Support Young Environmental Leaders in Mexico

REPORT FROM FEBRUARY TO MAY 2024 ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION PROGRAM.

GLOBAL GIVING

During the period from February to May of this year, as part of the Environmental Education Program, outreach through the Earth Festivals.

Earth Festivals have the objective of rescuing and promoting our roots, traditions of the mountain region and to consolidate the environmental culture of 37 years of environmental education making it a lifestyle to act in consequence of the conservation of the common goods: air, soil and water thanks to the different ecosystems.

Forty-seven Earth festivals were held with the participation of 291 teachers from 111 schools, with 5,456 students, developing a cultural program that includes songs, scenery, poetry, marches with posters, regional dances, among other activities. Mothers of families participated in the traditional gastronomic exhibition to present the typical dishes of the region, at the end of each event, they shared the recipes and steps for the preparation of their dishes. All the attendees tasted the delicious food prepared with love, with a total of 1,907 parents.

To enrich the knowledge and raise awareness among the school and community population, the theater group “Gaviota” presented the play “Hasta la última gota” which emphasizes the biggest problem we are experiencing, the scarcity and contamination of water, as well as the possible solutions for its conservation.

All the participants in the Earth Festivals reflected and expressed their commitment to participate in the conservation of our natural environment and to responsibly use water, especially now that it is so scarce. 

Similarly, an event was held in the main garden of Jalpan de Serra in commemoration of “World Water Day” with the presence of 250 people, including 150 university students and teachers, which began with the participation of Ms. Pati Ruiz Corzo, General Director of the Sierra Gorda Ecological Group, who emphasized the serious problem of water scarcity. The young people provided feedback on the topic with their comments on the care and saving of this vital liquid. In addition, one of the students presented a school project about the importance and strategies to preserve the little water we have left. She mentioned that more than 180 young people participate in the execution of this project, inside and outside their institution. Finally, to liven up the event, they were invited to sing songs with environmental messages, having as closing of the event a message from the staff of the State Water Commission, who made reference to start taking measures at home, schools and public places to not waste or pollute water. Some of the strategies that were mentioned include: change conventional accessories for saving in household tanks, implement water collection systems for the rainy season, do not throw garbage into rivers and ponds.

Twenty-eight high school students participated in the “Sustainable Rural Life” camp at Centro Tierra's facilities and at Rancho Suelo Vivo, a two-day agenda that included relevant topics such as climate disruption, the environmental services provided by the forests, the biodiversity of the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, the inter-municipal solid waste management plan, wastewater treatment, good farming practices, and regenerative forest and soil management. Among the activities carried out, the young people were immersed and connected with the beauty and power of the forest with a walk that ended inside the forest, where they learned about the program of payment for environmental services and the benefits that the forests provide. We work to achieve our goals and awaken in young people their commitment and interest in the Earth, with the aim of forming leaders of environmental messages and work among their social circles, for the care and conservation of the natural environments that surround them.

The Centro Tierra and the Rancho Escuela “Suelo Vivo” are the main venues for organizing work groups, following an agenda of activities, and 33 teachers from different states such as Querétaro, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Michoacán, Monterrey and Edo. de México participated in the on-site visit. These teachers were invited as winners for the projects they are leading in their school and community as a result of graducating from the “Diploma in sustainable development, didactic tools for climate action”. Each school project is based on the Green Protocol, as a guide of activities that will weave community synergy. By recovering the natural leadership of teachers that from their leadership in the classrooms of the Sierra Gorda, environmental education transcends in each of the schools where they perform a community and student action for the benefit of the environment, involving homes, which are the key point for the education of children and young people.

As part of the collaboration agreement, personnel from Tecnológico de Monterrey, SEDESU and GESG also attended to learn about and follow up on the development and implementation of their projects in their school and community work centers. The participants exchanged their experiences, strategies and were motivated to hear that they are all carrying out actions in favor of the conservation of our Mother Earth, focused on environmental sanitation, healthy eating and mostly on the importance of water, its storage in the school and the community.

The teachers as agents of change, have the possibility of transforming the place around them together with the school community, the comments of their visit were positive, in addition to the experiential learning in the practices for sustainable living, the knowledge shared among the whole group is fundamental, in this way each one takes more possibilities and strategies to develop and put into action, the creativity that can emerge from the motivation and union of several minds manage to weave a network of teachers committed to the conservation of the natural heritage. All the topics discussed during the stay make a big difference to reaffirm the content of their projects and directly the environmental change of their school environments.

