The final day of the Erasmus Plus project “Planet Friendly Schools & Communities“, of which CLAR ETS is the exclusive representative for our country, took place in Italy, with the presence of over 20 participants from all partner countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia.
On 27 June last, in Senigallia (AN), the results of the project, which has reached its final stage, were discussed by presenting the final version, in the various partner languages, of the planetfriendlyschools.eu web portal, comprising 72 sustainability education and training paths, carefully selected from the best European practices, divided into the three main topics Food, Agriculture and Environment.
Thus, Planet Friendly Schools & Communities makes available to teachers, families, and schools of all levels, an articulated and complete pathway that shows the different ways in which the importance of the basics of life on Planet Earth can be proposed to children, young people, but also adults, in a clear, captivating and didactically impeccable manner.
The project team then moved on to Fano (PU), to meet two very qualified and effective environmental education realities, which the Planet Friendly Schools & Communities project implementers were able to get to know in detail.
The first, the “Casa Archilei” Environmental Education Centre, located on the outskirts of Fano, in an old farmhouse that now hosts educational activities, with outdoor spaces as well as classrooms and a library. The experts who run it have organised, in a space of about 1 hectare of land, a wide range of activities that involve many children, schools and families every year, developing a direct learning experience through play and practice.
For example, with the organic vegetable garden, to which the elderly and not so elderly make essential contributions; or with the plant biodiversity path, a grove built with tree species typical of the area; with the labyrinth made with laurel plants, for a new adventure; in the shady hut, interwoven with shrubs; with large open spaces, where it is possible to relax under the abundant tree crowns.
Dr. Federica Cappello, animator of the CEA, illustrated the criteria and aspects of the didactic and experiential route in detail, enthusing those present, whom she then accompanied to the second destination of the afternoon, i.e. Lake Vicini, which is part of the Foce del Metauro protected area, covering over 700 hectares, on the two banks of the final part of the route of the historic river in the Marche region.
The professional, Dr. Christian Cavalieri, guided Planet’s partners in the direct observation of the local fauna: fish and birds in particular, which now live, feed and reproduce in ideal conditions of systemic balance, which has made it possible to protect species otherwise destined to disappear. The conservation and regenerative techniques used to gradually but very effectively achieve such important results were also briefly presented.
Planet Friendly Schools has concluded its three-year journey with these meetings, after overcoming the serious initial difficulties caused by the pandemic, finally seeing all the representatives of the organisations that have designed and implemented together the collection of experiences and teaching strategies on sustainability, which is now freely available on the www.planetfriendlyschools.eu portal.
It can be freely accessed by all those – teachers, educators, citizens – who want to be inspired by the best practices of education and training, demonstrating that the best way to safeguard the future of nature and mankind on our planet is to start from the individual awareness of each of us.
