Hankkeen nimi: "Kestävä kehitys on elämäntapa"

3ο Γενικό Λύκειο Τρίπολης   Τρίπολη   Kreikka

This project aimed at raising people’s awareness on sustainable development and making people realize that every single act of each and every one of us can make a difference. Sustainability is not just a goal; it’s a way of life!
To that end, as soon as we created our Greek team consisting of 3 teachers and 25 students, we joined our National Network of Eco-schools and we set up an eTwinning project with a Lithuanian School so as to collaborate with other students from Greece and abroad and thus, share material and participate in common activities.
At the same time, both teachers and students attended a number of online modules on circular economy powered by the EU-funded Girls Go Circular project, as well as webinars organized by the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature.
Empowered by all the above knowledge, we created a questionnaire which was anonymously completed by 16 teachers and 42 students. The main conclusion drawn from the questionnaire was that so far, most of them did not take into consideration the environmental impact of their choices, but now that they have been informed about the issue, they intent to be more environmentally conscious.
We thus took part in three environmental actions (namely, sustainable moving, interactive games on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and tree planting) organized by Organizations such as the Europe Direct and the Eurodesk Network of our Region and we were awarded the Climate Detective Kids Certificate.
We also organized a trip to the Environmental Centre of Kastri and a trip to the Open-Air Water Power Museum of Dimitsana, two nearby villages, in the first of which students were actively engaged in the project “What will the weather be like?”, whereas in the second, they watched a display of the main pre-industrial techniques that took advantage of water to produce a variety of goods.

We created a padlet (accessible to anyone interested), on which we posted all the phases of our project step by step, including both descriptions of the activities we got involved in but also outlines of the conclusions we reached.
More specifically, as soon as we delineated what the carbon footprint really is, we used the EO browser to investigate the emissions of certain greenhouse gases over the wider area of our school. It was really shocking to confirm with data our initial assumption that during the months that the school is open these emissions are much higher that the summer months that the school is closed.
The most obvious cause of this rise is definitely the central heating of the school, the fact that it is run on petrol. So asking students how this local problem could be averted, the answer was unanimous “by converting our central heating into using a more eco-friendly energy-generating fuel like gas or solar power.” However, it was clear that this solution is financially not feasible, at least not for the time being.
This revelation did not arouse any disappointment or resentment in us. Instead, it constituted the challenge that we had then to face, that is, to come up with simple everyday acts that would reduce if not eliminate the problem, if only we could convince each and every one around that collaboratively we could make the difference.
We thus created a questionnaire which reminded the respondents that some of their everyday habits related to transportation, food, even clothes deteriorated the problem of the pollution of our area. «The seed of change was sowed in their mind and hearts.” The next time they are about to buy something to eat or wear, they will definitely spare a thought on the environment.

Students, in particular, were thrilled to know that they were part of a wider net work of eco-schools. They loved exchanging videos with their Lithuanian eTwinning partners portraying them both taking part in environmental actions, like tree-planting. It was that exact moment when they realized what the saying “Think globally, act locally” really means.
Everything is a matter of attitude! As long as all the people involved in this project were convinced that they could save the world, they would do everything in their power to save it. That was the main outcome of our project: from now on, before we do anything, we will think of the environment first.
Realizing that we cannot change the central heating, we decided to reduce its consumption. We are more conscious as to how often we open and close the windows of our classroom so that the air is refreshed but the heating is not gone. We also wear warmer clothes, scarves and gloves, if it is to set the heating system at a lower grade based on the fact that Greece is a country with moderate winters.
We have also set up a regular programme of recycling, let alone upcycling. We no longer use one-use only objects, such as bottles of water, or even fast fashion garments. We collect separately the recyclable trash, the compostable rubbish and the caps of the bottles to be used for the purchase of wheelchairs for handicapped people. We have even embellished our school by converting used wooden pallets to benches and trash bin to works of art. (see photo below).

https://padlet.com/3lyktripol/sustainability-is-a-way-of-life-jfn0z5he93fsokbd

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