Go Rural in Ukraine

Ozero (Ukraine), the D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics (Bulgaria) and Starkmacher (Germany) organised another youth week on waste reduction in June 2019.  The trilateral exchange "Go Zero, Danube!" took place in Ukraine with 20 participants aged between 19 and 25. The meeting started in the capital Kiev with an Alternative Guided Tour. After the group found each other and already had an intensive day with many new impulses, the group travelled together to Babyn in the western region to stay at an Eco-Lodge for the rest of the week. The participants got further coached on the topic "Zero Waste".



The goal of the week was achieved: the participants learned a lot more about responsible consumption, environmental living and about how to adopt alternative principles of waste recution. In different lectures and workshops, various problems of climate pollution were examined. The discussions during the week also focused on the development and implementation of innovative business ideas in the green sector in order to identify new perspectives and employment opportunities for sustainable concepts.

Through direct access to nature, the forest and sustainable housing, many young adults were able to experience for the first time what it means to live sustainably. A central part of the week was the development of a toolkit to record the results, eco-recipes, instructions and workshop descriptions of the week. The toolkit will soon be published on the project website:

The dialogue about challenges, future questions and waste problems in the own town intensified getting to know each other. Intercultural methods and joint activities created a good basis of understanding as well as many new friendships in the Danube region. Some of the "young green ambassadors" have also been involved in local environmental and sustainability issues after the project itself, e.g. for 'Fridays For Future'.

 

Picture credits:

Viktoria Bazinska