We came from Finland, Vantaa to Bordeaux not knowing anybody.

We had spoken on-line a few times and I had been invited to the project not long ago, so I didn’t have a too clear of an idea about the project and how it is going to work.

During the kick-off week we got to know each other much better. Through varied activities we saw different sides of others and no doubt showed many details of ourselves.

We went to see places, on river Garonne and dune du Pilat. We did activities, gathering and examining samples from the water, improvisation, speaking, problem solving in an escape game. At the same time we learned about the environment and the situation of the globe and people on this globe.

Very humble. And this is why I am excited and looking forward to our next steps.

The people have brought our planet into the situation where it currently is – the climat is changing rapidly which has an impact on everything that lives. We need to start doing things very differently. There are millions and millions of people who need to understand the urgency right now.

The challenge lies in the difficulty of making a deep impact on other people’s ways of thinking and acting. Changing our and others’ values. The task is enormous. Should we do something big as human kind, us billions  on all five continents, the rich and the poor? That would not be possible, and it would not work. Instead there should be done lots of small things on community levels, on individual levels. The idea of numerous individual deeds in the right direction sounds doable and comprehensible. It gives hope, I can do something. I can speak to others and I can be an example.

On one workshop we did improvisation.

We started from our names and presented ourselves with our name and a gesture, then we called each other with the name and gesture, we trusted each other, closed our eyes and were led through the room by the other, we invented new professions and spoke for them, we wrote poems and read them to others using different voices and energies. We made different impacts on others using not just words but our bodies and our energy.

What I learned from this workshop was that words are not enough. The words need to be heard and they need to have an impact on the listener. They need to be true, credible, important. Scientists often trust in facts and hope that the truth will be seen anyway. Sadly that is not the case.

People hear what they want to hear, that we know. Our message should not be from doom’s day telling that all is lost. Because it isn’t, we can do things differently. Now we need to learn to use our voice and start changing things. Us teachers need to give tools to our students for them to learn how to think and act for their future.

People will remember and understand things that are worth noticing and that awake emotions. This needs to be remembered when we try to make a change for the better, for the sake of our planet.