15.000 secondary school students, motivated and concretely committed to our Common Home. In Italy and in 12 other countries. They are the boys and girls of the project Giving to Safeguard the Environment on the Net (DPSAR). With them monetised energy savings they have funded projects for combat the consequences of climate change. "I wanted to combine environmental protection and solidarity", says the professor Elena Pace, the creator of the project. "I am convinced that the environment cannot be treated without treating man", reiterates, since "He himself is part of the ecosystem". The big party will be held tomorrow at Sapienza University of Rome end of school year.
Not "only" energy saving!
It seems that they have learned their lesson! Appropriately educated and instructed by their teachers, the pupils signed a Energy saving pact, undertaking to "adopt the environmentally friendly behaviors indicated in the roadmap" available, in the following areas: save electricity, save gas, save water, recycle or reuse, don't waste food. With a special App or from a special tab, each one has ticked 200 "savings deeds", from turning off unnecessary lights to collecting and using still cold water from the shower before it heats up, from unplugging the charger to repairing objects rather than throwing them away ... The monetization of these "savings acts", financed by family sponsors, is gone to support solidarity projects in contexts of poverty and environmental degradation as a consequence of climate changes.
Energy saving for development
Each class identified one of these local or international actions, which generally involve local schools and children. And they are, for example, helping to create a social garden in Nairobi or promoting the planting of trees in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Mumbai, but also of nurseries in the Haitian Carice. This educational path for the protection of the environment was then adopted by the Roman association New Paths To A United World. Over time, it expanded from Lazio to Emilia-Romagna, Abruzzo, Sicily and Calabria. The first 5 schools formed one institutional network. Then other countries also joined. There Dominican Republic it even sponsored the project, through the Ministry of the Environment! But DPSAR extension it is also active in Benin, Brazil, Burundi, Colombia, Haiti, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Pakistan, South Africa and Congo.
"Giving a network to the environment" (which really needs it!)
But now, with a busy school year coming to an end, it's time to celebrate! Tomorrow, Friday 13 May, the Aula Magna of the Sapienza University of Rome will be filled with 500 boys and girls of schools in Lazio. In streaming, those who can, time zone permitting, from abroad. Live songs, flashmob, games and theater, but above all sharing the fruits of their savings, and insights with experts from Sapienza and the Italian Space Agency, who will clarify which are the truly renewable energy sources (nuclear power, for example, is it, or can it really be?) and will illustrate i climate change seen from space. These are the ingredients of the "earth festival" at the end of the school year. Entitled, in fact, "Giving a network to the environment". With them, the very young singer-songwriter from Treviso Emmanuel Conte (one of the winners of Area Sanremo 2021) la Rector of Sapienza Antonella Polimeni, the President of the II Municipality of Rome Capital Francesca Del Bello and perhaps the Mayor Robert Gualtieri.
The project, assumed that it aligns with the objectives ofUnited Nations 2030 Agenda, focusing in particular on three of them, has received awards from the Ministry of Education (it is included in the national Re-generation School program) and from that of the Ecological Transition, which sponsors it together with the 'Italian Space Agency and Municipality of Rome II. It also makes use of the collaboration of Department of Earth Sciences of Sapienza University of Rome. Thanks to the alliance with EarthDay Italy participated with a video in the multimedia marathon # OnePeopleOnePlanet.it, broadcast on RaiPlay for Earth Day. But this is only the beginning. From these, and from many other young people who will join us for the next school year, we will see some more good ones.
The event will be streamed from this link.
