Defining the responsible consumer in a globalized society is a challenging mission, but an essential one. Five schools from Romania, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, and Greece have taken up the challenge and initiated a collaboration on this topic. We aim to draw attention to the crucial role we, as modern consumers, play in either destroying or preserving our surrounding environment.
To become responsible, engaged citizens with promising employment opportunities, young people need to develop a wide range of skills, which are often not adequately fostered by the theoretical learning approaches in our school systems. By involving them in modern, inquiry-based approaches, we seek to develop our students' ability to learn and foster curious minds. Students can expand their cultural awareness and expression by combining scientific tasks, such as creating statistics and calculating a product's CO2 footprint, with creative tasks, such as producing advertisements, drawing, and creating innovative videos and resource materials. This will enhance their communication skills by using English as the working language and increase their cultural understanding.
This was formulated in an application for an Erasmus+ EU project called "Less is More." The project, which has been approved, runs from autumn 2023 to autumn 2025. The participating high schools are:
Fjerritslev Gymnasium, Denmark
7th Gymnasium Corfu, Greece
Zespol Szkol Ogolnoksztalcacych Nr 2, Gdansk, Poland
Agrupamento de Escolas Nuno de Santa Maria, Tomar, Portugal
Colegiul National „Johannes Honterus”, Romania
During the project, students will work in four main directions: food consumption, non-food items (textiles, gadgets), resources, and also technology and virtual media. They will engage and expand their knowledge in geography, economics, sociology, technology, biology, social sciences, sports, and IT.
Twenty high school students from each participating country have taken on the mission to become better at doing more with less. They will leave their mark and share their perspectives on how young people like themselves can make a difference in consumption. They will work on developing and maintaining sustainable consumption habits and disseminating these to other students at their own school, in their city, and local area.
When asked why they signed up for the project, one of the students said:
“๐ผ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐กโ๐๐๐, ๐กโ๐๐ก ๐ผ ๐๐๐โ๐ก ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐”
"Less is More" also contributes to strengthening the sense of community at the participating high schools. The participating students come from different classes, years, and study programs. From November 2023 to February 2024, the students participated in several preparatory activities. They underwent extensive training in image and video editing software and developed proposals for the project's logo in groups. The winning logo was chosen through a vote and competed in the final alongside proposals from the other participating countries. The Polish proposal won and became the project's final logo. Additionally, students prepared video presentations of the participating students and teachers, the school, the local area, and their own country as part of the preparation for the trip to Romania.
From March 16 to March 23, 2024, five students from each country, along with their teachers, participated in an intensive week in Braศov, Romania. At Colegiul National „Johannes Honterus,” the hosting was fantastic, and an exciting and educational program was meticulously planned. During school hours, there were lectures, presentations, and workshops focusing on being EU citizens and professional digital communication. In the afternoons, guided tours of the city and Romania's historical and cultural sites, including the Black Church, Dracula's Castle, and fortresses, were organized. Participants discovered that despite cultural differences, they shared many common traits with Romanian students, including interests, music, and social activities.
As one of the participating students said after the mobility to Romania:
“๐โ๐๐ก ๐ผ ๐๐๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก, ๐ค๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก ๐ก๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐ข๐๐ก๐๐ฆ.”
This strengthened their sense of community and the importance of working together to protect the environment and our planet.
Next week, the journey continues to Tomar, Portugal. Five project-participating students from each country and their teachers will experience an intensive week with an exciting program focused on sustainable technology consumption. Among other things, students have experimented with a screen-free day to reflect on the role of technology in our daily lives and its consequences, both positive and negative.
Follow our journey on Facebook, Instagram, and our website to gain more insight into our work to create innovative solutions for sustainable technology consumption.
