Reducing the food footprint of our school

Parksepa Secondary School

Goal 1 - promoting vegetarian food

We made a poster to inform the students about the project. We also made a presentation to talk to the students about the benefits of vegetarian food for people and the environment. 

To popularise vegetarian food even more, we organized a workshop for a small group of students. In the workshop, we learned to make three different healthy meat-free snacks. Our instructor was Egle Kõva, a nutrition specialist.

Vegetarian food was served in our school canteen once a week throughout November. For example we had lentil soup and vegetable stew. 

At the end of November, we asked the students if they had noticed that they were recently served vegetarian food. Almost half of them either weren’t sure or didn’t notice at all. From this, we can conclude that switching to vegetarian food once a week isn’t that difficult. 

Goal 2 - reducing the amount of food waste

First, we measured the amount of food waste in our canteen during one week from the 8th to the 12th of November. The results were written on a poster in our canteen every day, so everyone could see them. It’s interesting to see that on Wednesday, when vegetarian food was served, there was less food waste than on almost all of the other days.

We had a similar project in our school two years ago, where we also measured food waste during one week. Comparing this year’s results to the previous ones, we can see that the amount of food waste has reduced. 

For the future, we have planned two more workshops: a consumption workshop for older students and a vegetarian food workshop for a smaller group of students. We are also planning to teach the recipes that we have learned to younger students so they can also make more healthy snacks at home. 

It has been a joy to learn about vegetarian food and its benefits. We hope to continue making life in our school healthier. 


Parksepa team


New Book about Mammels

Soodeh Educational Complex

During the Covid-19 pandemic schools were closed and we had more free time, so we decided to start a collective work. By the help of our teachers and some experts we started to research about wild mammals of
Iran.


There are around 200 mammals in Iran! The fact is that If each of us know about the different kinds of plants and animals in our country, we can definitely protect them even better than we already do.
With this goal, we researched , studied many sources, consulted with the teachers and experts and finally it led to a 160 pages book with fantastic pictures and characteristics of animals!
In addition to photos, it is written in a very simple language which is easy for students to understand about the animals' habitats, their behavior and their food!
As some of the animals are in danger of extinction, it is urgent to act to save their lives!
It is interesting that we could write our feelings about each animal in the pages of this book which it makes our book different from other valuable books written by experts in this field!
To be honest, We would say that working on this project had a healing role on our health and mind during the dark days of the pandemic!

Sport and Peace

Escuela D-4 Arica

20 students from each fourth grade participate in the curricular activities of the School. The students wear a mask and keep distance between each other when doing sports to improve health and at the same time learn geometric figures and maintain good relationships with each other (Peace). The activity takes about 40 minutes twice per week using elastics (see photos)

Teachers of every fourth grade Teachers Patricia Eloy, Carol Rivera Joselyn Ormeño,Elizabeth Mardones y Alen TelloTotal students 80

First Aid Team

Liceo Artistico

The teacher Roberto Parra, invited some profesionals who prepares a group of students, a TEAM of 15, who made up a First Aid team (see photos) because Arica is a city that has had river overflows, due to changes in the climate and because it is a seismic city. In this city earthquakes of great magnitude have occurred.

Students learn to use fire extinguishers to put out fires, to transport people on stretchers, and to know how to call firefighters, ambulances, police officers and to maintain order at schools and carried out first aid in case of accidents, including what bandages to use, and how to carry them on stretchers, as well as what to do with those who lack oxygen at that moment

The team works on a special schedule every day in the afternoons in such a way that the management of the Lyceum provides the tools and space, respecting the Pandemic regulations.

Coordinator Gladys Hernández

Locally Grown Food is Beneficial

Usman Multidisciplinary College

There used to be a time when fruit and vegetables would only appear in shops in season. Apples were only bought in autumn when they were harvested; strawberries were sold and bought in summer. It was impossible to find food grown in far away countries.
Nowadays, we can eat just about everything at any time of the year. But, at what price of our planet? Products are transported by ecologically unfriendly vehicles which are responsible for carbon emissions. What’s more, some food products (for example tomatoes in our region) are often grown in one place, then travel somewhere else to be packaged and then travel back to near where they were grown to be sold!!!


The aim of the project is to find out how much food is imported in the region and which of the products could be produced or packaged closer to where we live, and what the benefits could be. We assumed that the more food we grow the less food is imported and the less we pollute the environment.

We have collected different food labels and packaging from local supermarkets.
We’d like to attract attention to the fact that most products come from abroad although they are grown in our region.
For example, in local supermarkets there are apples from different countries. Some are imported to Russia from Brazil, others are from Moldova.
However, apples are locally grown and can be successfully sold in the same area.
Pears are imported from Turkey. They are packed in Russia, in Moscow and then transported to our region.
Tomatoes, sweet corn, onion, garlic, sweet peppers are also brought from foreign countries such as Senegal, Iran, China, Azerbadzhan and others.
So, we have the following results. In the local supermarket 35 % of products are from Russia while 65 % of all fruit and vegetables are imported to Russia from abroad.

Since 2020 the whole world have been living on lockdown. This situation makes transporting food difficult as boarders are closed.
What benefits do we get if we grow food locally.
Firstly, we care about nature. We don’t transport food from other countries so planes don’t emit fumes. It helps to reduce environmental impact.
Secondly, we care about ourselves and other people as locally grown food is healthy.
More than that, it also helps bring our community together and gives people the opportunity to make a difference.

Birdhouses

Preschool Education Institution Playschool No 35

In MADOU Kindergarten No. 35 - UNESCO Associated School, an ecological action Birdhouses was organised. The motto of the action was “We will find a home for everyone!" an “We will not leave without a nest, neither a titmouse, nor a starling." A large-scale socially significant environmental project, which is being implemented at MADOU Kindergarten No. 35, since 2010 and is held under the auspices of UNESCO, within the framework of the Swedish Life-Link program.

Earth Day

Preschool Education Institution Playschool No 35

The tradition of celebrating Earth Day dates back to 1970. Back then it was initiated by the American Gaylord Nelson. He suggested that ordinary Americans should pay attention to the environmental problems of the world and try to jointly save our planet from the negative impact of modern industry.

Every year on Earth Day, world scientists gather to discuss global natural problems. Also on April 22, a lot of events and promotions are held around the world. On this day, environmental events, educational events for children and adolescents are held in all corners of the planet in order to draw attention to global problems on Earth.

The children of the "Future First Grader" group examined the beauty of the planet Earth, discussed the negative factors of impact on the environment: emissions, pollution with waste, fires en at the end made a model of the Earth.

Anorexia

Bereginya 684

Recently, our school hosted a conference that was prepared by the eleventh graders and held for the middle school students. This time we talked about such a common disease as anorexia. The graduates told the students about how anorexia manifests itself, about the treatment of this disease and about the myths about anorexia. This disease is quite common in our time, so it was interesting for graduates to prepare and talk about anorexia.