Aristotle defined friendship as “two or more people having the best intention towards one another that share: common interests, joy in doing something, commitment for doing good”. He also adds, to make matters challenging as philosophy sometimes invites before matters clear the way, that all three aspects should be present. Our making jewelry with SDGs session with Jackie Hansom Social Innovation Program manager, Sarah Saeed Climate Innovation Program Manager, and Lauren Carnahan Communication Strategist and dear person behind the camera.

Zooming in, one might notice Sarah is working with SDG 13 “Climate Action”, Jackie (as former k-12 teacher, an educator, and presently a Student-led process Mentor) and I work with SDG 4 “Quality education”.

This speaks for our values and what we think our work is, from a more embodied sense. It is an Open Heart-led process, as Arawana Hayashi and Otto Scharmer (MIT) would say- we come, and let the process unfold from a place of compassion to ourselves and the ones around us and with an Open Mind- curiosity.

As our good friend and FABLAB coordinator prof. Alex Sargent where we are conveying the activity says “Let your hand lead for a while, give your head a rest”; we follow that insightful learning prompting and share from the heart issues we thought are important for the future good of the nearby community, and mostly we listen.

At the end, with no script whatsoever we said thank you for taking this time to relax and do creative work together and very much just be together. Backed with scientific thinking and critical thinking everyday moments of friendship advance our innovation around climate challenges and once more invites us to see that 21st century intelligence is WEQ- collectively thinking and imagining.

* Place: Wond’ry Innovation Center, Vanderbilt University, April 2025, practices inspired by Ecological leadership in the Classroom Online teachers program, part of Oddience2030.

As a special needs teacher I attend to remedial English classes. The groups in those classes consist of students who necessarily don’t know each other. The situation makes them shy and uncertain of their skills.

Being active is very important for learning, nevertheless students often choose or end up being passive in classroom. The passive role is safe. When you don’t do anything you won’t be doing any mistakes either. Many students are afraid of making mistakes which in itself is a big mistake because it is through mistakes that we learn.

In our launch week in Bordeaux we got to know each other and did many exercises. One in particular made me very happy. In French this exercise is called Jeu interconnaissance. In this game you try to find out who is who by recognizing people from drawings and then asking questions and writing down the answers.

The game is very practical to use because all you need is the form on one paper and a pencil for each participant.The participants are asked to draw a portrait of themselves on the paper. Then the pictures change hands and people try to find the person in the portrait and ask them a question. The questions are ready in the paper and the group goes as many rounds as there are questions. When all the questions have been answered the group goes through the most interesting and funny ones so that everyone is mentioned at least one time.

What makes this game fun is the task of finding a person that resembles the drawing somehow. One has to look at details, guess and ask: Are you this person?

When the first actions in a game are drawing and looking at drawings, pictures and people we forget a little that actually the task is speaking, making acquaintances, learning each others’ names and using a foreign language. For those who find speaking to strangers in a foreign language challenging this kind of distraction is perfect.

Learning is more efficient when feelings are involved.

Actually I’m not convinced we learn anything without having a some kind of a feeling. Being noticed and commented in a kind way makes us happy and it gives us a warm feeling.

Afterwards we find it much easier to interact in the group in our language skills that we have at that moment.

I have launched different versions of this game and translated it into Finnish so it can be used in the beginning of any course.

I am doing it tomorrow in the English class, with new questions and I’m looking forward to seeing and hearing their reactions.

We believe in the power of education and community involvement to make positive environmental changes, and what better way to do that than by honouring the humble yet extraordinary millets!

During this festival, our students delved into the environmental significance of millets, learning about their sustainable cultivation practices and resilience to climate change.

But that’s not all! They also explored the incredible nutritional benefits of millet, discovering how it contributes to our health and well-being.
One of the event’s highlights was the recipe exchange, where students shared their favourite millet-based dishes, from savoury to sweet, showcasing the versatility and deliciousness of these ancient grains.

And what better way to wrap up the festivity than with a delightful potluck, where everyone brought a dish to share, creating a colourful and flavorful spread celebrating the diversity of millets and our community.

