Hosted by SALL , contributed by AdiS on 6 February 2023
Our project deals with education and inculcating important habits for protecting the environment. Changing the perception where some people pollute the environment and another group of people cleans them up. This way there is no real learning and our environment will continue to get polluted and dirty. Real change begins with us, therefore, the park guards, the Rangers, take responsibility for changing the behavior of the residents of the city of Nesher and its visitors and make sure that the residents choose to take their private garbage with them and show true personal responsibility.
Background
The problem we chose to focus on is the garbage problem in the amazingly beautiful park located in the city. The park is visited by 5000 people every week, mainly on Saturdays. Nensher is very careful to encourage residents to maintain cleanliness and even replaced all the garbage cans in the city with underground garbage cans. Unfortunately, we found a high concentration of garbage in the park that the travelers leave in the area, the garbage in such an area has significant consequences not only for the urban landscape and the well-being of the residents, but also for harming nature and the wild animals that visit the park. Which makes the damage very critical, that's why we chose to focus on finding a solution specifically for this beautiful area.
Aim
The goal of the project is to reduce the amount of trash left around the park, to influence park visitors to take the trash with them in a personal bag they bring with them, or in their briefcase, and throw the trash in the underground trashcans located at the main entrance. A change in perception and behavior in Nesher Park will lead to a change in behavior in any other public space.
Co-creation with societal actors
The mayor - signing a charter expressing his support for the project, the deputy mayor who is responsible for Nesher Park.
The head of the Shefa department in the municipality responsible for improving the city's face,
The spokesperson of the municipality and his deputy, who cooperated with us in the design of the signs in the park, the design of the digital signage throughout the city's roads and the publication of the videos in the municipality's media.
All residents of the city and visitors to the park - by answering a survey that will be sent to all elementary, high school, and elementary school students and their parents, we hope for information about the garbage situation from the perspective of the residents, and even solutions and suggestions for dealing with the problem.
Implementation
1. Establishing a selected group consisting of the two middle schools in Nesher and three age groups
2. Creating team symbols: team name, slogan, logo. Selection of group leaders
3. Walking around the city and photographing the state of cleanliness in the city
4. Brainstorming around the garbage problem in Nesher and choosing the central focal point where we would like to act
5. Bringing up different ideas to deal with the problem
6. Meeting with key people in the city of Nesher to present the team, the problem and find common solutions - 7.2
7. Passing a survey to all residents of the city regarding our goal - 7.2
8. Focusing on one solution and planning it in detail 12.2 - 28.2
Preparation of an urban campaign -1.3As part of the campaign:
Preparation of an exhibition of posters on the topic of keeping clean, preserving the environment and the goals of "Mahfahanim"
. The exhibition will be set up at the entrance to the school and at the entrance to the park.
We filmed a Tik Tok video and published it on social networks and on all the media sites of Nesher Municipality and the schools. Within one day we reached 80,000 views, 6000 likes and 1247 comments.
Placing digital signage throughout the city, so that everyone who comes to Nesher City will be exposed to the group's goals.
An attitude questionnaire that was distributed to all residents of Nesher through the students.
Removing the small garbage cans around the park. We carried out a pilot in cooperation with the municipality in a certain section of the park, and we discovered that where the garbage cans were removed, less garbage remained.
Placing large underground garbage cans at the entrance and exit of the park.
Placing huge signs in the park with our logo and the message - take the trash with you
Reflection
Since we established the "Mahfahanim" team at school, we feel that our awareness of all environmental issues has increased significantly. We care more about the environment and the city we live in and we started to notice things that we didn't see before, like garbage that is scattered outside the garbage cans and trash inside the school. Working together in the team with students of all age groups allowed us to get to know and connect with students that we might not have been able to get to know in any other way. We also learned how to work in a group and in cooperation.
We also managed to convey the important goals and messages to all the students, teachers and school employees. Through questionnaires, signs and classroom lectures
We met with important members of the community and created a think tank, the deputy mayor, the head of the Public Works department responsible for the visibility of the city, representatives of the student council, representatives of the "Kalsha" (a group for environmental quality). We held the meeting at the school, we presented the problem, we thought together about solutions, we shared our ideas with them. They were enthusiastic about some of the ideas and wanted to collaborate. At the same time, there were ideas that were rejected because we saw them as future problems.
We feel that we are making a significant change in the city and influencing the way of thinking and habits of the people and hopefully this will have an impact for generations.