Nurturing Change Through Conversations

The heart of the Green E-Pills series lies in engaging interviews that delve into the core of environmental issues. We are proud to be part of “The GREENERs” Erasmus+ project, which aims to enable youth workers to educate young people on green and environmental protection through inspiration and motivation.

Spotlight on Youth Initiatives

“The GREENERs” project is designed to facilitate the pro-active participation and engagement of young people in green environmental protection and policies. Through our Green E-Pills interviews, we specifically highlight the incredible initiatives undertaken by youth, aligning with the project’s goal of fostering peer education and inspiring organizations to embrace digital resilience.

Environmental Issues and Solutions Explored

From climate change and biodiversity loss to waste management and renewable energy, our Green E-Pills cover a spectrum of environmental issues. Each video is crafted to not only raise awareness about these challenges but also to present practical and achievable solutions, in line with the objectives of “The GREENERs” project.

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At Acarbio, we believe that change begins with informed and engaged individuals. Join us on this journey towards a greener, more sustainable future, inspired by the objectives of “The GREENERs” Erasmus+ project. Together, let’s make a difference!

The volunteers came in two separate groups, each one staying in Tramonti for four weeks. The participating organizations were Solidarity Tracks (Greece), Aventura Marao Clube (Portugal), ATA (Romania), IMAGINA (Spain, Malaga), Cocat (Spain, Barcelona), ExpoItaly (Italy), and Acarbio (Italy).

The topic of the project was sustainability and all activities aligned to the goal of raising awareness amongst the participants as well as the inhabitants of Tramonti. The Make it Blue team, as we called the volunteers, did a great job cleaning paths from trash, making abandoned paths accessible again by cleaning overgrown plants, painting dirty walls, and spreading good mood among the local people.

The first group of volunteers, which was in Tramonti from July 15 to August 10, had workshops on the importance of water pollution and saving water. They also painted signs and hung them all over Tramonti to make the inhabitants aware of the waste pollution and to motivate them to get rid of their trash in a sustainable way. A big project of Group 1 was the painting of the mural in the main square in Polvica. Joana Torgal, a participant of the project and artist, designed the wall painting and led the group of volunteers. The result is a beautifully made collage of paintings that represent the every-day life of the people of Tramonti. From the tomato plants, pizza makers and lemon trees, to the churches of Tramonti – all is included in the mural. Before their departure, the mayor of Tramonti, Domenico Amatruda, invited the participants and thanked them for their engagement and good work.

The second group of young people arrived on August 11 and stayed until September 06. They were very motivated and cleaned some areas from the trash. Additionally to the cleaning, they analysed the collected waste in a workshop; included activities were the counting of the different types of waste (cans, bottles, cigarette buts, paper napkins etc.) and research about their degradation time. Other activities involved painting of dirty walls and clearing an abandoned path from overgrown plants. Unfortunately, we had a Covid case and half of the time was spent in quarantine. Although many activities could not be realized, the volunteers still managed to stay positive and do the very best with the given situation. During quarantine, a group of them finished an art piece made from trash.

In the evenings we organized international nights. Participants from each country prepared an evening where they cooked traditional dishes, talked about their culture and country, showed the others typical music and dances and had a lot of fun.

In their free time, the young people had many opportunities to explore the area of the region of Campania. They visited Naples, Pompeii, the island of Capri, Amalfi, Positano and many other beautiful towns on the Amalfi Coast.

During their time in Tramonti, the volunteers learned a lot. Not only were they able to become more aware of environmental issues and gain an understanding for how to contribute to the solving of them. As they lived in an international community and had to cook for themselves, they learned how to communicate their own needs and work out problems, how to manage cooking for many people and how to minimize food waste and use up groceries. The second group of volunteers experienced community-life on a whole different level, as they spent some days of quarantine together with people from many different countries and cultures. With a great amount of creativity and patience they made the best out of it and gained lots of knowledge and experience. The participants also got to know many different cultures, dishes, and languages.

Outcomes of the project:

• Video Group 1
• Video Group 2
• Article Barbara
• Article Alberto
• Article Guillermo
• Article Mariana, Laia, Konstantina

Results

The Recipe book Med Food Lab 2021:

The videos of the project:

Final summary video

Interview @ IC TRAMONTI Web Radio

LOCAL PRESS:

Grande successo di “Med Food Lab 2021” a Tramonti in Costiera amalfitana

A Tramonti parte “Med Food Lab 2021” con 37 ragazzi provenienti da tutta Europa

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Instagram stories

Post Facebook 1

Post Facebook 2

The third edition of the school camp dedicated to the world of “Volunteering”, among UNESCO themes, Civil Protection, environmental protection.

