Act now for the planet by consuming locally

Acting for the benefit of the planet has been a growing concern for the youth of our world. Climate imbalances have been accentuated by human activity and show that it is high time we took action for a long-term sustainable economy and a better use of our natural resources. Schools are from now on more and more involved as school boards have included the concept of eco-citizenship in different curriculums.Food is an important cultural element in our society, the way we eat tells us about who we are. Five schools gathered around this topic to study and promote the concept of eating locally, also known as locavorism, on the scale of the European continent. These five schools decided to work together insofar as they were different but complementary. There were two general education high schools : La Rochelle, France and Istanbul, Turkey and three technical and professional education high schools, including one catering school : Bourgoin-Jallieu, France ; Turin, Italy and Nafpaktos, Greece. Thus, the theme of locavorism could be tackled from different geographical scopes : in a small town, an average-sized one and a capital city from EU member countries and a candidate country to EU membership. In each school, between 20 and 30 students aged 15 got involved in a 24 months project. These young people were selected depending on their beliefs and their interests in environmental causes. They took part in weekly sessions monitored by all the different teachers involved in the project. They worked with their foreign counterparts thanks to social networks, Twinspace and video conferences. They exchanged in English, chosen as the language of the project. There were four goals for this project :-Allowing students to become responsible eco-citizens being able to make individual and informed consumption choices.-Building up knowledge. They learnt what sustainability , ecology, local economy, short circuit consumption were and how they worked. They learnt basic notions about healthy food, food security, and more about European rules. -Developing expertise in : getting informed, analyzing, criticizing, organizing, using digital devices and tools, collaborating and communicating. Students organized the welcoming of all the partners. They listed all the key places to visit. They designed the various surveys and documents to start enquiring. They exchanged in English, they dealt with the collective data and learnt how to work together to achieve a final task.-Creating a final product. They started creating an interactive European map showing the different spots and results they got in La Rochelle. The process should have been the same in cross-border activities and completed at the end of the project.International meetings were supposed to be the highlight of this project. Each visit allowed to tackle a different aspect of the problem so as to offer different and complementary answers to the topic. In La Rochelle, the students enquired, met professionals, collaborated to confront their analysis. They designed short documents using different digital formats : videos, web pages…November 2019 - La Rochelle This is the one and only meeting that could take place. We had prepared the following meeting :May 2020 – Nafpaktos, Greece – producers and food channelsHowever, we couldn’t carry out this part of the project due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The other meetings were envisaged according to the following dates :September 2020 – Turin, Italy – association and political actorsDecember 2020 – Bourgoin-Jallieu – link between locavorism and globalizationApril 2121 – Istanbul, Turkey – taking actions for the planetWe first considered re-scheduling the meetings. Successive lockdowns and hybrid teaching methods prevented us from fulfilling this solution. Digital technologies (ICT) were crucial tools to exchange and communicate : eTwinning and social networks – and to produce various digital resources, but also keeping in mind that the backbone project was to design an interacive map using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The students contacted the town hall of La Rochelle, the tourist office, met many of its shop owners. Digital tools as well as social media posts made exchanges and communication easier. Students’ productions were posted on Twinspace and shared on social networks. However, the final production – despite it being rather well advanced – couldn’t be published. All along the project, the students played an active part and were really committed to influence the group’s choices by setting up a virtuous form of lobbying.