We need our nature – our nature needs us! Erasmus Project

Project Title

We need our nature – our nature needs us!

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: Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; Environment and climate change; Natural sciences

Project Summary

“As long as the science is ignored, and the facts aren’t taken into account, and the situation is not treated as a crisis, then world and business leaders and politicians can of course continue to ignore the situation.” (Greta Thunberg). Speaking on the final day of the World Economic Forum, the 17-year old climate campaigner said leaders were not reacting to the crisis, and were not being held accountable for their inaction. The destruction of our environment and climate change, which is partly considered to be a result of it, has been a real threat for our future for a quite long time.
Our children are going to be the victims of our ecological mismanagement and drastic weather changes. At the same time, they are considered to be one of the last generations which could actively prevent the disastrous consequences. But many children, students of all ages and young grown-ups will not be just victims any more. So we see regular peaceful demonstrations on Fridays since more than a year. Starting with Greta in Sweden 2018 the protests of young people take place all over the world still. Students across Europe and around the world have been walking out of school on Fridays to demand greater action on climate change. The protesters argue that governments everywhere are failing to adopt policies ambitious enough to avoid the worst effects of climate change. They say our current policymakers will be gone by the time the most serious climate impacts emerge, while their generation will have to deal with the consequences. The climate change impact might result in a world/environment where we could barely live in. Parts of our society are conscious about the situation and new attempts to rethink and revert the negative consequences have increased. Nevertheless, we are still at the beginning, and a long way is still ahead us.
In this project our students will get actively involved with already existing environmental initiatives and establish their own projects guided by experts from the University of Cologne, Aachen, Warsaw and federal institutions in order to empower students. They will meet politicians, journalists and environmental activists to discuss problems, ideas and solutions. Conscience is a first step, the second one starts with actively doing something about it.
In our project five European schools from Germany, Spain, Finland and Poland, with different environmental focus, will join efforts to impact the relationships towards the environment. The participants of this project are already interested in a change in order to tackle the environmental problems we are facing. Through scientific experiments, creation of their own sustainable textiles, policies of waste disposal and relationship towards the environment, our students will gain awareness for the environment and through different activities planed in regards to water use, textil industry, disposal of waste, they will learn to plan and develop new options in order to positively support, reuse, recycle and therefore influence and reduce our environmental footprint.
But we aim not only to impact the lives of the pupils who directly participate in the activities or weekly meetings in their home schools through new programs or arrangements to the curricula, but to reach a wider community at local and -if possible- European level through social media, public discussions with experts, sponsoring of green areas and more.
Our students will be then reproducers of this new lifestyle in order to protect the environment and help create a better world to live in. At best, the students will become ambassadors for a sustainable lifestyle for friends, families and other students at their schools and beyond.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 164557 Eur

Project Coordinator

Europaschule Herzogenrath & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Mare de Déu de l’Olivar II
• Paraistenseudun koulu, Paraisten kaupunki
• LICEUM NIEPUBLICZNE NR 43 Z ODDZIALAMI DWUJEZYCZNYMI IM. LOTNIKOW AMERYKANSKICH
• Europaschule Köln Gesamtschule Zollstock