Green Gown Awards 2020 - Cibele Machado Fontoura, Kingston School of Art - Finalist

I believe that sustainability is a subject that needs to be brought to all areas of our society, and schools are one of the most important ones, as children start developing their independent critical thinking. Trusting that children have a mindset ahead of our time and that they are prepared to discuss alternatives and contribute to stopping climate change and other environmental and social issues, I decided to create a project focused on this generation.

Sustainable education was the research field of my Major Project, making a response to the sustainability challenge within the school ecosystem. B Susty was the outcome created as a programme with a series of workshops using the Good Life Goals (Futerra, 2017) as the basis for a tool kit that introduces the Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs (UN,2016) in a friendly and relatable way to children. It aims to raise awareness on the Good Life Golas and turn children into transformation agents in their own environment and the broader  community.

Implementing B Susty was a powerful experience for children’s school life, and realising how the programme could empower them was a rewarding accomplishment for me. Specifically, on GOAL 4 LEARN & TEACH actions, the programme covers the fundamental groundwork to give sequence to some sustainability related activities throughout the school calendar. B Susty has a clear mission to make this happen and intend to scale it in order to generate impact in a broader way. 

Top 3 learnings:

• When focusing on a specific target and intend to scale it, this can contribute to a global impact.
• Suggesting new alternatives to the sustainability agenda within the current educational system can be very challenging, but the research evidence gave me the validation and confidence to take my project forward.
• It's fundamental to trust in your process decisions, from research to development and prototyping, to achieve your intended outcome.

Videos

• Video #1 (click to hide)