To date, 440 teachers have been trained in the “Diploma in sustainable development, didactic tools for climate action”. This makes possible the replication of multiple actions contained in their school and community intervention project, based on the actions of the green protocol to promote the conservation of ecosystems in each of the communities where they work. It is expected that the impact of their projects applied in their schools, detonate an image of environmental and social transformation and result in better practices of care and conservation of nature. This will result in cleaner and more orderly schools with the proper separation of solid waste, beautification of green areas, painting of murals with environmental themes, breakfasts with healthy food, among others.

Currently, a new generation of 200 teachers committed to the conservation of the natural heritage have joined the online “Diploma in Sustainable Development: Teaching Tools for Climate Action”, in order to generate a wave of actions that favor the conservation of the different ecosystems that make up the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve and propose solutions to environmental problems. 

Education coordinators and authorities have joined this cause and have followed up on the commitment of teachers to collaborate in environmental transformation by raising a wave of social participation with teachers, agents of change and decision-makers in their schools, thus enriching the formative process of teaching and learning of students and translating it into climate actions that directly transform schools and communities.

Green Climate Action Protocol

During the period from July to January of this year, within the Environmental Education Program, the team of educators of the GESG, gave 100 environmental awareness sessions, attending 3,446, students and students of different educational levels, from 100 communities. Training them in various environmental issues such as: The environmental services offered by forests, climate change, the biodiversity of the sierra gorda biosphere reserve, the environmental crisis that prevails on planet Earth, water pollution and its serious consequences, healthy eating, understanding the impact that junk food has on our health, the proper management and separation of solid waste and citizen participation as part of the process of social transformation.

To enrich the dissemination and environmental awareness among the student and community population, 1,170 didactic packages of the "Our Earth" series were delivered with the themes: Ecological panorama, my participation and the proper management of solid waste, 180 booklets to color the flora and fauna of the Sierra Gorda Queretana, also and 635 posters were placed on the correct separation of solid waste.

Likewise, 9 murals were painted with the themes of biodiversity and the importance of water, in school and community spaces.

In Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda´s facilities and at the ranch school, young people from the university level participated, in the camp entitled "Sustainable Life" in which they were trained on relevant topics such as: climate change, the sequestration of carbon from forests, the biodiversity of the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, the intermunicipal plan of solid waste management and wastewater treatment, as well as the practices of organic agriculture and the regenerative management of forests and soil.

18 community meetings were held, attended by 689 adults, in order to make them aware about the proper separation of solid waste and the serious problem of water scarcity, and encouraging the construction of rainwater catchment tanks.

4 workshops were also held on the use of biodegradable soaps, with the presence of 93 participants.

Similarly, the State Water Commission and the GESG, donated 11 water storage tanks to the communities, with a capacity of 70,000 liters each.

During this period, the diploma in "Sustainable development, didactic tools for climate action" was continued, from which 446 teachers from Queretano graduated.

And as part of the follow-up in the implementation of the school and community intervention project of the teachers who completed the online diploma, the "School Climate Action Protocol Workshop" was held at the Grupo´s headqurters, developing an agenda of 3 days of face-to-face work, with the participation of 40 educational authorities, Heads of Sector and Supervisors of the USEBEQ, as well as teachers of the Tecnológico de Monterrey and experts in the field of GESG.

In order to integrate a work plan under the scheme of the Green Climate Action Protocol, which is oriented to the mitigation of global warming, which aims to move towards a more austere, frugal and self-sufficient society. As well as the formation of a new society that has the tools and knowledge to face a process of adaptation to the changing climate, with a different perception of its environment. and an intimate relationship with nature, which is recognized as vital for the sustainability of a life with quality. Where together as a society we form a collective that regenerates the lost processes, recovering values of a community that is organized, assuming tasks for the common good, and appreciation of the environment as an irreplaceable natural heritage for present and future generations.

Similarly,last week, the "Workshop of the International Day of Environmental Education" was held with the assistance and participation of 40 young university students, which addressed topics such as: Wastewater treatment, Sierra Gorda "Arca de vida", the intermunicipal plan of solid waste, actions of the green protocol, environmental sanitation and climate disruption. The young people concluded that it is urgent to act to counteract the effects of climate change, they proposed to carry out cleaning campaigns and marathons of collection of recyclable materials, as well as the painting of murals to disseminate the conservation of the biological wealth of this reserve.

Links:

• Environmental Education Program