STEPS TOWARDS PLANET SUSTAINABILITY.

Life below water. This is not only one of the Sustainable Goals of 2030 Agenda but also the main topic of our Erasmus KA2 project “STEPs. Step to ensure planet sustainability”- in partnership with Italy, Sweden, Portugal and Germany- that we are trying to carry on in spite of the Pandemic. The Goal14 aims at reducing  significally all types of marine pollution by 2025 and  bringing  the  ocean acidification to a minimum level due to the  continuous deterioration of coastal waters owing to pollution. Dealing this issue, last school year, we analysed the situation of seas and beaches  around our island (Sicily) by means of group searches and resources given by our teachers, discovering that …the situation  is really worrying! Most of them are highly polluted! After this analysis, we wanted to so some concrete actions for being responsible citizens and give the example to the others. That’s why our classroom took part to a symbolic event, arranged in cooperation with the local association “Mare vivo”, the purpose of which is conservation of biodiversity, sustainable development, the enhancement and promotion of marine protected areas, environmental education and the fight against plastic pollution and illegal fishing. After some in-depth lessons from the Mare Vivo tutors, we went to the beach, guided by our teachers and the volunteers of the association, and exactly to the Cicerata area (nearby our town) and there we gathered on the beach, collected and catalogued  the waste accumulated over the years! We divided 100 m of coastline into five areas, each of which has been assigned to a group. After collecting the waste, we divided it by category, then we weighed it, so that it could be disposed of by the Dusty, a company commissioned by our Town Hall to eliminate the garbage. We managed to collect over than 148 kilos of beach litter! Surely,  it was a great experience, a different way of having lesson, proving that, if we want to, we can improve the environment in which we live, contributing to  save our planet.