Gastles over plastic

Thanks to a collaboration with Recup and Slow Food Youth Network, The Bamboovement has taken a first step towards the development of education on plastic. For environmental sustainability, to be included in primary and secondary schools in an informal, authentic, and fun way.

The Bamboovement is a Dutch start-up that aims to reduce the impact of our habits on the environment through the evolution of new materials and the development of eco-friendly products. Our mission is to create a movement that can facilitate sustainable projects through the exchange of innovative ideas. The Bamboovement embraces the simple principle that once small positive actions are combined, they can have an immense impact on our community.

Recup is an association of volunteers, based in Milan, that aims to prevent food waste and social exclusion in local markets. Their tasks consist of simple yet effective actions. At the end of the day, a group of volunteers, helped by impoverished people, recover food from market stalls who freely decide to donate products that would otherwise go to waste. The rescued food is brought together at a meeting point within the same market, where decent products are separated from those that are no longer edible. Everyone is then free to take what they prefer, respecting other people’s needs. The beneficiaries are the same people who used to rummage in the baskets or to open the bags of damp left by the market stalls for the cleaning attendants. In this way, they create a concept of collaboration and community between different people. It also results in intercultural and intergenerational contact, which was previously missing.

Slow Food is a global grassroots organization committed to restoring the right value to food. Slow Food pays close attention to the producers and respects the environment and ecosystems. This all, thanks to the knowledge of which local territories and traditions are custodians. Slow Food works in 150 countries every day to promote healthy and fair food for everyone. The Slow Food Youth Network (SFYN) is a worldwide network of young people creating a better future through food. SFYN groups raise awareness about important food issues such as how to feed the world, food waste, and sustainable food production, with the aim to stimulate positive action.

“Between the big things we can’t do and the little things we don’t want to do, the danger is doing nothing.”

Young people and adolescents are faced with complex global challenges. They want to face them and understand them.

Education for sustainability can provide a clear contribution to society. By allowing students to face the contents and challenges from different perspectives, to ask themselves, for the common good, about values they care about, and to recognize their ability to act.

School has always been the place where the leaders of tomorrow are being educated. The education, in turn, is based on the knowledge of their surroundings. In this sense, environmental education is increasingly taking on a key role in classrooms today. It consists, for example, of teaching young people to respect the environment, the distinction between renewable and non-renewable energy, and the causes of environmental pollution. It is an indispensable resource to be able to form citizens and make them aware and ready to take action for a better tomorrow and for the good of their community.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) show us the way. With our first School Project at the Montessori School of Bollate (Milan, Italy), The Bamboovement, wants to contribute to the goals of reducing plastic consumption and food waste through an educational path. By informing students on how small daily actions can have a positive impact on the well-being of our planet. How they can have an influence on the different environmental crises we see around us. They are the voice of tomorrow and through this our initiative for sustainable education was born.

The sustainable education program is structured in the following way:

To start, we involve the students with a trivia quiz in which they will be asked to reflect on their habits. Doing this allows us to have a deeper understanding of everyone’s knowledge on the topics that will be discussed afterwards. The test is developed in digital format. Therefore, in contrast to the school rules, we invite students to use their smartphones for the minutes necessary to complete the quiz. The answers to the quiz will subsequently be provided by arguing and deepening the discussed topics. 

During the break, students are given some of The Bamboovement’s products and a snack prepared by the volunteers of Recup, thanks to the food recovered from street markets. Intended as a small gesture to leave a memory of the presentation, and as a testimony of an ecological alternative to our consumption. We propose simple steps on how they can make changes to their daily lives. By telling them more about the start of our projects, we hope to be able to inspire many more young minds.

To conclude, we guide a Q&A session with our bright audience – which revealed a positive image: taking care of the environment is already a central topic of concern among them. The result is a generation that cares about the environment and is aware of the importance of personal commitment to the cause. We found confirmation in the fact that some of them are independently looking for information on websites and other digital sources. Besides, the majority also took part in at least one event organized by the climate movement Friday For Future. Nevertheless, a school cannot give up being a place for sustainable educational. Pointing to the internet and climate strikes as methods for this educational path is not enough.

School is our place of choice for activating educational projects on the environment, sustainability, and global citizenship.

For the future of our School Project, we hope to touch many more cross-cutting themes based on the guiding idea of the cohesion “nature-human-society” to be integrated into the curriculum of education. Through a presentation, a short lesson, or a thematic project, we aim to offer this orientation into teaching. Schools don’t need to have a budget or take extra hours. However, a little imagination, creativity, and above all, willpower is required. Our School Project will assist school education in creating an essential foundation for the students. One that’s based on their interest in the environment and to keep moving towards a more conscious and eco-friendly society.

The Road to Sustainable Education

The Bamboovement aspires to teach many more bright young minds about the impact we are having on our environment and the simple steps we can take to make a difference. Currently, The Bamboovement offers education on plastic in English, Dutch, Spanish & Italian. In case you would like us to prepare a class (whether online or in person) feel free to reach out.