With a workshop at the FAVE Campus, in which teachers and 7th grade students from the San José School in the city of Esperanza participated, a Social Interest Extension Project (PEIS) of the Faculty of Agrarian Sciences entitled “Awareness in the childhood: the future of the planet and the opportunities of the bioeconomy.
Directed by Patricia Acetta and Noelia Rossler, under the coordination of María Isabel Castignani, teachers Agustín Alesso, Guillermo Tóffoli, Oscar Osan, Jonicelia Araujo, María de los Ángeles Lesman, Larisa Acosta, Mayco Mansilla, Gustavo Ribero, Paula Grosso and Miguel Ángel Forni, as well as volunteer students from agricultural sciences, economic sciences and biological sciences.
The progressive depletion of the main resources that have sustained the economic growth of countries until now, such as fossil fuels and other critical inputs, shows the restrictions of the current productive model and imposes the need to implement new economic schemes. As a consequence of this situation, humanity faces a crossroads that can only be resolved with greater productive efficiency and profound changes in consumption habits.
From this diagnosis emerged this extension project that seeks to raise children’s awareness about the importance of the bioeconomy as a new paradigm for sustainable development. Students are also expected to obtain a positive vision of the agricultural sector, based on a new way of conceiving the relationship between the economy, consumption and nature, where it is no longer just a matter of producing more but of producing differently. adopting models that ensure economic, social and environmental sustainability.
From the pedagogical point of view, the project will allow students to put into practice intellectual operations such as interpretation of texts, tables and graphs; presentation and debate of ideas; understanding of social reality based on scientific methods; study of environmental problems; and development of a critical, supportive and committed attitude towards society. In summary, the purpose is to strengthen knowledge and create values, to generate in children a vision of the bioeconomy as a new paradigm for sustainable development.
This first educational-participatory workshop was focused on the bioeconomy as a tool to mitigate climate change and the promotion of clean and renewable energies. Other topics of interest that will be addressed in future meetings refer to biomass as the basis of the bioeconomy and a tool for energy production; forest biomass (planting and care of seedlings); generation, impact, recycling and recovery of waste; the role of technologies as a driver of opportunities; among others.
In the closing stage of the project and as an instance of application of the acquired knowledge and skills, it is planned to carry out a final project where students will be able to propose innovative solutions to local environmental problems, which involve the use of tools specific to the project. bioeconomy.
