Let us preserve climate together

Our planet is warming up. The last decade was the hottest compared to the monitoring data for the previsions periods. Floods, sandstorms, prolonged droughts and unusual heat, forest fires – all these are the manifestations of the climate change registered not only in the far tropical countries, but also in Ukraine.

In 2015 in Paris the national leaders agreed to do anything possible to avoid the global climatic catastrophe. To do so, a phase out of the fossil fuels use is needed, especially of oil and coal. Many countries have started to actively develop the green energy and shift to RES.

However, the UN’s calculations provide poor reassurance. With the available rate of GHG emissions reduction by the late 21st century the average temperature may rise by 2.7 °C which poses new threats for the humanity. 

Therefore the main goal of the summit which took place from November 1 to November 12 2021 in Scottish Glasgow was the elaboration of measures to slow down the global warming to the pace of 1.5 °C.

Ukraine chose the road of responsibility and became one of the countries which now are taking care of the climate, having set the ambitious goals to reach the carbon neutrality by 2060.

To do so, we need to solidify efforts of the state, businesses, and civil society.

It is necessary to address the climatic threats in all areas, incl. education. The children are only 25% of the population, but they are 100% our future. Therefore since the school age they must be aware of the ecological problems, related to the climate change. Future inhabitants of the planet must become the key stakeholders in the acknowledgement of the humanity’s global problem and participants in the efforts aimed at slowing down the global warming. Eco-friendly behavior, participation in eco-initiatives and eco-volunteering should become the everyday practice.  

DTEK Company is a socially responsible business, supporting the proactive kids and schoolchildren via financing the ecological contests and activities. 

SOLUTION FOR THE ISSUE

The environmental pollution affects the lives and well-being of the humanity. Climate changes are caused by the ecological issues, incl.:

  • improper waste management; 

  • deforestation; 

  • non-timely cleaning of the water bodies;

  • air and soil pollution. 

The creation of the holistic conditions for improving the future generation’s awareness about the ecological problems became the solution for the issue. Under the implementation of the “EE Schools — New Generation” Project via the https://energyschool.org.ua/ platform DTEK Company has elaborated and carried out targeted eco-contests. The key goal of the contests was to shape the responsible and mindful attitude towards the nature, based on:

  • Ecological consciousness,

  • Formation of a sustainable need to comply with the principles of environmental management,

  • Enhancement of the eco-culture competences,

  • Participation in the environmental protection, care and optimization for the common good,

  • Active environmental learning and protection with regard to one’s place of residence (thus, acting local).  

The national contests “Ecodream” and “Green Wave” are the ecological activities, carried out to promote and support the eco-initiatives, instill the mindful attitude to the nature, and shape the eco-culture.

The “Ecodream” contest was launched in December 2019 and extended to 2020-2021, now a fourth round is taking place. The “Green Wave” contest has been successfully implemented since 2018, so it’s been more than 3 years.

To participate in the “Ecodream” contest the initiative groups must be set up. The latter prepare the project proposals for grant financing up to 15k UAH, while the jury based on the defined criteria and vote selects the best projects, which will get the funds for their implementation. Potential winners are the participants which take active part in planting of greenery across the country – namely plant trees, engage younger generation to it, and share their experience in social networks. 

The maximum grant amount which may be awarded to the initiative group pronounced a winner is up to 15k UAH for one project within “Ecodream” contest and up to 3k UAH within “Green Wave” contest.

With regard to the COVID-19 situation, there were some complications related to the ban of gathering in large groups, but contest organizers ensured that the participants could also take part individually and forming smaller groups. During the eco-contests’ timeline a range of activities was carried out. This included planting of greenery, energy saving measures via introduction of new lighting options and thermal modernization of the buildings, waste sorting, recycling, and composting, collection and recycling of batteries, cleaning of the river banks, beatification of parks, creation of the new recreational areas and spaces, equipping of the eco-workshops, upcycling, etc.

Noteworthy is that more than 20% of the initiators, which were carrying out the activities under the contests, also engaged children with disabilities, pensioners, orphans and children deprived of parental support. In the special education institutions a range of eco- and permaculture initiatives was implemented:  

  • Eco-therapy (mindful connection of the human to the elements of the ecosystems) and horticultural therapy,

  • therapeutic horticulture,

  • combination of rehabilitation activities for educatees with growing of organic food, being an element of the work therapy,

  • facilitation of the key ecosystemic processes.

More than 25% of the volunteers under the “Ecodream” and “Green Wave” contests examined the climate change and studied the ecosystemic function of the trees.

During the implementation of the “Ecodream” and “Green Wave” contests within the “EE Schools — New Generation” Project the initiators concluded, that the climate action should be holistic and start from the school age, as far as in early years certain values, habits, behavioral patterns are shaped. In addition to contests and eco-activities, DTEK and the All-Ukrainian Charitable Organization “Municipal Development Institute” (MDI) (project implementer) in 2021 started to elaborate the tailored innovative educational course on climate and environmental issues based on the available online distance learning platform https://energyschool.org.ua/.

 

RESULTS OF THE SOLUTION TAKEN

Within the climate action DTEK Company takes care of the promotion and public outreach on ecology, RES development, champions the priority of energy saving and EE. During the “Ecodream” and “Green Wave” contests’ timeline 611 project proposals have been submitted, more than 50,000 volunteers have been engaged, and more than 53,200 seedlings have been planted, which allowed to reduce the СО2 by 605 t/y. The contestants were based in 18 Oblasts of Ukraine, in 500+ human settlements. The impressive scope was registered in Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, and Kirovograd Oblasts. Under the “Ecodream” contest 30 eco-initiatives were selected and supported, while within the “Green Wave” contest there were 17 winners. The implementation of the most projects was completed in October – November 2021. The overall number of the stakeholders which may indirectly benefit from the implementation of the projects in the participant communities is 500,000+ residents (total number of population in the communities where the projects are carried out).

The total budget of the contests for the period from July 2020 to November 2021 amounts to more than 972k UAH.

As a result of DTEK and MDI’s efforts in 2021 the elaboration of the new innovative educational course “Let us protect the environment together” on ecological and climate issues started. The course is tailored for the junior schoolchildren and is being elaborated under the grant financing of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme and with support from the governments of Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden. The course “Let us protect the environment together” on a nationwide level will help children to understand what the climate change is, how it affects us, the global scale and importance of this problem, and what we can and must do to address this issue now and in the future. This course also focuses on the environmental conservation issues and climate change prevention at the local and regional level, positioning the related issues at the top of agenda for the local communities. 

In 2022 the online course “Let us protect the environment together” will be available for all schools nationwide via the free educational online platform https://energyschool.org.ua/.

More information about contests and their results are available by link: 

https://energyschool.org.ua/

https://ees.energyschool.org.ua/competitions

https://ees.energyschool.org.ua/news/619

https://ees.energyschool.org.ua/news/603

https://www.facebook.com/EnEfSchools

 

https://www.instagram.com/energyschool.dtek/

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