Sustainability with Ma Petite Planète

Sustainability with Ma Petite Planète

By Maria Marrachinho, Agrupamento de Escolas de Albufeira

Students from Escola Básica e Secundária de Albufeira Promote Sustainability with Ma Petite Planète

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Several key areas for the planet's future

At Escola Básica e Secundária de Albufeira, sustainability has taken center stage in education. Recently, students actively participated in the educational platform Ma Petite Planète, completing challenges that inspire real change in caring for the environment and society.

The initiative engaged students in several key areas for the planet’s future:

Biodiversity: Students demonstrated concern for ecosystems by taking action to protect and promote wildlife.

Healthy eating: They encouraged more conscious and sustainable food choices, showing how what we consume impacts the environment.

Sustainable mobility: They adopted eco-friendlier transportation methods, such as walking, cycling, or carpooling, reducing their carbon footprint.

Solidarity: Collaborative projects strengthened the sense of community and emphasized the importance of helping others.

Energy and resources: They discovered practical ways to save energy and responsibly manage natural resources.

Tree

The importance of small actions

Each completed challenge was more than just an activity; it was a concrete step toward a more sustainable future and an opportunity to learn about the importance of small actions in combating climate change and fostering a more supportive society.

Escola Básica e Secundária de Albufeira demonstrates that environmental education can and should be integrated into daily school life, preparing students to become more conscious and active citizens in protecting the planet.

Get Involved and Be Inspired! If you want to learn more about this initiative or implement something similar, follow the projects developed by the students and contribute to the change!

Vaskivuori teachers participating in wellbeing and sustainability workshop

Vaskivuori teachers participating in wellbeing and sustainability workshop

Par Nina Tervala, Vaskivuoren lukio

Vaskivuori teachers from Vantaa, Finland in Bucharest participating in wellbeing and sustainability workshop

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It is a challenge

ODDience2030 teams met each other this time in Bucharest where we participated in a workshop of four full days led by Andreea Gatman. The Finnish team consisted of two special needs teachers Nina and Hannele and Arts teacher Maija.

In the workshop we did numerous practices where we were getting in contact with ourselves and others. Some of us met the limits of our comfort zones and some went over to the other side with flying colours. And it did us good. We have our personal limits in different places. For some it is a challenge to take off their shoes and stand in the middle of others in just their socks during the workshop, for others sitting on the floor is nearly an impossible task and then it might be absolutely frightening to be quiet and just look the other person in the eye.

The concept of time was contemplated. We asked ourselves why we are in such a hurry all the time. The sense of hastiness prevents us from feeling and thinking, it makes us do silly things, to lose the essential.

button up their coats and put a hat on.  But now we have warm summers and warm Septembers. Soon we will have to find new jokes.

Vaskivuori teachers

Body language

We practiced communication without words through doing and body language. We created some kind of presentation of our thoughts and aims by using pencils and natural materials like sticks, stones, plantes.

And a lot more. We did so much that all will not be remembered by everybody but we all will carry some things with us into the work and our lives. And any way we all forget most the things that happen to us not to mention the things we just see or hear.

Someone might ask themself what do staring, taking positions or building some strange gadget of sticks and stones have to do with teaching or learning. And I could answer “but it does!”

People communicate with their whole body and we know that if the non-verbal message is not coherent with the verbal message the words won’t be believed. The body is worse a liar than our speech. We can tell lies but the body reveals the truth. For the most part we are unaware of the messages our bodylanguage sends. If a teacher doesn’t understand this mechanism and somehow tries to work against their own values or or principles their teaching suffers and so will the learning suffer.

Looking for sustainable ways to teach

ODDience is looking for sustainable ways to teach and to learn. Sustainability is not just about recycling and protecting the nature it is also about sensible use of human resources. By respecting each other we get permanent results and might even discover something totally new.

Going to a new place to learn new things is a challenge AND very rewarding. The workshop already a thing for itself (das Ding an sich) but then you have all the other things to solve. How to buy tickets for the metro? Wich way should we go? How does the toilet work? How do I go across the street and stay alive? Where’s breakfast? What does the sign say? Do I need to tip the server? How much? Was it too much? Was it too little? Do I greet people by shaking hands, by kisses or hugs? Why is the lift not moving? Why isn’t it stopping? Where do I stamp this ticket? Do I have to negotiate the price for a taxi ride? How much? Is it cold or warm outside?

The experience was interesting, intense and left me with a lot of thoughts

Boy do I love routines when I’m back home! 

