EAST - EAPTEnvironmentally Aware Students Today -Environmentally Aware Professionals TomorrowTEAM:SCHOOL:COUNTRY:COACH:TEAM MEMBERS:(ages 14-17)Arbour Dryads Team (AD Team)Leonardo da Vinci First Private School, RuseBulgariaDiana PaunovaPeter Balchev, Filiz Ibrahim, Vladimir Petrov, Ivelin Atanasov, Rumen Atanasov, IzabelIlcheva, Simona Ivanova, Boryana Balcheva, Simeon Marinov, Vivian AsenovaROLES, TYPE OF DECISION-MAKING AND LEADERSHIPWe established collective action approach as it saved time and turned out to be moreimportant to the group than spending time in search of complete and total agreement.Getting a result and learning from it together proved to be more important than beingright. However, in the brief discussions we made sure that everyone had their say.We also cooperated with experts at the Ruse Chamber of Commerce and Industry to coordinatein real-time and to check our thinking with people whose experience, expertiseand situational knowledge helped the team make smart choices.I myself coordinated the work and the contacts.PROJECT DESCRIPTIONTOPICMain Project Topic: Current trends in the ecological footprint business and utility companiesleave in the town of Ruse; what steps can be taken to reduce it.Accompanying activities: Organising and participating in initiatives, events and competitions(e.g. We and The Forest, Earth Day, National Geographic Kids, Water Day, etc).MAIN ACTIVITIESBGAs the Project title suggests, most of the Arbour Dryads Team ef<strong>for</strong>ts and time werededicated to research work. With a view of its successful realisation, we shared ouridea and coordinated our work with the Ruse Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Ourmentors generously authorised the team to apply the Ecotoolkit electronic plat<strong>for</strong>min the research. This product was designed by Bulgaria (Sofia and the Ruse Chamber,in particular), Estonia, Slovenia and Belgium in 2012, and is a new development inthe sphere of measuring ecological footprint. The plat<strong>for</strong>m contains a kit of practicaltools that are useful <strong>for</strong> monitoring and reducing businesses’ environmental impactand saving costs. It also allows visualising a company’s environmental per<strong>for</strong>mance,calculating its footprint and choosing between 250 eco-tips. The team made a visit tothe Chamber, where the plat<strong>for</strong>m was presented to them, and the students had twotraining sessions with experts during which they acquired the skills needed <strong>for</strong> workingwith the plat<strong>for</strong>m and were given the status of eco-consultants.In November and December 2012, the team interviewed 30 businesses and collecteddata <strong>for</strong> the January-February 2012 period. Then we analysed the results and10 Schools Taking Action For Europe’s Environment
suggested steps to reduce their ecological footprint,which we sent out to them. Meanwhile, the data <strong>for</strong> 2012was organised in Excel tables.In March, the process was repeated. This time we collecteddata <strong>for</strong> the January-February 2013 period with the samecompanies. Following this, we analysed the latter and comparedthe data <strong>for</strong> 2012 and 2013. The results showed that thesurveyed businesses have reduced both their CO2 footprintand global hectares, on average by 9 tons and 2.6 hectaresaccordingly. The conclusion is that Ruse SMEs are making ef<strong>for</strong>tsto go green, and these have a positive impact on the area.ACHIEVED OBJECTIVESSo far, AD team has achieved the project objectives; wehave assessed the ecological impact of business and utilitycompanies in the town of Ruse, have advised them onmeasures they can take to make it more eco-friendly andthen again have assessed their impact after the applicationof these measures. What is left according to our planis to publicise the results of the survey with the help of themedia, which will be our priority in May. We have also attractedother companies’ interest in their ecological impacton the area and followers have joined in the idea. Our teamand school are planning to continue to provide assistanceas authorised consultants after the project completion. Webelieve this will be of the benefit of all Ruse citizens.BIGGEST OUTCOMES OF THE PROJECTThe plat<strong>for</strong>m that we used to process the data allowedto automatically mail the particular company with theresults/suggested tips. The findings were presented ingraphs, tables and maps, and these really impressed thelocal business people so they were curious and eager totake steps to improve their standing among other companiesin Ruse. They also realised that such actions on theirbehalf would boost their image as being more environmentally-and consumer-friendly.RECOMMENDATIONSThe best age group to implement such a challengingresearch project with is 15-18 as it expects students tohave very good computer literacy and scientific knowledge.For the same reasons, it gives them the satisfactionof doing serious studies and analyses. Also, itwould be good to involve parents, partners, friends andrelations owning <strong>small</strong> and medium businesses so as toensure that there is enough reliable data collected.problems our respondents were facing affected their willingnessto cooperate; some of them did not provide theirdata <strong>for</strong> 2013 despite the fact that we doubled our ef<strong>for</strong>ts.IMPACT ON THE SCHOOL’S EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMOur work was supported by all colleagues and classes;the Excel tables with the data were produced in ITclasses, while the results summary and analyses weremade in the Chemistry, Biology and Chemistry classes;souvenirs and products <strong>for</strong> the accompanying activitieswere designed in the Arts and Crafts lessons.HOW DID YOU CELEBRATE?The traditional annual school event in April this yearwas dedicated to our EAST EAPT project and held inthe town Drama Theatre Hall. The per<strong>for</strong>mance and theexhibitions organized under the logos of WWF, ERSTEStiftung and ESFALP were enjoyed by local authorities,partners, the media, parents and friends.The combined ef<strong>for</strong>ts of students and parents are alsoworth mentioning. As most of our children’s relations ownor are employed in <strong>small</strong> or medium enterprises, the projectwork was mutually beneficial; parents gladly helped,and team members felt important, knowledgeable,responsible and professional. Moreover, youths realisedthat there are things they can teach their parents (e.g. ITskills, working with software plat<strong>for</strong>m <strong>for</strong> environmentalmanagement, eco practices, etc), and parents were proudand excited to see their offspring in a new light.WHAT WENT WELL? WHAT WENT NOT SO WELL?..The first stage of the project went smoothly though wehad not expected such a warm response from the localbusinesses. Un<strong>for</strong>tunately, at the beginning of Marchsome objective difficulties appeared which we cannot havepredicted; Bulgarian people organised street protestsagainst monopoly power suppliers and high energy pricesthat consume their wages, which led to the government’sresignation. Understandably, these events and the financialProjects Report 11
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