"Climate Hope" - Beyond the valleys, beyond the valleys...

Climate Hope” - Beyond the hills, beyond the hills...

Once upon a time, beyond the hills, beyond the hills… actually, just beyond the hills,

in the flat north of Poland, stood a fairytale farm. And there, among free-range chickens, dogs, and horses, the Polish organization KobieTY decided to teach the younger generation about the climate crisis with the "Climate Hope" project. A group of 22 students from 7 countries spent eight days away from city life to learn about human impact on the environment in a sophisticated 3-part training. What did we learn?

In the first part of the training, “Brain”, we looked at several current facts from around the world. Do you know how many countries your trousers traveled through before they reached your wardrobe? Three? Six? Eight. Cotton originates in China, from which fiber is made in the Philippines, fabric in Poland, buttons in Italy, labels in France... everything is assembled in Greece, so that jeans can be sold in Switzerland. And if they don't sell, they go to a second line of sale, for example, to Kenya. That's right, our trousers have traveled a greater part of the world than most of us. And so has our food. The carbon footprint created by humans is slowly but surely killing our planet. And why should we care about the planet?

We learned that in the next part, “Heart”. We learned a few empathy exercises, both among people and in the connection between humans and nature. So that the project would not remain purely theoretical, in the last part, “Hands-on”, we tried various “green” activities of everyday life. Simple repairs instead of buying a new product, growing and cooking with plants that can grow even at your home, or recycling old clothes. Fresh vegetarian and vegan food was also part of the training.

And all of this in the beautiful premises of the Zywa Ziemia farm, with a proactive group supported by the Erasmus plus project.