Romania’s history is long and rich. Bucharest used to be called Little Paris for its beautiful parks and houses. Past times have left their marks on buildings and people, equality is still a dream, life is not easy for all in Romania. The experience was interesting, intense and left me with a lot of thoughts. 

Our luggage went missing both on our way to Bucharest and from Bucharest. Having arrived in Bucharest I went looking for a place to report missing luggage. I saw a sign saying something about baggage and luggage, went in and got a question from a lady: 

“What airline?” 

“KLM” 

“Corridor” was the answer. No smiles there. 

Flying back I was looking for a same kind of office in Helsinki and saw familiar words luggage and baggage.

“What airline?” (in Finnish) 

“Air France”

 “Next booth”. No smiles there either. 

What can you do? I had to laugh. 

Parcours local/global autour du textile et des ODD

Parcours local/global autour du textile et des ODD

Par Eric Veyssy, Terre et Ocean

Parcours local/global autour du textile et des ODD

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Le thème du textile coche les 17 cases des ODD. Mais pour rendre leur appréhension ludique et ancrée dans le territoire, et le quotidien, notre réflexion nous a amené à plusieurs pratiques complémentaires.

Tissu, d’où viens-tu ?

Pour ouvrir les esprits sur les enjeux, des ateliers interactifs posent les contextes internationaux et environnementaux.

Les élèves (et enseignants) font le tour des étiquettes de leurs vêtements du jour pour découvrir les pays de confections. Quelques pays (asiatiques notamment) se retrouvent assez souvent : Bangladesh, Chine…

Sur une carte, nous les situons et nous abordons les zones de production des fibres de base et les éléments indispensables à ces cultures et industries, et à leur transport d’une région à l’autre jusqu’à nous : eau, énergies fossiles…

L’empreinte carbone et l’eau virtuelle entrent en jeu comme des notions transversales concrétisées par le circuit mondial des textiles.

Textile, une filière éthique ?

Avec la projection du film « Made in Bangladesh », les quotidiens ingrats des ouvrières des usines de confections textiles de Dakha, capitale du Bangladesh, éclairent les contextes sociaux et culturels sur lesquels reposent ces réseaux aux ramifications et échanges complexes.

Salaires très bas (« ton salaire, c’est 2 tee-shirt » extrait d’un dialogue du film), direction brutale, usines insécurisées… Et bien souvent, les ouvrières sont des réfugiées climatiques, sans autre solution pour survivre.

Il était une fois le textile près de chez nous

Plus près de nous, un parcours illustré sur le bord de la Jalle, permet de remonter le temps et d’aborder L’histoire locale du textile et de l’eau indispensable.

Car dans les siècles passés, le long de la Jalle, les blanchisseuses lavaient le linge des riches familles bordelaises avec des cendres, travaillant été comme hiver pour un maigre salaire.

Le long de la rivière, nous trouvons aussi des plantes qui ont pu être utilisés pour confectionner des vêtements, comme l’ortie, le lin ou le bambou. Certaines de ces plantes (lin, chanvre) ont été cultivées dans des champs atour de nos rivières pour la production de fibres. L’aulne, la patience et le châtaignier, mais aussi le lichen, fournissaient des teintures. La galle et l’écorce du chêne servaient de mordant (ou fixatif) pour ces couleurs.

En complément, des références littéraires illustrent aussi cette histoire :

« Un jour il voyait des gens du pays très occupés à arracher des orties. Il regarda ce tas de plantes déracinées et déjà desséchées, et dit :  C’est mort. Cela serait pourtant bon si l’on savait s’en servir. Quand l’ortie est jeune, la feuille est un légume excellent ; quand elle vieillit, elle a des filaments et des fibres comme le chanvre et le lin. La toile d’ortie vaut la toile de chanvre. Hachée, l’ortie est bonne pour la volaille ; broyée, elle est bonne pour les bêtes à cornes. La graine de l’ortie mêlée au fourrage donne du luisant au poil des animaux ; la racine mêlée au sel produit une belle couleur jaune. C’est du reste un excellent foin qu’on peut faucher deux fois. Et que faut-il à l’ortie ? Peu de terre, nul soin, nulle culture. Seulement la graine tombe à mesure qu’elle mûrit, et est difficile à récolter. Voilà tout. Avec quelque peine qu’on prendrait, l’ortie serait utile ; on la néglige, elle devient nuisible. Alors on la tue. Que d’hommes ressemblent à l’ortie ! – Il ajouta après un silence : Mes amis, retenez ceci, il n’y a ni mauvaises herbes, ni mauvais hommes. Il n’y a que de mauvais cultivateurs. » Jean Valjean, Les misérables, 1862

Il était une fois le textile près de chez nous

Dans le parcours, une station d’épuration permet aussi d’aborder la question contemporaine des microfibres rejetées avec les eaux usées jusqu’à la Jalle, puis la Garonne et l’océan.

