Environment and Ecology

Objectives

  • To sensitize about the inequalities of each person to cross the border
  • To show the inconsistencies of the system

Short description

The activity attempt to show to the students to feel the inequality of the people how wants to cross the border.

  • To sensitize about the inequalities of each person to cross the border
  • To show the inconsistencies of the system

Moment #1

The participants are divide by groups.

    • Group 1: police and border
    • Group 2: migrants and raw material
      • Migrants:
        • Afghan woman with 3 kids
        • Nicaragua men 
        • Gay couple of italian tourists
        • Brazilian transexual teenager
        • USA business rich woman  
      • Raw material:
        • Coltan
        • Avocado 
        • Cacao 
        • Petrol 
        • Diamond 
    • Group 3: observers

The facilitators give them instructions about how the group has to act. 

  • The border people has to simulate a border, so the participants have to be holding their hands in a straight line. They are going to open the border only when the police accept the person to cross. 
  • The police people are going to open or close the border according the real rules and tips recommended by the facilitators.  
  • The migrants and raw material group have to cross the border. Each person has a different identity provided by the facilitators, but they don’t know which identity are their until the activity ends. The identity may be refugees, tourists, business person, minerals, food, etc.
  • The observer group only has to observe and take notes. 

[15 minutes]

Moment #2 - The Question (2 minutes)

Question to everyone:

Raise your hand if you had jam or wore cotton clothes the past week or if someone from your family drinks coffee. Okay, now look around.

Moment #3 Creativity Exercise (10 minutes)

We divide participants into smaller groups in which their task is to find alternative use of the products mentioned before – cotton clothes and jam jars. They write it down and then present it.

Moment #4 - 4R (5 minutes) - OPTIONAL

We present the 4R concept:

  • REDUCE
  • REUSE
  • RECYCLE
  • REPAIR

We show the link between previous activities and the 4R concept. This will also be the introduction to the MOMENT #5.

Moment #5 - DIY: coffee body scrub (10 minutes)

In two groups we show the participants (they should take notes) how to make coffee body scrub using grounded coffee waste, olive oil and sugar. They can use it by themselves or as gifts for others. The students get the task to bring a used and washed jar (for example after a jam) from home to reuse it as a container for the body scrub made during the workshop.

We ask the participants what advantages of making their own cosmetics there are. The ones to mention:

    • reusing waste,
    • satisfaction,
    • health benefits (they know what there is in their handmade cosmetics, it’s natural),
    • economical (you don’t spend money on new products),
    • reducing waste (by not buying new products – its containers, packaging).

Moment #6 Debrifing (10 minutes)

In a circle we gather to reflect on how the participants feel after the workshop, what they learned, if they have any additional comments, questions, doubts. We close the session.

We underline:

  • the value of “baby steps” – even small actions contribute to a bigger change,
  • the necessity to gain the habit of reusing resources and reducing our negative impact on the environment (How can I reuse it and through this reduce waste?).

Notes

Due to limited time we would need to have the room prepared – tables by the walls. We need space, chairs and two tables (for the DIY part).

Resources

  • Coffee waste 
  • Sugar 
  • Olive oil 
  • Cinnamon
  • Bowls (2)
  • Soup spoons(4)
  • Jars (2) 
  • wine cork 
  • Markers 
  • Flipcharts (3)

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