PlantekaKids
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
PlantekaKids is a project aimed to create a new eco-systemic relationship between humans and the environment. We look to achieve generational knowledge and consciousness changes through the sharing and teaching of sustainability and ecological practices to our youngest generations.
Geographical Scope
Project Region
Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
EU Programme or fund
Which funds
Description of the project
Summary
PlantekaKids is a project designed to teach and share the fundamentals of bio-cultural, bio-social, and sustainability practices to our youngest generations, with the aim and intentions of establishing meaningful life-long behavioural changes and adaptations to ensure we share a planet which is not only inhabitable, but is continually improving. Primarily based in Cataluna, but primed to be scalable given the opportunity.
We intend to create a platform of social and environmental change, with the key operators being children. We believe that knowledge of the planet, the current climate crisis, and the methods and ways to improve it, should be at a core level of education. We believe that to create and implement these behaviour patterns in current and future generations is of the highest importance for ourselves and the planet.
Our intention with this socio-ecological platform is to create a programme of in-person taught classes on sustainability practices, to make use of urban spaces to integrate nature, the use of open spaces to explore movement in nature, and finally to begin exploring about how to create impactful core memories centring around the environment. The project focuses on the UN Sustainability Goals numbers 3, 4, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 17.
Key points:
- Sustainability education programme (ages 5-16)
- Objectives to educate young people regarding nature, sustainability practices, eco-systemic relationships, circular economy, and zero waste approaches, taught tools in focus on sustainable development and living.
- Utilise teachings to create grassroots changes in the community and society.
- Outcomes focused upon greater care and importance of nature, lifestyle behavioural changes to reduce impact on environment, establishing patterns, adaptable actions and responses to ensure life-long changes of the environment.
Key objectives for sustainability
- Facilitating sustainability learnings, practices, and behavioural changes in-line, and ahead of, the Green New Deal. Achieved through the sharing and teaching of knowledge and necessary actions (zero-impact, full-circle ecosystems, and mindfulness practices).
- Induce a mindful approach to living, and sustainability within young children. Achieved through teachings and practical application of mindfulness approaches in everyday life, utilising a variety of experts and local nature sites.
- Improve personal and social impact on the local and world environment. Achieved through grassroots connections with the community, and local environmental and nature experts.
- Initiate a greater awareness of the importance of sustainability, nature, the environment, and plants, in order to begin generational changes. Achieved through sharing of knowledge to promote adaptations of non-functional behavioural patterns, increased information about climate change and ways to prevent continued climate destruction.
- We look to shape the youngest generation to initiate and follow-through on necessary climate-focused actions, and to build generational changes through simple exploration of the natural environment. There are few other programmes such as this, and none which are currently taught in schooling systems as part of their daily education.
The key objective is facilitating sustainability learnings, practices, and behavioural changes in-line, and ahead of, the Green New Deal. We intend to teach active in-person lessons regarding plants, ecosystems, urban and future gardens, climate change and necessary adaptations for plants and ecosystems, and mindfulness practices, in order to promote climate-focused improvements in everyday life. This will be taught through in-person classes, taught by local experts in environmental and sustainability studies. We believe these themes of sustainability and lifestyle changes are of highest importance to share with the youngest generation.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
As evidenced by numerous studies (1) and by UNAI-resourced projects (3), mindfulness practices have been shown to improve (including but not limited to) attention increases, increased cognition and learning, increased connectivity towards humans, nature, and information. Furthermore, hands-on and active nature-based practices in children and adults have been identified to be beneficial for mental health, stress reduction, improved physical health, improved social cooperation and harmony, and increased protection of the environment (2). We believe that all of these factors lead to a more grounded, connected, and sustainable world to live in.
We have an objective to create opportunities for young people to have profound natural connections to the environment, nature and to plants; we know that these experiences are of deep importance to developing interest and connections to our environment, they have the potential to positively influence a life, for a lifetime. The purpose of the programme is to make accessible nature, sustainable practices, and different learning styles to enhance the opportunities of these “core-memory moments”.
Due to the nature of the project, it is difficult and we feel unnecessary to explore quantitative outcomes with the children, instead focusing on observable behaviour changes and observations about current and future living styles. Which allows the project great scope to explore this for research purposes and find quantitative outcomes for the project.
We believe this to be exemplary as the project combines mindfulness and nature practices as a method of cementing learnings and progressing consciousness and awareness for the environment.
Key objectives for inclusion
PlantekaKids is a platform where information and education is based on the Green New Deal, and has been developed to provide individual changes and personal and social improvements. We have considered how children and adults may feel excluded from these teachings, we identified risks such as cultural backgrounds who do not promote sustainable lifestyles, and also about negative climate beliefs from parents. We found solutions focused on small changes, which over time allow for larger resulting changes. The child and class will be provoked to use their reasoning skills, and mindfulness practice to assess the situation for themselves. There is a balance to be found of self-discovery and of taught lessons.
The concept is to teach and share knowledge to all active and non-active participants through taught, in-person classes, activities, and nature visits. These will be open to all peoples regardless of any socio-economic variabilities; the only necessity is that the participants must be enrolled into the schooling system. We are looking for this to first be provided as an extracurricular activity, where people can choose and decide to take part or not, however for future models we would look for this to become part of compulsory education.
Our intention is for at least one class to be shared between the intended participants (school age children) and also the parents and guardians of said participants. With the intended learnings to be fostered by the parents and guardians in order for the suggested changes to be solidified in the home environment. These initial classes will be used for secondary pilot research to understand and explore the needs of the children, both for the educational material, but also to understand how the children respond to the information and the way it is being presented. The intention for PlantekaKids is to encourage educational programmes to fully integrate the principles and syllabus into everyday life for school children Europe-wide.
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
The programme which we have created is of critical importance for the next generation of peoples; we believe sustainability to be the heart of our future, without adaptable behavioural changes, we will have little opportunity to share in the way we do now. We are looking to share our knowledge of sustainable practices, social and solidarity economies, and to cultivate and strengthen the eco-social pact, to and for the youngest of our communities. The future is today, and we must act accordingly.
Sustainability is included in the project as a core practice and goal, the objective is to teach lessons about sustainability and practical zero-waste approaches to living, and to provide opportunities for meaningful experiences with large potentials for future stimulation and growth. The aesthetics and quality of experience of the project focus upon building and adapting home communities for the changes which are necessary to make. We aim to stimulate grass-root responses in order to make multi-generational adaptations to sustainability issues, which we intend to cement a more positive future for the youngest generations. Inclusion is deeply rooted in both of these concepts, but has its own focus which is centred around the effort and changes which are required by everyone, the conceptualisation in order to make it a communal objective, and communal outcomes. Every person must play a part in order to achieve these goals.
This approach would be exemplary because there are few initiatives which are focused on these specific objectives within young peoples in Europe. There are many platforms which offer education, but none of which are taught in-person by experts in the fields, to children in schools, and in-line with mindfulness principles. We look to connect and shape the futures of the young peoples with specific and hands-on education and nature practices, and to provide opportunities for lifelong awareness in and for nature.