This year, twenty-one young people from the “Giovanni Pascoli” comprehensive school of Tramonti are taking part in the third edition of the school camp (which began Thursday June 13) dedicated to the world of volunteering until June 16 2019.

The project is promoted by the Volunteer Service Center of the province of Salerno Sodalis and organized by the associations of the UNESCO Club of Amalfi, I Colibrì Public Assistance and Acarbio.

Volunteering is also the main theme of this third edition which sees teenagers engaged in an age where passions can also be decisive for future choices.

The goal is to help young people understand the importance of dedicating some of their time to the community too, thus coming into contact with those who work in the area, involving them in direct experiences and in training and educational activities.

At the Acarbio office, surrounded by greenery, over four days (including three nights spent in tents), the children live an experience focused on the role of volunteering, the main focus where all the other themes revolve. These are f.e. the various aspects concerning the emergency, the hydrogeological instability and the role of the Civil Protection, the defense of the environment and a Unesco Heritage territory, as is the Amalfi Coast. In this way, the children build up the tents, draft content for the “Green Radio podcast” where each participant will tell their experience.

They will have to tell about the firefighting techniques as well as about first aid and how to deal with natural disasters. With the help of some interactive moments and cultural puzzles, the children immersed themselves in the world of an international organization such as UNESCO, better understanding what “World Heritage” means.

Then there are the naturalistic excursions and the many moments dedicated to the environment thanks to the presence of geologists and foresters. This year the terraces, which have become a World Heritage Site, will be the object of particular attention by the children: they will also try “collective mapping”, geolocating some areas of the territory that risk abandonment.

They were participating in many activities and got to know country life, including respect for spaces and some rules – like no mobile phones, no plastic, zero waste – being an educative experience, as well as about getting to know the world of associations.

THE FIRST PODCAST OF THE SCHOOL CAMP’S THIRD EDITION, DEDICATED TO THE WORLD OF VOLUNTEERING

On the FB pages of the UNESCO Club of Amalfi, P.A. I Colibri, Acarbio, you can see more photos of life in the school camp.

See more

THE PODCAST SERIES

DAY 1, introduction: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/reteverde/episodes/2019-06-13T13_14_53-07_00

DAY 2, the theme of volunteering: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/reteverde/episodes/2019-06-14T11_39_46-07_00

DAY 3, speaking on the territory: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/reteverde/episodes/2019-06-15T11_29_15-07_00

DAY 4, hike in the mountains, bread and first aid: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/reteverde/episodes/2019-06-17T01_55_43-07_00

INTERVIEW WITH THE NEW MAYOR OF TRAMONTI: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/reteverde/episodes/2019-06-22T02_54_22-07_00

The activity was proposed to the professor Assunta Valittuti, which motivated and encourage the school to develop it during the 21^st and 23^rd of November. Over 50 students participated alongside with their teachers, being divided in six groups, ‘Turtle’, ‘Whale’, ‘Jellyfish’, ‘Seagull’, ‘Dolphin’ & ‘Octopus’. Each of them were designated an area to pick up and collect the trash lying in the sand. The group of the 21^st of November, cleaned from the central free beach to the bridge, and the group of the 23^rd cleaned to the left side of the central beach. Every team had their own bags to collect the trash, and all the students were very cheerful and motivated to keep going for a long time. They cleaned the beach for half an hour, and after this, they gathered together in the Lungomare (costal pedestrian site) to study the elements. All the collected trash after the cleanup was managed by the Municipality of Minori, who supported the action and recycled it in its corresponding bins.

Results and analysis of the elements found by the students

84% of the elements found on the beach corresponded to plastic, where there were bottles, pieces of cases for fruits or sea food, nets, motor oil and detergent bottles, firework lids, among others. The most common plastic element, however, was polystyrene. This is used for transporting fish or food and was found in big and small pieces in a total of 1114. This means that 28% of the plastic trash in the beach is made of this, which can be very dangerous, as it breaks easily into smaller parts and can get ingested by fish when it arrives to the ocean.

The category “other elements” was mainly composed by pieces of clothes left by people at the beach, swimsuits, underwear or socks, and there were also present sailing ropes and elements that could not be categorized or that had mixed components.

Cigarette butts where the lowest element present in the trash, in contrast to what was found during the development of the project Make it Blue during August 2018, where volunteers cleaned the beach of Minori, picking up an average of 428 cigarette butts per day. The big difference could be the number of visitors that Minori receives during summer, as it is constantly crowded by people who are spending the sunny days at the beach.

