SUNT NATURĂ educational programme

Support the environmental education programme

SUNT NATURĂ

SUNT NATURĂ – environmental education from kindergarten to high school

The SUNT NATURĂ educational programme

Since 2009, we have dedicated our work to protecting the environment. We have documented and exposed environmental crimes, managed to save old-growth forests and stop illegal logging on tens of thousands of hectares in national parks. We have protested peacefully and creatively to keep Romania’s natural heritage as intact as possible, safe from destruction, proposed solutions and worked with national and international decision-making authorities to conserve nature. We continue our efforts out of respect for nature, for all forms of life and because we care about the legacy we leave future generations. Perhaps the unfavourable situation for nature and society in general in which we find ourselves today is linked to an outdated system that did not sufficiently encourage free thinking, creativity and openness to diversity.

We have been, and unfortunately still are, witnesses to the systematic destruction of this heritage, and the decisions we are seeing now are decisive for its present and future condition. What is destroyed now will be left for future generations to repair, if that is still possible.

The project we are launching is aimed primarily at those with open minds and hearts who will be directly or indirectly involved in efforts to restore the health of society and the environment.

The educational programme SUNT NATURĂ starts from the connection and interdependence between people, animals and nature and is based on the principles of humane education, fostering empathy, compassion and respect for all living beings as part of the environment. The programme provides the knowledge and understanding needed for positive, prosocial and proactive behaviour; it encourages responsibility towards the environment in relation to all its components: the biotope, the ecological community and the human component. We address all children, school pupils and university students without discrimination, regardless of financial and social status, geographical area, religious orientation or other prejudices.

What are our aims?

• Stimulating the ability to explore and understand nature and its mechanisms;
• Cultivating responsibility towards the environment and feelings of attachment, care and compassion towards animals;
• Developing positive, active attitudes through direct involvement in finding creative solutions to environmental problems;
• Raising awareness that the actions and choices of each of us have direct or indirect consequences for the environment, and presenting those consequences;
• Presenting and discussing current environmental problems globally and nationally – causes and effects;
• Involving preschool children, school pupils and university students in practical activities that bring them into direct contact with nature;
• Supporting school pupils and university students in designing and implementing projects and campaigns to protect and conserve nature;
• Involving school pupils and university students in volunteering;
• Creating and promoting information and educational materials adapted to the understanding of each beneficiary group, both online and in print.

How?

Through activities in which children, school pupils and university students will be directly involved, namely:

• Giving interactive presentations (in the classroom, outdoors or online);
• Organising debates on various environmental protection topics. Distinguished guests will share their experience of environmental protection projects and campaigns with school pupils and university students;
• Environmental education experiences;
• Trips to nature reserves, Natura 2000 sites, national/nature parks and areas where forest ecosystems have been partly or completely destroyed, to make participants aware of the real situation of forests and the importance of protecting them;
• Tree-planting activities to increase the country’s forested area;
• Organising events on various themes (Earth Day, Children’s Day, Bicycle Day, Environment Day, etc.) to draw attention to environmental problems;

To register, send your messages to veronica.tulpan@agentgreen.org

What the environment means, how we can help protect it, how much our choices as consumers affect it, how a seed becomes a forest, how and why forests are cleared, how wild and domestic animals live, how we share the same planet with them and many other subjects can be topics for discussion.
The presentations are adapted to pupils’ educational level – primary, lower secondary and high school – and are flexible to respond to the interests and needs of different groups. Our one certainty is that we want to give the next generation something extremely valuable to carry with them: respect and care for nature and all forms of life.
We invite you to join us in this noble endeavour and become part of the SUNT NATURĂ community!

We warmly welcome registration messages at veronica.tulpan@agentgreen.org

What we have achieved so far from 2020 to 2023

During the pandemic, we received over 130 requests to hold online workshops.

Through the teachers who made available the online platforms already used by pupils, we were able to hold over 70 online activities on environmental education topics. Over 70 teachers joined us in this project and helped us interact with more than 1,400 pupils.

We reached 43 schools and high schools in 29 localities. (Botoşani, Iaşi, Dorohoi, Cluj, Motru, Galaţi, Timişoara, Reşita, Vulcan, Bistriţa, Prundu Bârgăului, Berbeşti, Protopopeşti, Vlădeni, Holboca, Săcele, Caracal, Videle, Petroşani, Poieni, Rm Vâlcea, Baia Mare, Plugari, Ruscova, Sălsig, Boiu Mare, Vima Mică, Floreşti, Bucureşti).

The “Săptămâna Verde” and “Şcoala Altfel” programmes enabled our project to reach over 190 teachers and primary teachers from 31 schools in Bucharest and across the country. More than 3,800 pupils have thus come closer to Nature.

At university level, we gave presentations at the invitation of students and teachers from Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iaşi, Politehnica University Timişoara and Texas Christian University, USA.

We are currently preparing the “Sunt Natură” series, comprising 12 educational manuals for children aged 3–14. The manuals are being produced together with teachers, educators and specialists in environmental protection and animal welfare.

The project has no funding and depends 100% on donations and sponsorships.

Please also support financially this project dedicated to raising awareness and educating today’s children for a better world.

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