- Show your students a weekly diary from the internet. Then ask them to make their own diary of their family waste food of the week. Then divide the class into small groups of three or four. Each group will discuss about their family waste food diary and try to make goals in order not to waste food or to offer the food they don’t need.
Image: example of a weekly diary that can be adopted in food waste.
- After doing Activity 1, reflect:
- Is there food in your diary that your family wouldn’t have to waste?
- Can your family offer to share the food that they don’t need?
- How can you reduce your food waste?
- Do you think that your family could find ways for better “food management”?
- Discuss the pros of reducing food waste.
Plastic is an important and ubiquitous material today’s world: It has multiple functions that help us tackle a number of challenges (e.g., it is lightweight, inert, impermeable, durable) and therefore it is used widely, in applications ranging from packaging our medicine and food, to building materials, cars, airplanes, etc.
However, much of the plastic we produce today is designed to be thrown away after being used only once (disposable or single-use). Some of the characteristics that make it commercially successful – price, durability and resistance – also contribute to making it environmentally unsound (when mismanaged) and difficult to recycle. The way plastic, especially single-use-plastics (SUPs) are currently produced, consumed, and disposed results in severe environmental impacts. The millions of tons of plastic that end up in the oceans and the rest of the natural environment every year are one of the most visible and alarming problems, causing a growing public concern.
All around the world, and especially in Europe, the urgent need to tackle plastic pollution, while benefiting from a circular approach is acknowledged. (e.g., EC-2018, Directive on Bans of SUPs-2019, etc.). Among the other measures identified to tackle this complex problem, education of consumers and the young generation is critical. According to UNESCO, the creation of a more sustainable world requires individuals, particularly youth, to become active ‘sustainability change-makers’ who hold the necessary knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes (UNESCO, 2017). Indeed, schools can become beacons of sustainability and their students can be the drivers of change for a plastic-free lifestyle.
Plasteam is an Erasmus project that help teachers, students, families and the local communities to reduce the use of plastic items in this regard, PLASTEAM project is aimed at educating pupils and staff of primary schools in responsibly consuming, using and recycling plastics, informing them about their environmental impact and providing pedagogic activities for promoting a sustainable waste management system at school level.
Three main outlines were important in this project:
- REcycle: collect, sort and recycle, thus closing the recycling circuit.
- REmove: contribute to the cleaning of plastic waste from the environment.
- REsearch: invest in research and development on recycling and resource conservation for innovative solutions.
Reflection
1.This is a good practice of examining our Plastic footprint on the beaches. How could these ideas be applied in your area?
2.Which plastic items could you avoid in your everyday life?
3.Separate your class into pairs and ask them to discuss and keep notes of the consequences of our plastic footprint for the environment.
Sustainable Communities are environmentally sustainable in terms of cleanliness and efficiency. Second, Sustainable communities are resilient to social, economic, and natural shocks. They are well prepared for natural disasters, which are increasing in intensity and frequency due to climate change.
A good practice in this field is the “Cities Network for Sustainable Development and Circular Economy” which was founded in 2017. The founding members of the network consisted of 30 Municipalities from Greece and Cyprus, the National Technical University of Athens, the Maniatakeion Foundation and the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development of Cyprus. SUSTAINABLE CITY currently counts more than 64 Members while the network is constantly being expanded.
The main purpose of the Network is to support the Municipalities to successfully submit proposals for receiving funding from European Programs and to implement and complete the respective EU funded projects. SUSTAINABLE CITY fills the lack of know-how in the fields of proposals’ preparation and projects’ management and at the same time develops a Network of cooperation and coordinates all the actions required by such programs.
All proposals and projects lie within the fields of Sustainable Development, Sustainability, Environmental Protection, Circular Economy, and Smart Energy Management.
Reflection:
What actions have been taken in your city to be sustainable?
Make a brainstorming of ideas to make your city a sustainable one.
In some countries networks of sustainable cities have been founded. If you are a student from Greece or Cyprus, you can visit the website of the Cities Network for Sustainable Development and Circular Economy and discover with them if your city has applied to be a sustainable city and what are the actions that the mayor has taken in order to be a sustainable one.
If you are from Italy, you can learn about the network of sustainable municipalities (“Comuni Sostenibili”): https://www.comunisostenibili.eu/
If you are from other countries, discover if there are similar networks.