Back in the school

After analyzing the elements and filling in their results tables, the team went back to the school to compile the results and close the activity with a group reflection on what they found and what actions can they take to avoid plastic pollution. Some of their suggestions where “use more than one time the same plastic object if it is possible” “throw away paper and bottles in the waste bin, not on the beach or in the ground” “do not put plastic in the ocean, we should keep the environment clean and always recycle”, these where collected in notes that where pasted in a poster in each class, to remind the participants of the small personal actions that can make the difference.

Inspiration from across the world

The idea of this activity came from our intern Carla, who got in contact with the Chilean team of “Científicos de la basura” – Trash Scientists – who have been investigating the trash present in the beaches of her country. In different periods of time, for almost 10 years, schools all over the 4.000 kms of Chilean coast have been collaborating in the research to know what the status of the beaches is.

“During August 2018, I was one of the team leaders of Make it Blue in the beach of Minori. Every day we picked up plastic bottles, cups, spoons, napkins and cigarette butts, and I became more and more interested in knowing what would happen to the beach after summer. When I discovered the project by Científicos de la Basura, I thought it would be relevant for the school children of Minori to know what type of trash is present in their beach. This information could also be helpful to develop a thesis around the impact that this activity may have on Education for Sustainable Development.

I was surprised by the motivation of the Italian kids, which were very excited of participating in the research, and were picking up trash very fast, some of them even went further than their designated area to keep collecting elements. After classifying the elements and reflecting in the classroom about the provenience of the trash, some of the kids where asking “when is the next cleanup?”, for me that was a very fulfilling moment, and made me think that this type of activity will cause an impact on the community through the kids. I hope that these initiatives can be spread all over the Amalfi Coast, to raise the awareness of the local community about the status of their own beaches, and reduce pollution”

THE PROJECT

To map step by step parts of the terraces of the Amalfi Coast. This means collecting GPS data about the presence of terraces, their state, their vegetation and cultivation, and objects related to terraced landscapes: dry stone walls, waterways, cisterns, and others.

THE AIM

To obtain a map, an overview and data about the current state of the terraces of the Amalfi Coast, an idea about the quantity of dry stone walls and their maintainance state, and to understand the state of cultivation and vegetation. This will serve for landscape planning purposes

THE METHOD

Everyone with a smartphone can contribute. Via the app maps.me you sign points, make descriptions and send the data to us. We will insert it in our map on Open Street Map OMS.

The aim of this project is to collect more data about actual state of the terraces and develop a protection strategy. We aim to involve as many people as possible: local authorities, representatives of different organizations of the Amalfi Coast, as well as private individuals who would be interested in contributing to creation of the map. The very special thing about OPEN MAPTER is, that to be a part of it, you don’t need to have nor very specific knowledge neither equipment. What you need is a smartphone with app MAPS.ME, a little free time and good will.
If you are interested in participating, write us a mail at staff@riservabiosferacostiera.org!

BACKGROUND ABOUT TERRACED LANDSCAPES

Terraces are horizontal fields established on steep slopes in order to be able to cultivate them and keep the water in the ground. With their different shapes, uses and made of different materials, terraces are a peculiar element of many European as well as global cultural landscapes. Terracing makes it possible to cultivate areas difficult to reach, but at the same time their maintenance and even cultivation itself requires a great deal of effort.

For this reason, in recent decades we can observe a gradual deterioration of the terraces. Farmers’ desire to reduce costs has led them to use cultivation and reconstruction methods (such as use of chemical fertilizers and cement to rebuild walls) that are threatening the environment and destructing the terraces.

We realize that the terraces, in addition to agricultural value, are a testimony of past times and traditional rural economy. Therefore, from the need to protect this extraordinary type of landscape, ACARBIO together with Amadeo di Marco and Antonia Gravagnuolo has started the project of collaborative mapping of terraces of the Amalfi Coast which will allow us to collect more data about their actual state.

Landscape mapping remains a fundamental tool for land management and planning. Collaborative mapping tools, based on “open” data sharing, can be effectively used for detailed mapping of terraced areas. Furthermore, presence of an extended network simplifies the management of any eventual problems in the use of the collaborative platform, thanks to the technical support they can be easily solved by the users themselves.

The objectives of the course are to provide a preliminary overview of the motivations that lead to the use of Open Street Map (OSM); secondly, it enables to get to know the whole process of making a personalized map; a final goal of a collaborative mapping activity is to create a collaborative thematic map.

In 2011 the Alliance World Association for Terraced Landscape — Italian Section (http://www.paesaggiterrazzati.it/) was formed. From 2018 also ACARBIO is part of the organization. The World Alliance regularly organizes conferences on the topic. The next one will take place on the Canary Islands in 2019 (http://terracedlandscapes2019.es/en/).

