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Let's reduce our ecological footprint | Civic Europe
Community development, Environment and sustainability

Let's reduce our ecological footprint

Let´s calculate the ecological footprint of the municipality, having real information of the predominant lifestyles and being able to prepare an effective action plan to reduce it.

Creators

Who is behind this?

José María González Bengochea

Sustainable Life Foundation

http://www.vidasostenible.org

Spain

Who is joining forces?

City Council of Puertollano (Ciudad Real, Castilla La Mancha) | Public local administration body

http://www.puertollano.es

Spain


The City Council of Coslada (Madrid) | Public local administration body

http://www.coslada.es

Spain


The City Council of La Palma del Condado (HUelva, Andalucía) | Public local administration body

http://www.lapalmadelcondado.org

Spain


We already have the letter of commitment of participation of 7 city councils. The 3 above and also: Alcalá de Henares, Loeches, Soto del Real, and El Boalo, Cerceda and Matalpino, in Madrid.

Idea

Idea pitch

The city councils, in collaboration with local associations and working with focus groups, will open a campaign to calculate the ecological footprint of the municipality. With the results, will have real information of predominant lifestyles of the municipality, and will be able to propose effective strategies and an action plan to reduce the footprint of the population and in general of the municipality. In all of the process, there will be active participation of the community.

Where will your project idea take place?

In three Autonomous Communities of Spain: Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha and Andalucía.

What is the specific societal challenge faced by this region?

With this project, we want to:
- Through the participation of the community by filling the ecological footprint calculator, make a diagnosis of the socio-environmental situation of the municipality.
- Through the organization on the sessions with the entities of the municipalities (schools, local associations, families, business) let them know each other, sharing their necessities and ideas, showing them on a map. We will “map” the content of these sessions.
- To organize an action plan for the municipality, with the commitment of all of the participants.
- Let the participants know the different ways they could have to be active in their community.

Who are you doing it for?

Our two main targets will be:
- The city councils: Coslada, Alcalá de Henares, Loeches, Soto del Real, and El Boalo, Cerceda and Mataelpino, Puertollano and La Palma del Condado.
Throughout the participation in this project, we want to inspire them and to sensibilize them about the importance of having an engaged community, also aware about being able to participate and being able to be active on the solutions.

- The local community: we want and also we have identified that it is necessary, to show the community the importance of being active regarding the socio-environmental problems that we have. Through participation in this project, they will also know more about their community, their neighbors, and how to work together throughout cooperation and co-creation.

How do you plan to get there?

- We will create a specific database for each municipality, which includes companies, local associations, schools, etc.
- Dissemination: we will place the ecological footprint calculator on the website of the city council and disseminate on the networks of each of the contacts in the database.
- Two online workshops::
For city council technicians, where the campaign will be explained, resources will be provided and it will also be training on the concept of the ecological footprint.
For the general public of the municipality, following the line of the workshop for technicians.
If there are schools or other targets interested in the process, we can also hold a session, adapted to the public.
-3 face-to-face sessions (companies, families, associations,etc), where we will carry out a collective mapping. This dynamic aims to reflect on our territory, discussing what we like, what we need or, for example, what makes us feel less safe.
-Preparation of a report on the ecological footprint profile of the municipality, taking into account the results of the calculator and the results of the participatory sessions.
- Dissemination of the report.
- 3 face-to-face sessions, where we will discuss the results and prepare an action plan, with concrete actions, which will respond to the problems and challenges identified in the report.
- Monitoring and follow-up of the action plan.

What are the expected results?

-Program and resources of an online session, on the concept of the ecological footprint
-Program and methodology for the face-to-face sessions on collective mapping
-Report with the diagnosis of the ecological footprint of each municipality
-Action plan created on face-to-face sessions with the community of each municipality
-Through the involvement of the different members of the community in the dialogue around relevant issues of the local environment, we will strengthen their communication skills and also values like empathy, respect, and interculturality.
-When the initiatives of the action plan are dynamized, there will be a positive impact on the territory, that will be reflected on the attitude of the community, with a feeling of empowerment

How does your idea strengthen active citizenship at a local and community level?

Through this project, we will connect the local community between them and also at a political level. We will show the community that they have space and time to share their ideas and necessities and to empower them to create a plan to dynamize them, with the support and collaboration of the different members of the community.
They will also show their commitment by filling the ecological footprint calculator and within the results, their ideas of improvement will be visible and will be structured on an action plan.
During the process, also the technicians of the city council will realize that they should focus on citizenship participation, dynamizing spaces for participation, paying attention to vulnerable groups, with less access to these spaces.

Why is this idea important to you?

María Dolores Hermida, Teacher and Graduate in Geography and History, with experience in the field of environmental education and communication.
José González, a Biologist, with experience in public participation events, is the secretary of the Foundation.
Prof. Dr. José V. de Lucio. Ph. D. Sciences (Ecology) in Alcalá University. Madrid. With recent projects like: Big Picnic: Big Questions - engaging the public with Responsible Research and Innovation on Food Security (H2020)
Carlota López, environmental educator, focused on stablishing bridges between rural and urban areas.
Laura González, with long experience in training facilitation and communication projects.

€ 28631,-

Total budget

€ 28631,-

Funding requested from Civic Europe

Major expenses

Human resources: 21000 EUR
Transport and individual support: 1981 EUR
External Services - Facilitation local sessions: 2800 EUR
External services - Design and communication: 2500 EUR
External services - Office supplies and materials: 350 EUR

What do you need from the Civic Europe community?

Which risks do you identify on this proposal and what is your advice for them?

Team

Laura González

JoseFundacion

carlota.lopez@vidasostenible.org

Idea created on April 23, 2021
Last edit on April 26, 2021

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