Question déjà été abordée lors de la première séquence à travers un atelier pratique.

Dans un grand nombre des pays de production actuels, l’épuration urbaine et industrielle est très peu développée, voire inexistante. Les impacts sur les rivières, les fleuves et l’océan sont d’autant plus forts.

L’ensemble de ces séquences aborde donc les 17 ODD et ouvre une réflexion sur ce qui se cache derrière nos textiles, éléments essentiels de notre quotidien.

Coordinators meeting

Coordinators meeting

By Dr Beena Nayaken, The Universal School Ghatkopar

Coordinators meeting

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Critical thinking, adaptability, and cross-cultural understanding

The Coordinators meeting at the Vaskivuoren Lukio at Vantaa (Finland) was a great opportunity for all partners.
Two days well spent in Intellectual discussions with all stakeholders from diverse countries to enrich students’ skills, broadening perspectives on global challenges and the SDGs.

This exchange fostered critical thinking, adaptability, and cross-cultural understanding, and ways to empowering the students to actively contribute to sustainable solutions.

Instill the importance of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in students

Our partner Ms Andreea Gatman, Act On Learning enlightened all coordinators on the way forward and the impact of coaching circles.
We collaborated to ideas on different strategies to instill the importance of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in students, to foster a deep, shared commitment to creating a sustainable future.

By working together, teachers can integrate SDGs across subjects, making learning relevant and inspiring students to become responsible global citizens.

This collective approach will allow students to grasp complex issues like climate change, inequality, and health, emphasizing their roles in creating positive change. Moreover, the unified message reinforced the values of teamwork, empathy, and responsibility and shaping a generation that is both aware of global challenges and equipped with the skills and mindset to address them effectively.

The Lukio, the Laugh and the Life on Land 

The Lukio, the Laugh and the Life on Land 

By Paula Silva, association Bora Ambientar

The Lukio, the Laugh and the Life on Land

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The Finnish school ambience at a Vantaa region high school, Vaskivuoren Lukio

The project Coordinators Meeting at Vantaa/Helsinki was an pportunity of meeting again many project participants from the partner organizations, to better know each other, to clarify important aspects of our common project and focus on delivering outputs on time.

But this mobility had some other very important dimensions: it allowed us to discover first-hand the Finnish school ambience at a Vantaa region high school, Vaskivuoren Lukio. The opportunity we were given to visit the school facilities, the teachers room in activity, and to have lunch at the school canteen, made us witness the relaxed and student-friendly environment, some creative inititives by the students and local food habits.

This meeting was also an opportunity to get to know the nature protection and environmental education in Helsinki region and, at least for me, a rediscovery of the nice capital city of Finland, Helsinki. The visit to the modern art museum Kiasma and mostly the Oodi Library as a social and cultural hub made available and accessible for anyone, confirmed my first impression in 2019, about the Finnish as a rather calm but very creative people!

Helsinki
Helsinki
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Sharing thoughts and personal experiences

The dinners we have had together, at places carefully chosen by our Finnish partner, made us know both local gastronomy and how gastronomy can go along with sustainability. But these common meals in Erasmus+ projects are not only moments of welfare and relaxation; they are an opportunity of building bridges across different countries cultures. For me they were moments of sharing thoughts and personal experiences and laughing a lot together!

The visit to Villa Elfvik, its green forest and the surrounding wetlands, and the Töölö open air area in Helsinky city were also great moments for me, as an environmentalist. I am currently committed with the Action Plan for Pollinators in Portugal and I strongly believe in the cities role in protecting pollinator insects; so, I especially enjoyed the walking tour from Oodi till the lake of Töölönlahti Park: this area has been massively planted with wild flowers of all colours, mostly all pollinator-friendly! I could see so many bumblebees, in action or just resting on the flowers…

Töölönlahti Park
Bumblebee on a flower at Töölö

After last project meeting in Portugal, were outside activities were most focused on marine life, therefore SDG 14 – protecting “Life below Water”, it was great to acknowled.