Hello there ! Here we come again to give you an update on our environmental education project : EcoPatrols 4 Environmental Goals ! These last months, in the company of our test group composed of students of the Liceo Salvemini, we progressed by leaps and bounds. Indeed, between the 6th of May and the 3rd of June, we finished our program, implementing the module 6 (06.05.24) about water as a resource, the module 7 (17.05.24) about sustainable agriculture and food system, and finally the module 8 (03.06.24) about environmental activism ! 

Early May, we went to the buildings of the Liceo Salvemini, where we met our usual group. There, we talked about the topic of water as a resource, and about its repartition throughout the world as well as the numerous infrastructure needed for it to reach, drinkable, our home ! The students had the opportunity to learn a lot about this topic, first going from their own representations of water.We talked about the unfairness of water distribution throughout the world, and talked about all the people that, still today, don’t have access to healthy water. Talking through problems, imagining solutions, we managed to learn a lot and keep smiling, as there is always something we can do to make things better

After the drinkable water, we parted ways for two weeks until we saw each other again in mid May to talk, this time, about our food consuming habits. Even though this thematic is complex and vast, we managed to talk about a lot of very important topics and to learn how, as consumers, we can make responsible choices ! For example, we took the time to take a look at various recipes and to calculate the amount of kilometers the ingredient took to reach our plates… And sometimes, the answer was frightening ! This allowed us to grow more conscious of our eating habits. We also talked about the advantages of choosing local products, sold by small producers, instead of products sold in the supermarket. Overall, we had a great lesson about the repartition of the richness along the food production chain.

Finally, after exploring 7 modules of environmental education, we entered our last phase : module 8, dedicated to environmental activism. Indeed, learning about environmental conservation is very important, but it is also very important to learn how we can act, as citizens, to create changes in the world around us. Starting by ourselves, our friends, and neighbors, until our political representatives, as citizens we have power to change things ! That is what we wished to transmit to our students through module 8.  In order to do so, we thought together about the meaning of activism and its importance, and then we put our thought in practice : the students organized a manifestation, created posters and a communication campaign, and were brought to think about the problems that are dear to them. It has been a very interesting moment.

Overall, we are now reaching the end of our path with our dear students from the Liceo Salvemini. Over these months shared with them, they gave us a lot more than just an opportunity to test the manual and the activities we created. They offered us moments of shared thoughts and preoccupation, of shared hope and dreams, of shared energy, all of it channeled toward the creation of a more sustainable future. For all this, we want to thank them dearly.

For us, now that this testing phase is closed, we need to enter into the next phase : confronting our results with the results of the other organizations testing the manual, modifying the activities in order to make them better, and finalizing all the communication and bureaucratic work. There is still a lot to do, but as always, we do it with a lot of energy, and the feeling of working to build a better future !

Stay tuned for more info, and stay safe.