ISSUES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION BY THE CREATION OF A PROTOTYPE TEMPORARY CHILDREN’S COMMUNITY (presentation)

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ISSUES FOR ENVIRONMENTALEDUCATION BY THE CREATION OF

A PROTOTYPE TEMPORARY

CHILDRENS COMMUNITY

National Technical University of Athens

G.-FIVOS SARGENTIS, N. SYMEONIDIS & TH. XANTHOPOULOS

12th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology(CEST2011) http://cest.gnest.org/Ref no: 348/31-12-10

www..gr


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Index

INTRODUCTION

PREPARATING THE ACTION THE FIELD OF ACTION

CONCLUSIONS


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INTRODUCTION

Xanthopoulos Th., Urban Republic andthe Empire of the Market

URL: http://itia.ntua.gr/ en/docinfo/938

Tassios T. P., Why do wewant to be train our children?

To Vima, September 2, 2007.


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INTRODUCTION

Many scientists believe that the evolution ofdevelopment/consumption as we determinateit today in the globalized economy marketand the obvious

social/environmentalproblems that appearcan beidentified/analyzed and

faced by means oftechnologicalsolutions/applications.


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INTRODUCTION

They are confident that the future survival of

mankind on Earth is possible within a logicalcontradiction:

To continue the

implementation of thecurrent devouring modelof capitalist developmentand yet lie within the

constraints of a stableand sustainableequilibrium, "blushingly"avoiding though to

determine and quantifythe models limits.


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INTRODUCTION

Others argue (Xanthopoulos 2010) that the

historical truth and brutal reality of everydaylife reveal a decadent image and pessimistic perspective:

"The political and economic life of our

societies organized pulsating overtime in the chaotic and frighteningpattern of aggressive individual andcollective aspirations, leaded by anexplosive combination ofgreed and arrogance thatunfortunately characterizes the humanspecies, at least since the time whenagricultural and livestock goods

began to be produced in surplus.


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INTRODUCTION

In mega-citieswe consume:

Goods

Energy

We produce:Services

Wastes


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INTRODUCTION


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INTRODUCTION

To stop this descent (which brakes also the naturalcircles) a first obvious goal is to educate citizens of thefuture to build and live with an alternative model ofdevelopment.


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PREPARATING THE ACTION

To achieve the application of these observations

we have to train new people to have universallearning mathesis universalis, that is, thefoundations of the Cartesian system for durableapproach towards the problems and their solving.

The holistic and rational approach (first level) isthe best individual defence against the prevailingprinciples of homo economicus (Human of theMarket) and the lifestyle offered by the markets

empire.


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Therefore, the challenge is to define the essential

needs of young people. In this regard,Prof. T. P. Tassios, observes that these are:

1. To build their own conscience, and

2. To survive

For the same reasons, therefore, we offer tochildren and adolescents the two constituentsof education, i.e., Cultivation and Training, forthe Consciousness and the Stomach,

respectively. It should be noted that they must meet both

the needs of being at the same time (Self-assurance and self-preservation)." It is alsodefined that culture refers both to the abilityof evaluation and to the artistic sensibility,

while education refers to the knowledge andto the skills (Tassios 1993, Tassios 2007).


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The aim of the lectures is to

mature the idea of participationto the "village of the world " alaboratory where, with theassumption that children will goto live in a specific place andtime, they will be asked to

determine: the conditions of their coexistence land use its infrastructure waste management activity and the ecological and economic

footprints of their activitiesthat is to gain globalenvironmental consciousness.


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Political consciousness: It hasbeen shown that democraticdeficits have delivered the world tothe rule of the world Market and tothe environmental problems itcreates

Solidarity: The collectivity andthe demonstration of the valuesthat protect the interests of the

group and the solidarity ofcommunity members is aprerequisite for the practicalsurvival of the group.


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Self-sufficiency: Self-sufficiency in a social formation and

community has nothing to do with an integrated closed-circuitproduction scheme. In seeks prove that this experimentalsystem has the capacity to produce, based on its needs.


