“Being so many… we will make the difference.” GIOCONDA events continue from the South to Central Italy to tell the administrations involved in the project the results of the environmental data collection path and the perception of the environment and health risks in schools.
To focus on the “difference” that young people can do, there are 120 girls and boys of 1st-degree secondary school Buonarroti Institute of Ponte a Egola and ICT Cattaneo of San Miniato.
On December 19, at the Auditorium in San Miniato school, they presented to the administrators of Valdarno Inferiore, their school directors and local stakeholders their recommendations how to tackle the issues of environmental pollution and its effects on health in their territory.
They did it on the basis of a great and challenging work carried out in previous weeks and saw them working all together in a participatory event where the GIOCONDA team (Institute of Clinical Physiology – Project Coordinator, Environmental Education Center and Health Society of Valdarno Inferiore) has set up working groups to exchange ideas on the subject and get to collect shared recommendations.
The young citizens ask their administrators to form the Council of boys and girls, a body gathering representatives of school students in the area and that making institutionalized their participation in the life of the countries in the area.
They ask to be constantly informed about the environmental monitoring data and to see growing around them an attention for the territory planning that takes into account the problem of mobility between small municipalities, to encourage the use of natural materials at every stage of production (mainly linked to the leather goods industry) and the purchase of products at Km 0, to promote sustainable building and to encourage the use of renewable energy sources for energy production.
But they also ask to be able to put old tennis balls at the foot of the chairs in their classrooms, so as to decrease the noise that disturbs their learning. And to be able to leave their coats out of the classrooms since they are among the major indoor pollution carriers.
Rich the presence of Local Administrators: Mayor of San Miniato Municipality Vittorio Gabbanini, San Miniato Councilor for Education Chiara Rossi, San Miniato Councilor for Environment Manola Guazzini, Montopoli Councilor for Education Cristina Scali , Montopoli Councilor for Environment Alessandro Varallo, Santa Croce Councilor for Environment Marco Baldacci, Director of the AUSL 11 of Empoli Gabriele Mazzoni and Antonio Floridia, Member of the Office in charge of public participation of the Tuscany Region.
What is important is the result obtained by GIOCONDA: all these recommendations formally entered the zonal planning of the next activities of the Lower Valdarno.