Newsletter Nº 1

PEACE - Psychological and Eco-social Aspects of Climate ChangE (ERASMUS-YOUTH-2021-CB-101051323)

Newsletter Nº 1.

What PEACE is about?

Climate change is usually taught only from the environmental point of view yet it involves a plethora of other issues that are usually overlooked.

The main theme of the project PEACE, Psychological and Eco-social Aspects of Climate ChangE, as well as its main activities and deliverables, is organised around the following 4 climate-change related blocks according to the partners’ expertise:

1. From Climate Change to Climate Emergency: Environmental Side

2. From Eco-anxiety to Eco-involvement: Emotional Side

3. From Separation to Collaboration: Social and Community side

4. From Social networks to Social work-in-net: Digitalisation side

What is already done?

On the 2nd and 3rd February 2022, the first transnational meeting took place online (it was not possible to organise it in Kosovo due to COVID-19 pandemic) to officially start the project. Representatives from the 4 entities involved attended the meeting. They reviewed the 3 work packages together and stablish the work plan for the first months.

Between 12th and 20th May 2022, it was held the 8-days training course in Jordan that was attended by 24 youth workers. Thanks to the training, participants have become aware of the causes and consequences of climate change. They explored the possible actions and movements on all levels to face their main challenges. The course contributed to building the capacity of the project partners in the four sides related to Climate Change: Environmental Side, Emotional Side, Social and Community side and Digitalisation side. Participants were able to acknowledge and manage their feelings about climate change, while developed new tools and strategies to protect the

environment. They also agreed to raise their voices about climate challenges to create a sense of urgency and break the collective silence in order to create a mindset shift among people utilizing social media and other digital outlets.

From the 18th to the 25th of October, 2022 Permacultura Cantabria hosted the Youth Exchange in Cantabria (Spain), which brought together 44 young people from Spain, Italy, Jordan and Kosovo. The program included practical eco-actions for youth to follow in their own daily lives, regarding environment, climate change, sustainability and emotional management. The main objectives were:

To share the best practices and techniques regarding the environmental actions and local initiatives projects with ecological approach
To transfer the methodologies acquired during the project to youth people and youth leaders
To run and live in a practical way the 7 Days Challenge

On December 15-16, 2022 the 2nd Project Meeting of the project was held online to evaluate the work done in the first year and prepare the upcoming Interim report.

What is next?

Publication of the Interactive Guide

The methods elaborated and used in our Training activities and the global problems raised by our project will be gathered in an interactive Guide for youth workers entitled “From Negativity to Activity: Psychological, Eco-Social and Digital Aspects of Youth Work related to Climate Change”.

In our Guide the climate paradigm is broadened and consider the social, emotional and digital side. We also put diversity in the spotlight, converting the ¨weaknesses¨ into advantages. It is containing alternative teaching methods based on non-formal and informal education.

The Interactive Guide will be available in 2 versions: as a Guide and an Audiobook, both in 5 different languages: English, Spanish, Italian, Albanian and Arabic.

The English version will be available soon on the project site: https://www.permaculturacantabria.com/peace/