Let’s continue to spread awareness, appreciation, and enjoyment of millets for a healthier planet and a brighter future.

The Universal School embarks on a captivating journey with the ‘Roots & Shoots’ Nature Club program, a global initiative inspired by the Jane Goodall Institute.

Our eco-warrior scholars, grades 3 to 7, wielded magic in crafting soil seed bombs for a lush forest expedition. Together, we cultivated change, hand in hand with India’s flourishing Roots & Shoots program, forging for a greener tomorrow.

Special guest Mr. Nilesh Bhanage from PAWSASIA, an NGO enlightened us on compassionate citizenship, emphasizing the impact of small acts.

Engaging activities like poster making and a Leaf Art session to deepen our students’ connection with nature, reinforcing our commitment to environmental stewardship.

Let’s champion compassion and responsibility for a glorious and sustainable future!

“A lack of hope is stealing young people’s right to imagine futures” (Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Heart) 

“Give young people, space for their voice.” (Abigael Kima African Youth caravan representative, COP28, Dec 2023)

We invited students’ team leaders at Wond’ry Center for Innovation, to future(s) anticipation. As we had one toolkit called “hope cards” we approached what Karen O’Brien, Noble Prize winner for her work in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) called the capacity to build multiple ways of knowing. O’Brien with her quantum social change approach to climate and sustainable development goals, talks about hope as a process that allows insights ( a fresh new perspective, bypassing our habitual patterns of thoughts), and once we practice that we back it up with scientific and critical thinking.

Unesco with the Agenda of Futures Literacy defined future anticipation as “the competency that allows people to better understand the role of the future in what they see and do.” It is also key competence in finding ways to “make space in men’s and women’s minds for peace”.

Peace and hope are directly linked, as both create space to allow our actions to be informed by the future that emerges, instead of habitual thinking, that is why from a quantum perspective O’Brien calls it “you matter more than you think”.

Playing the hope cards, inviting surprising themes (some declared awkward, unfamiliar) in unexpected situations and from very different points of view (perspectives) our habitual patterns of thoughts “easily” can be bypassed (what David Bohm called proprioception, key for thinking and learning to learn skills).

As I hear students bring up the topic of power and dynamics of power relations, I am thinking how in 21st-century transversal competencies instead of talking about power bring the idea of agency: our image of how as humans affect and influence the world, inform how we think and act (relational systems thinking individuals, collectives, systems). 

icon_star icon When difficult/conflictual situations, we can widen perspectives (not shortcutted by our habitual thinking)  with the practice of “there can be many different perspectives”.

icon_star icon Practices of open questions, inviting future thinking, fresh new ideas, becoming “artful communicators” (Thomas Hubl) building bridges and allowing data to inform our actions instead of only “picking” data that our brain already picked for us to notice( O’Brien, 2021) 

icon_star icon Creating an image of leadership in the classroom, horizontal relations not hierarchical, allowing one (the learner) to achieve clarity, essential in a world of paradoxes, or what in education are called wicked problems. 

icon_star icon Practicing agency, inherent motivation for the learning in 21st-century schooling to actually happen.

icon_star icon Empathy and compassion skill, of suspending own thoughts and theater of emotions(Lonka, 2018) to actually be able to listen to a diverse point of view, and inform actions as well as relational systemic thinking essential for learning to learn.  

After the hope cards, we imagined futures together creating What If posters to build a space that allows Future(s) to be sensed, seen…

Resources: 

Hope Cards

ttps://www.sitra.fi/en/topics/weak-signals/#weak-signals-2022 (you can create your own hope cards based on your context of bioregionalism) 

Create alternative futures with “what if…”

– Here is one example from Helsinki  Design Museum material for teachers https://www.designmuseum.fi/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Task-material-for-teachers_What-if-Alternative-Futures.pdf 

– Here for students https://www.designmuseum.fi/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Task-A-a-school-day-in-2050_print.pdf

Nous sommes Caroline et Nadège, durablement engagées dans ce projet de sensibilisation et d’engagement de nos jeunes en devenir, vers la construction d’un monde meilleur, prospère, où personne n’est mis de côté.