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PREPARATING THE ACTIONA series of lectures was initially implemented for "... thedevelopment of people, instead of the development of

useless products... a true democracy that would involveeverybody in a decision-making system, anotherorganization of the education, so that citizens areshaped to be able to lead and to obey, according to anAristotles quote (Kastoriadis 2000).


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PREPARATING THE ACTIONLectures:

1. Nature

2. Kosmos

3. Economy or ecology?

4. Food

5. Materials

6.7. Earth building

8. Energy

9. Waste


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THE FIELD OF ACTIONThe area of the action isspecified as a field that

will be prepared sothat it can cover(basically) thenutritional needs ofchildren with

appropriate (agricultural)actions and the needs fortheir accommodation withsuitable infrastructure tostart implementing earth

architecture bybuilding on theirown.

In this filed there will be

a repository of materialsand drinking water.


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THE FIELD OF ACTION

The inventory of stocked materials is as follows: appropriate timber and construction materials farm tools cooking utensils, generator, cooking appliances with gas

and some fuel bikes, selected games and artistic tools (brushes, paper

and clay), etc.

In the field there will be: space for the cultivation of agricultural products pets, farm animals, bees etc.

The field is designed to be -as much as possible- a closedand self-managed system because each person developsan environmental conscience when confronted with thewaste he or she produces.


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THE FIELD OF ACTION


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THE FIELD OF ACTION

The activities of the children will bedefined by the concept that children

should be able to live self-sufficiently ina place where they have established andare managing themselves. In order to doso they should be able to function in acoordinated way. As a result, theircollective work will produce all theoutput for their survival.

All the adversities and the difficulties thatmay arise should be made clear to thechildren that partake in these activitiesfrom the very beginning. Their task

would be to evaluate thecircumstances and make theirconscious choices in relation to theirparticipation in this project. As thisprocess moves on, the children willdecide the context of their activities inthe Village of World


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THE FIELD OF ACTION

Architectural Activities

Agricultural/livestock activities

Environmental management: The objective of this activity isto distinguish the so-called entries and exits of thecommunity system. To fulfil this criterion, waste will be storedin a close distance to where children live, as a reminder for themto take appropriate waste management decisions. Furthermore,energy consumption, which will come from various resources, willbe determined from the very beginning of the project. Finally,any other needs that may arise and can only be satisfied by thewider market will be assessed and evaluated by all children toinvestigate their characteristics.

Games and Entertainment: The games will be utterly differentand distinct from all the games of an urban lifestyle


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CONCLUSIONS The aim of this social experiment is to achieve the organisation,

the order and the perception of community of the childrenthrough the creation of a collective vision (production of the

collective work of survival), which is generally conflicting with themore established values of the individual.

This will definitely depend on the preparation of the children,on their experiences, on how well they will perceive the newreality that they will face and on whether they will be able tocoexist with different individuals in a realistic, therefore harshnatural environment.

Under these circumstances they will be required todemonstrate emotional maturity, to develop policyperception, to excercise manual work and other features.


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CONCLUSIONS

Nevertheless, it is a fact thatthe consuming society of the

Market has trained children ina profound and universalprevalence of greed,arrogance, egoism andcynicism.

This project will attempt tofunction under a completelydifferent mindset, where isvery difficult to predict in whatmanner and to what extent it

will affect the children.This project however maytrigger thoughts (maybe a newbeginning) for them to considerand discuss.


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CONCLUSIONS

So, waiting the awakening of thecritical mass that will spawn the "event

of the history" for the reversal of thissuicidal path from the dead-end underthe domination of the Empire of theMarket, it is hoped that the proposedproject, which has already be given

positive samples during the secondphase of preparation, may awake oldmemories (today forgotten) ofecologically balanced models andsustainable societies.

In any case, the application of theproject will lead to a self-improvementfunction in order to discharge frompractical and theoretical errors andutopias, a necessary step to improve the

application of its foundation.


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Project URL

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ISSUES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION BY THE CREATION OF A PROTOTYPE TEMPORARY CHILDREN’S COMMUNITY (presentation)