NOORTEVAHETUS
Name of the project: “What’s Your Footprint?’’ Youth Exchange
Date: 08th August – 15th August 2022
City/Country: Aitoloakarnanias, Greece
What was the main topic of the event?
Aleksandr Vilinski – Human influence on nature
Georg Hermanson – Learning why and how to reduce your carbon footprint.
Julija Zõkina – Your carbon footprint and what affects that. Also acquaintance with the lifestyle of local
Kõue Heintalu – About our economical footprint and connecting with nature
What were the biggest learning moments of the event for you?
Aleksandr Vilinski – Food production have a really big carbonprint
Georg Hermanson – To realize that even though I thought I have a good footprint i still could do a lot better. Main thing now would be to spread awareness and try to change my own lifestyle to be even better.
Julija Zõkina – Living in nature is possible and there are much more pluses than minuses. I got a huge boost of energy
Kõue Heintalu – How big my footprint really is, how eating meat is making it much more bigger.
Do you have any plans to continue being active in the field? If yes, in which way?
Aleksandr Vilinski – At the moment I dont have money and need to finish my driving school, then it would be great to continue
Georg Hermanson – I am already active in not driving a car and using a bike. I want mostly to change my eating habits, less meat!
Julija Zõkina – I got to know some new definitions and if I come across articles on this topic, I will read them and understand the essence. I do not mind taking part in similar projects in the future
Kõue Heintalu – Yes, i am eating less meat, buying more expencive but good clothes that would laste me a long time from EU countrys.
Would you recommend this experience to your friends? If yes, why? If no, why not?
Aleksandr Vilinski – Yess, projects like this is a huge gamechangers in our nowadays kinda boring lives
Georg Hermanson – Yes I 100% would. The more people know about the problems we have in this world the better we can be all together. We are slowly destroying our own planet and it can´t hurt for more people to know how they themselves can be better.
Julija Zõkina – Definitely yes, this is a great way to test yourself for stress resistance, get out of your comfort zone, get a bunch of emotions, memories. We met great, interesting people, I personally tried hiking and saw unreal landscapes. The project enlightened me on how my actions environmentally impact the planet and how I can do less harm. Also talking a lot on the topic of vegetarianism, I listened to a different point of view, which contributes to my development
Kõue Heintalu – Yes, it was eye opening and made me think about our world in a bigger picture
Other comments or anything else you would like to share? You can answer in your mother tongue, if you want!
Aleksandr Vilinski – At any moment remember DO NOT DIE (local meme)
Georg Hermanson – I really loved the fact that most of the food we ate was grown right then and there and was vegan. It really showed that you don´t need meat to eat to have versatile, fresh and protein rich foods. Also how if we can show our new generation how to be better and maybe also teach it in schools then we might starting to save our planet step by step. People where amazing and open which helped to really start sharing your ideas and listening to others..
Also it was amazing to switch off from everyday life, not to be on the phone so much and really connect with the nature we where living in.!
Julija Zõkina – It was really good experience. This project of course knocked me out of my comfort zone, but allowed me to see how beautiful and interesting nature can be. My consciousness has changed in such a way that if earlier I was interested in new cities, capitals, now I want to see interesting natural landscapes of different countries
This Project was financed by European Commission’s Erasmus + Programme