Un monde qu’ils continueront à construire ensemble, qu’ils consolideront à la force de leurs connaissances, constats, réflexions, de leurs actions et cheminement vers un objectif inclusif, interconnecté, et tellement universel.

« ODDIENCE  2030 » notre projet collaboratif ! Cela sonne tel un rendez-vous solennel avec notre planète. Que faire avec nos jeunes responsables de demain ? comment arriver à ce rendez-vous, fiers de nos jeunes éco citoyens conscients des enjeux planétaires, capables de penser, d’agir, de construire, individuellement, collectivement leur après ?!

Le lancement du projet à Bordeaux a permis la pose de notre première brique de l’édifice modeste à l’échelle planétaire que nous souhaitons construire avec nos partenaires, co -constructeurs de cette jeunesse compétente du 21 siècle.

Nous commençons donc cette longue traversée réflexive, cherchant chacun de notre côté comment intégrer, sensibiliser à la problématique mondiale de la protection de notre planète, agissant en faveur de tous les êtres humains afin qu’ils vivent en paix et dans la prospérité.

Commencent donc nos interrogations, la bascule vers des zones d’inconfort pour chacun, tamponnée par nos mutualisations, nos échanges, notre force à a plusieurs, un ciment à notre édifice en construction !

Nos sorties organisées par Terre et Océans au cœur de la nature simplement elle-même, nos ateliers d’échanges réflexifs, de prise de parole, d’improvisation avec le RADSI, nous ont permis d’entrevoir des outils que nous pourrions utiliser pour engager nos jeunes, les sensibiliser à des problématiques réelles, faire d’eux des acteurs durablement responsables, chacun selon nos enseignements et nos compétences !

Caroline et moi-même embarquées sur ce bateau vers le port de l’ODDIENCE 2030, cherchons, réfléchissons et tel Archimède dans son bain, quelques ampoules s’allument : EURÊKA ! nous nous projetons, c’est le début de la traversée réelle…

ODD6

Garantir l’accès de tous à l’eau et à l’assainissement et assurer une gestion durable des ressources en eau.

© agenda-2030.fr

Un des premiers ODD sur lequel nous souhaiterions travailler avec nos élèves étant l’ODD 6 « Accès à l’eau salubre et l’assainissement et assurer une gestion durable des ressources en eau » : nous pensons travailler cet ODD dans le cadre de l’enseignement de la Prévention Santé Environnement ou encore de l’enseignement de la consommation alimentaire responsable.

• D’abord avec une approche de la problématique de l’inégalité de la disponibilité des ressources en eau douce au niveau local et planétaire et l’inégalité d’accès à l’eau potable des populations à travers le monde. Nous le pensons par le biais d’un travail de questionnement, de recherches, de visites…

• Connaître le cycle de la potabilisation de l’eau, du traitement des eaux usées et l’impact humain sur la pollution des eaux : visite de sites d’épuration des eaux usées, quelle dimension durable en faveur de 2030, protection des écosystèmes ?

• Un travail de sensibilisation sur la consommation en eau, mettant en place des débats sur des mesures collectives au niveau local, mondial et des mesures individuelles en tant que consommateur responsable : campagnes de sensibilisation mises en place notamment par les collectivités locales.

• Dimension de coopération internationale : projet de dessalement de l’eau de mer, quelle avancée ?

L’ODD 3 « Donner aux individus les moyens de vivre une vie saine et promouvoir le bien être des personnes âgées » est également apparu comme une évidence.

Les jeunes sont amenés à évoluer dans un monde riche de partage et d’entraide. Les personnes âgées sont au cœur de leur apprentissage. L’engagement des jeunes au niveau local afin de promouvoir le bien être des personnes âgées notamment avec nos EHPAD voisins, sera mis en avant par le biais d’actions ponctuelles mais aussi hebdomadaire afin de faciliter la communication et la mise en projet. La prise en compte du bien-être de son « voisin » est un engagement du quotidien que nous souhaitons développer.

Nous voilà engagées et prêtes à nous former pour accompagner nos jeunes et les amener à devenir des acteurs, des citoyens engagés pour la préservation de notre planète et de ses habitants.