ONGOING PROGRESS

NOVEMBER 2018 

The third meeting under the Open MAPTER project took place on Sunday, 18 November 2018. Group of volunteers, using GPS and their smartphones carried out mapping of the terraces of Corsano fraction. They collected detailed information about terraces themselves and infrastructure of the area. Now we are another step closer to reach our aim and create map of terraces of the Amalfi Coast.

Find more information about the event here

SPRING 2018

After the first meeting, during which our experts: Amedeo di Marco and Antonia Gravagnuolo had explained importance of OpenStreetMap system for OPEN MAPTER project, group of volunteers met again in May 2018 to elaborate mapping method that would make whole process as easy as possible and open for everyone. We identified all the elements of the terraced area to be included in future maps, created a classification system and then, we did the first test of the MAPS.ME app, mapping area near close to headquarters of ACARBIO.

In order to create an example of a map with all necessary elements we started mapping the terraces in may 2018. The map on Open Street Maps already created can be found here: https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/40.69790/14.63310

Interview with our experts, Antonia Gravagnuolo and Amedeo di Marco:

INTRODUCTION. FEBRUARY 2018

First meeting regarding project OPEN MAPTER took place on Saturday, February 10^th 2018. Amedeo di Marco, Amedeo Di Marco, expert in data management in various fields, specifically geographic territorial data and Open Street Map and Antonia Gravagnuolo, researcher of CNR IRISS for the mapping of the elements characterizing terraced cultural landscapes, gave lecture “INTRODUCTION TO OPEN STREET MAP”, during which they talked about the importance of landscape mapping for land management and planning, and the role of collaborative mapping tools based on “open” data sharing in the detailed mapping of terraced areas.  They emphasized how useful tool map of terraces of the Amalfi Coast could be for monitoring their state of preservation and developing a protection strategy in the future.

More information here

UNESCO Week of Education for Sustainable Development: 21, 22 and 23 of November 2018, in Minori and Tramonti, Amalfi Coast

The problem of Plastic

“Every minute, a garbage truck full of plastic is thrown into our oceans” (WEF), this plastic comes from different sources: rivers, marine related activities and pollution on the beaches. In the past years there have been several activities to raise awareness of the trash situation on the shore in different parts of the world. In the Amalfi Coast, the project ‘Make it Blue’ is held every year, where volunteers from all over Europe come to the beach town of Minori to clean the beach and engage the kids in environmental workshops.

Activities in the school of Minori and Tramonti

In relation to this project, and with collaboration with the Chilean team of ‘científicos de la basura’, ACARBIO in collaboration with Club per l’Unesco di Amalfi, will develop activities with students of local schools, to transform themselves into active citizen scientists to identify trash on the beach. This project involves the students into an investigation and collection of data, that will help to measure the amount of plastic and trash in the sand, allowing them to realize the condition of their beach. Alongside with the fieldwork, educational material will be presented in the classrooms, showing the effects of plastic in marine animals and sea life, and giving information on how to recycle properly. The material will be focused on SGDs: 11 “sustainable cities and communities”, 12 “responsible consumption and production”, 14 “life below water”

The activities will be developed on the 21 and 23 of november in the Istituto Comprensivo di Minori  and on november 22 in Tramonti (SA), in collaboration with the teachers. Alongside the practical activities will be a survey on the impact of environmental education activities. The questionnaire will be part of Sustainable Development master student’s thesis, from Uppsala University in Sweden, which aims to know what school kids think about the trash present on the beach and its effect on marine life. It will be applied before and after the activity to possibly find a behavioural change regarding the trash abandonment. It is relevant to know what is the effect of these type of activities, and how lectures and practical work on sustainability can shape the education of kids. Education for Sustainable Development has become a current topic in most of the european countries’ agenda, and we hope this study can contribute giving a concrete example with the experience of the children of Minori and Tramonti.

“We must first start using local products in hotels and restaurants and then bring people to places to show the landscape as it is”

– The agronomist Rosa Pepe of the Crea of ​​Pontecagnano has been dealing with the characterization of the ancient Re Fiascone tomato for years. We are on the right path, but we can not stop now.

“Our territory has a history, let’s remember to tell it, and we protect the elements that tell this story” – declared Vincenzo Sannino, President of ACARBIO.

Acarbio was born in 2009 with the main purpose of nominating the Amalfi Coast to the UNESCO MAB Reserve, recognition that could bring centrality on important issues concerning the future of the whole area. It deals with the beginning of a sustainable development, which maintains and protects the characteristics of the area.

