Sustainability in demand

The main objectives were: to increase awareness of students and the overall community to the issues of sustainability, specifically the need for a transition into a circular economy model; to shar...

The main objectives were: to increase awareness of students and the overall community to the issues of sustainability, specifically the need for a transition into a circular economy model; to share best practices and increase their visibility and impact both on entrepreneurial and cultural projects; to promote and develop creative and artistic work as a tool of critical thinking, civic engagement and intervention; and finally to develop green skills related to energy use and waste reduction as fundamental for professional growth.

We had two transnational events with teachers in each country - one to prepare the first mobility with students; the other to assess the results and work on the closure of the project. We also had two LTTAs with the target groups of both countries. The first was set in Porto (PT). It was called 'Developing Sustainable MindSets' and it included the presentation of students' theatre performance and its follow-up round table discussion; a visit to a sea life conservation site; a meeting and talk with experts on art, design, heritage at a research and teaching facility in Guimarães; a visit to a natural reserve park (vegetation and animal conservation); and cultural visits to the historical city of Porto. At the city of Most (CZ), where the second LTTA took place, students participated in activities related to 'Reducing waste to save our environment', which included workshops and actions that promote the reduction of our carbon footprint (planting trees and collecting trash from public spaces), learning about the history of the city that was fully restructured due to coal mining exploitation; visiting a thermal city known for its natural healing springs and learning about its benefits in our well-being; a cultural visit to Prague.

The concrete outputs include: a theatre performance related to the theme of our project - demand for sustainability - and a making-of video of the process of conceiving and developing that performance; short videos that showcase the workshops and cultural activities that took place during the mobilities disseminated on social media and the schools' sites; physical scrapbook and collages that portray the students feedback on the activities that took place in each country (Portugal and The Czech Republic); feedback forms that give insight on students' assessment of the learning process, as well as their evaluation of the exchange programme in global terms. Other less tangible results include the dissemination of students' concerns towards the environment to raise sensitivity and broaden the awareness to sustainability issues, ecological footprint and circular economy; shared experiences in different cultural and academic realities that can shape future actions and interventions to foster environmental problems.