Plant-for-the-Planet Academy for the first time in Slovenia

The first Plant-for-the-Planet academy in Slovenia took place on 28th March 2015 and 21st April 2015, in the Youth Centre Nova Gorica and in the Elementary School Fran Erjavec. 26 children from the Elementary School Fran Erjavec who were aged 8 to 14, attended the two-day academy in Nova Gorica. The academy was free of charge for all children.

The event was possible due to the Youth Centre Nova Gorica and the Elementary School Fran Erjavec.

A team of volunteers and local organisers planned the academy. Special thanks go to Plant-for-the-Planet Programme Coordinator Simona Šinkovec, Co-Moderators Jasna Habjan and Jerneja Mihelči, local organisers Mihaela Levpušček from Youth Centre nova Gorica and Jana Fajt, the school teacher from Elementary School Fran Erjavec in Nova Gorica and  to the Italian team of Ambassadors Lacopo, Leonardo, Anna, Alice, Elisa, Margherita and their mentors Martina, Elisa and Luciana.

28th March 2015

The first day of the Academy began with a short presentation by Simona Šinkovec. She pointed out four goals the Slovenian team of organizers had set for themselves:

1. organising a sustainable, environmentally friendly event with lower carbon footprint and the use of ecomaterials involving a local community in the region
2. planting of the local autochtone trees of the region from local nurseries
3. providing funds for seedlings with their special collecting campaign »Plastics for tree«, which means collecting plastic stamps from drinks, milk or youghurt for trees 
4. and their mission for the establishment of the cross-border international friendship between children to be making friends across the Slovenian-Italian border.

After this short introduction, the children listened to the presentation »Now We, Children, Save the World!« about the sources of CO2, global warming, photosynthesis, the climate crisis, Plant-for-the-Planet and global justice. The presentation was given by previously appointed Climate Justice Ambassadors Lacopo, Anna, Alice, Elisa, Leonardo and Margherita from Cormons, Italy. Afterwards, the children had the opportunity to ask any questions they still had.

The programme continued with the plantation of the first Plant-for-the-Planet trees in Slovenia at the schoolyard of the Elementary School Fran Erjavec. The trees are a symbol of friendship, hope and change for the childrens’ future.

21st April 2015

For the second day of the Academy, all participants met again at the elementary school Fran Erjavec from 15 to 17:30 pm. The children were divided into groups to learn about global distribution and justice in the World Game. Everybody was convinced about the dimensions of climate crisis consequences and agreed that CO2 emissions and wealth should be distributed fairly.

Afterwards, the children formed two public speaking groups and prepared and presented short passages from the short version of the opening presentation they had seen. They gave each other tips on how to improve their presentations in future.

As a next step, the “World Café” module was carried out. 5 tables with 5 ecopaper posters and eco markers were prepared for the children to write down their ideas for their own future projects on different questions concerning issues like the environment. Afterwards, the children presented the results of their work to the other participants.

13 of the 26 children who participated became newly empowered “Climate Justice Ambassadors”. All new Ambassadors took a copy of the book “Tee-by-Tree” and a Plant-for-the-Planet T-shirt with them. Parents, friends, organizers, volunteers and guests were all very impressed by the performance of the children.

More academies in Slovenia are planned for the future. Please visit the Plant-for-the-Planet website for upcoming Academies!