Sustainability for our future Erasmus Project

Project Title

Sustainability for our future

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Energy and resources; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

In the first part of the project we will build the foundations for our work: All students participating will analyze their individual environmental profile based on questionnaires about their usage of energy. As a followup activity the students will create their ecological footprint. Calculators for the ecological footprint are available on the renowned German websites “Brot für die Welt” oder “Bundesumweltamt”. (The European partners will work with equivalent websites in their countries). The main focus here will be the individual energy usage and travel habits. The results will be displayed in school and will therefore be a basis of further discussion in our daily school routine. We will base our work on the guidelines for climate protection published by the European Parliament. These guidelines are available on the European Parliament’s website in all European languages and should be downloaded by all participating partners.

The second part of the project focuses on student awareness. Students evaluate their daily routines and reflect on where and when it is possible for students to influence their individual energy usage. Two aspects are particularly interesting in this context:

1. Waste reduction and recycling:
How much waste does the individual produce and where is it disposed? Each student should document how much waste he produces on a weekly, monthly and annual basis. We will especially focus on the problems of one-way plastic packaging. The students will gain knowledge by visiting a recycling centre in their area.
2. Upcycling:
We also plan on organizing a special event held by every participating school wherein students collect trash in their school community which will be used to create a work of art. All participating schools will have their own exhibit of their “Upcycling” sculpture in a public area of their school.

The third part of the project deals with the topic of food and nutrition:
Which effect do our food choices have on the emission of CO2? We will especially focus on the consumption of regional products and organic products as well as a reduction of meat consumption.
By trying and tasting regional, organic and vegetarian products students should learn about concepts of a healthy and sustainable diet. The collaboration of European partners enables us to try out numerous different regional recipes which will be published in a cookbook developed by and for the students.

During the entire project we will concentrate on possible changes on a systematic level. What can the institution school contribute to support awareness concerning sustainable ways of living? Based on the Agenda 21 we will train students to become “Scouts for the Environment” at our schools. These scouts will be trained by experts so they can afterwards share their expertise on sustainability with younger students. The permanent implementation of the scouts’ work is one of the priorities of this project. The participants of the projects (the scouts) are multipliers of the knowledge gained in this project.

Furthermore we plan on organizing a common event of all participating schools on EARTH DAY (22nd of April 2021). A meeting of the partners is also planned for this time. Thus our school community will be informed of EARTH DAY and the results of the project so far. We also intend on planting a tree simultaneously at all three schools.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 67386 Eur

Project Coordinator

Gesamtschule Lohmar & Country: DE

Project Partners

• IES RAMIRO DE MAEZTU
• Agrupamento de Escolas Pedro Jacques de Magalhães