everybody. Last but not least, we want to make the project activities visible and multiply their effects, so as to set a model for our communities and determine other schools to take action in the field of ecology. In order to reach these goals, we have established this European partnership which involves 6 different European schools that will observe one another, learn together and from each other, analyse and draw conclusions about the differences between us in terms of environmental problems and ‘eco’ attitudes. We will place students in the centre of all activities as we want to produce changes in them. By being an active part of all these, students will become more responsible and active in respecting and caring for the environment.

An initial questionnaire applied on the target group of 15-17-year-olds in our schools demonstrates that students, have little awareness about the negative effects that they produce through current, routine activities such as excessive water and energy consumption, inappropriate waste management, littering.

As such, we plan 6 transnational activities:

C1 – My breath, my earth (air pollution, air quality) – PL

C2 – Not ‘ego’ but ECO-ENERGY (global warming issues and renewable energy for sustainable development) – IT

C3 – Go Green and keep it clean (recycling, littering, waste management) – RO

C4 – Save water, save life – (transdisciplinary approach, water as a source of life, water shortages, water pollution) – GR

C5 – Green schools, green future – ES

C6 – Environmental ethics (conclusions, setting the basic values of the project, creating a sustainability plan) – TR (joint-staff training event)