 

 

 

 

 

“All the associations must form a team, reinforce the idea of ​​coordination and debate on some design choices that could have a heavy impact on the territory up to overturn it” – underlined Maria Rosaria Sannino, President of the UNESCO Club of Amalfi.

A coordination of the associations has been present for a couple of years, but now it will be necessary to formalize it, make it stronger and more cohesive. The same Center of Culture and History of Amalfi also believes in these aspects, and this meeting has been promoted.

36 young people from Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, Spain and Italy from 14 to 24 July explored what does the term “environmental sustainability” really mean. They abandoned benefits brought by technology and dived into the nature of the Amalfi Coast to explore all the possibilities that open air activities have to offer, adopt healthier and more sustainable lifestyle and jump back in time to play some outdoor games from different parts of the world that were popular in the past. THE GREEN WE MAKE was organized under The Erasmus+ Program by ACARBIO and the municipality of Minori. The building of the Elementary school in Minori was also a base camp of the project.

The age range of the participants (16-22) and team leaders (some of them were in their thirties) as well as their cultural diversity allowed to tackle more issues and problems and to gain new experience that then can be used in all sorts of international organizations. Andrea Reale, the mayor of Minori and great enthusiast of the project, presented participants to the whole town on the main stage during the event dedicated to Saint Trofimena. It was a welcome that made them feel at home.

 “This experience made me want to practice more on my English, to travel, meet more friends and spread this amazing project” – participant from Rumania

“They bring together different cultures and nations because once they become friends or family, in small steps, the world will be a better, more peaceful and, last but not least, more sustainable place” – participant from Belarus

Spending all days (and nights!) camping on the hills of Monte Forcella, close the Convent of San Nicola — one of the symbols of Minori, was, without a doubt, an intense experience. Team spirit, cohesiveness, sacrifice and spartan accommodations will be the keywords that characterize it. All proposed activities were closely related to the concept of the “environmental sustainability”; participants learned how to set up a tent, what rules to follow during hitchhike, how to encourage other people to take care of the environment, how to organize volunteer activities in favor of the community, to respect the nature. The greenery of the Amalfi Coast certainly helped to achieve that goal.

If you would like to see have more information on the development of this project, please review the project’s outcomes:

• Magazine 
• Webradio podcasts:
  • First episode
  • Second episode
  • Trekking on the mountain
  • Passegiata per la sostenibilità
  • Final episode
• The video made by the participants:
• The official Video:
• The social media entries on facebook, most of them made by the participants:
  • https://www.facebook.com/acarbio.onlus/videos/1965650533465710/
  • https://www.facebook.com/acarbio.onlus/videos/1959331400764290/
  • https://www.facebook.com/acarbio.onlus/videos/1959317840765646/
  • https://www.facebook.com/acarbio.onlus/videos/1968762656487831/
  • https://www.facebook.com/acarbio.onlus/posts/1965384303492333
  • https://www.facebook.com/acarbio.onlus/posts/1963555353675228
  • https://www.facebook.com/acarbio.onlus/posts/1962303987133698
  • https://www.facebook.com/acarbio.onlus/posts/1956057421091688
  • https://www.facebook.com/acarbio.onlus/posts/1957117380985692
  • https://www.facebook.com/acarbio.onlus/posts/1960345390662891
  • https://www.facebook.com/acarbio.onlus/posts/1964420876922009
  • https://www.facebook.com/acarbio.onlus/posts/1972501192780644

WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT ONE OF OUR NEW PROJECTS!

We organize “non-formal English lessons” to learn and practice English through non-formal education methods, such as role-play, drama games, word games, etc. Our aim is to help young people of Tramonti to learn the most common foreign language around the world, help to express themselves in English more easily, to interact with foreigners and, last but not least, promote multiculturalism.

CONTEXT

In the globalized world knowledge of foreign languages, English in particular, is a necessity but also a great opportunity for both professional and personal reasons.

However, children often encounter difficulties in use and application of the language in an out-of-school context, mainly because they don’t have many opportunities to practice it with foreigners.

ACARBIO constantly collaborates with associations and universities from all over Europe, hosting students and volunteers who are involved in different projects throughout the entire year. To do this it is essential for them to express themselves easily in English. Having a multicultural companionship around could be also an amazing opportunity for the local schools: by interacting with the volunteers from ACARBIO kids can improve their English language skills.

That is exactly why we propose to organize of a non-formal linguistic laboratory.

OUR OBJECTIVES

1. Developing the ability to interact in English in all sorts of different situations.

2. Developing ability to understand and control new situations, ability to understand one’s own needs and those of the group.

3. Introducing kids to a multicultural environment.

4. Talk about environmental topics related to the region.

5. Make learning English easy and fun.