"<< Background >>In the Agenda 21 ""Sustainable Development"" action plan, it was stated that people are the main element of sustainable development and they should lead a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature. Another concept that comes with sustainable life was the ecological footprint. The 2030 Sustainability Goals include education for sustainable lifestyles and providing all students with the knowledge and skills necessary to advance sustainability. In order to continue by the future generations to live their lives in a healthy world, it can be said that it is of great importance to be the right role model for children from an early age, to organize educational environments for them where sustainability elements are taken into account, and to implement well-prepared environmental education programs that enable children to interact more with nature. Practices carried out in this framework in schools are important as elements that raise social awareness of sustainability, both among children at school, school staff and families. Through and in this project we wanted our students to understand how their lifestyle choices impact the world around us and show them ways to live better and lighter.<< Objectives >>The objectives of our project were:-to help individuals understand their environmental impacts holistically by using the ecological footprint calculation tool, which is one of the effective methods to gain environmental awareness for sustainable living,-to change the attitudes, awareness and behaviors towards sustainable life,-to make evaluations and choices in favour of sustainable life,-to contribute to the solutions of environmental problems (global warming, climate change, waste of energy and water, waste disposal) by preventing waste of these resources,-to promote global equality,-to enhance an environmental-friendly approach,-to promote ecological and cultural tolerance,-to harness the potential of digital technologies for teaching and learning and develop digital skills,-to improve the transnational and inter-institutional working capacity of institutions,-to develop and strengthen the capacity of institutions,-to revive the global partnership for sustainable living,-to support active European citizenship and bring the European dimension to the local level.<< Implementation >>We implemented the following activities:1. We Reduce Our Ecological Footprint: Pay Attention to Food Preferences /Prefer minimal life-participants became aware of their consumption habits and compared them with other students, the country and the world average. Ecological footprint calculations done during the activity allowed to determine our negative impacts on the environment. 2. We Reduce Our Ecological Footprint: Water Consumption and Water Footprint-Understanding the importance of water saving, drinking water features, water saving methods at home and at school helped the participants know how to use water effectively and save it.3. We Reduce Our Ecological Footprint: Waste Management and Zero Waste-emphasizing the importance of efficient use of natural resources and taking a step towards zero waste practices enabled the participants to adopt a sustainable life philosophy both individually and institutionally.4.We Reduce Our Ecological Footprint: Saving Energy-this activity created a comprehensive awareness of the ecological footprint, ensured responsibility in this regard and reduced the ecological footprint rates.5. ""Special days/weeks"" like Water Day, Clean the Earth Day, Buy Nothing Day, Forest Day and etc.<< Results >>Tangible results:1. Logo and slogan of the project.2. Calculation of ecological footprint.3. Posters: food preferences and minimal life.4. Zero waste bags.5. Posters: Waste management.6. Presentation: water footprint.7. A small forest near Mugla.8. Presentation: saving energy.9. Water Day and World Cleanup Day held in every partner school.10. Newsletters, posters, dissemination materials.11. Padlet:https://padlet.com/haticeuygun84/ecological-footprint-waste-management-and-zero-waste-k-tahya-r28huivibahxqnq4.12. Webpage on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_ecological_footprint__?igsh=MW13bDhzcDFvejFiYQ==Intangible results:During the project its participants produced international solutions to our global problems and carried the results to the European dimension. They set an example in raising ecological awareness at national level. This project has raised environmental sustainability and green practices among students and staff about their carbon footprint."
