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.
The intense day of work was attended by over 20 participants from all the partner countries, which, we remind you, are: Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia.
On the morning of 27 June, on a splendidly sunny day, close to the blue sea and the velvet beach of Senigallia (AN), the final steps of the project were discussed, in particular the presentation of the final version, translated into the different languages, of the planetfriendlyschools.eu web portal, with its 72 sustainability education and training paths selected from the best European practices, divided into the three main themes, Food, Agriculture and Environment.
In this way, the Erasmus Plus Planet Friendly Schools & Communities project makes available to teachers, schools, families, and classes of all levels, a reasoned pathway of the different ways in which the importance of the basics of life on Planet Earth can be presented, in a pleasant and practical way, to children, young people, and adults alike.
Consistent with this premise, in the afternoon the project team moved to Fano (PU), for a double guided tour of two very qualified and significant realities of environmental education, which immediately involved the foreign guests of the Planet Friendly Schools & Communities project.
The first was the “Casa Archilei” Environmental Education Centre (CEA), located on the outskirts of Fano, in an old farmhouse adapted to host educational activities, complete with classrooms and library. Here, the professionals who run it have organised, in a space of about 1 hectare of land, a range of activities that enthuse the many children that, throughout the year, schools and families entrust to the Centre, for an experience that is at once study, play and practical experience.
These range from the organic vegetable garden, to which the elderly and not so elderly make an essential contribution; to the plant biodiversity trail, in the grove built with many tree species typical of the area; to the labyrinth of green laurel plants, which is recently being built for a new adventure; to the hut woven with living shrubs; to the large open spaces, under the plants, where they can chat and play board games.
With the irreplaceable guidance of Dr. Federica Cappello, animator of the CEA, who illustrated the entire route with enthusiasm and technical precision, involving all those present, the group then moved not far away, to Lake Vicini, which is part of the Foce del Metauro protected area, covering a total of over 700 hectares, along the banks of the historic river in the Marche region.
Here, thanks to the presence of expert Dr. Christian Cavalieri, Planet’s partners were able to immerse themselves in the direct observation of the rich local fauna: fish and birds in particular, which now live, feed and reproduce in a biologically balanced condition, in an environment that is ideal for them, and which has enabled the protection of species otherwise destined to disappear. It was also possible to explore very interesting aspects of the conservation and regenerative techniques adopted over the years to achieve, in a gradual but very effective way, many important results.
Planet Friendly Schools has thus brought to an operational conclusion its three-year journey, which, despite the initial difficulties due to the pandemic, has seen all the representatives of the organisations who have designed and built together a reasoned pathway of knowledge and learning, which is now freely available to all those who want to be inspired by the best European education and training practices, which concretely show how we can actively safeguard the future of nature and mankind on our planet, starting from the grassroots, from the awareness of each of us.
