ZeroCO2 has created a new board game where cards lead you to respect the environment. It’s called Pachamama Trainers, teachers and educators know it well: games promote learning, even in adulthood. And when it comes to acting on behaviors to generate more collaborative and respectful modes of action and interaction, the game, if well conducted, can prove to be a very effective tool. Sustainability can also be taught and learned in the form of a game: ZeroCO2, an Italian startup engaged in reforestation projects in urban and extra-urban areas in various places in the world and supporting peasant communities scattered around the globe with activities, is firmly convinced of this. training and sustainable land management.
And so, thanks to its experience in the educational field, ZeroCO2 has created a new board game, Pachamama, in which the participants find themselves having to manage the problems related to the climate crisis: each player, in fact, is responsible for a geographical area. and has at its disposal a series of maps that represent different possible actions (training, production, forestation, research and mitigation), each capable of generating economic and environmental impacts, positive or negative, on the Earth. The sum of the individual actions taken by the players will decide the course of the game. Ultimate goal: to keep the planet’s average temperature below 18°C for the duration of the game.
The game is Sustainable, not only in the contents but also in the choice of materials used, made with eco-offset technique, with low environmental impact, on FSC certified paper, respecting the criteria of good forest management. And then, last but not least, the choice of the name: Pachamama was the mother earth in the ancient Inca culture and represents, for ZeroCO2, the symbol of Sustainability (here you can find more information on the game). Pachamama is not the first board game dedicated to Sustainability: from mini-greenhouses to be made at home, to get back in touch with the times of nature, to the classic game of the goose in an eco version, in which the progress in the various boxes accompanied by green teachings and ideas to avoid wasting resources and energy, to other examples dedicated to specific issues, the list is long and is getting richer and richer. Through the game, we learn the value of water and how to reduce waste, we develop strategies to free the city from waste, we acquire greater awareness on the issues related to global warming and the need to work to achieve a better level of savings. energetic.
Among the Sustainable games, we also find an interesting initiative promoted by the European Union. The game, entirely digital and translated into all languages of the European Union, is designed for both adults and children as it involves a cartoon character much loved by spectators of all ages: the sheep Shaun of sheep’s life. . In the game, participants have ten days to build a new eco-friendly city for the Big City’s stray animals. In the various phases of the game, participants will have to constantly monitor a series of indicators related to the use of resources, energy consumption, food, transport and nature in general.
Not only that: Shaun and his flock will have to solve a series of environmental problems to save the city. The game was developed by a sustainable learning team whose mission is to create connections between teachers, free learning resources and knowledge experts with the aim of inspiring and making children (and others) more aware of the importance of environmental and sustainability issues. In addition, the team dedicated to sustainable learning has thought and created other resources that allow you to bring Shaun’s game into the classroom, creating a real pedagogical path within the school curricula. Another very interesting initiative, promoted by Cesvi, is the didactic kit on Sustainability created by students for other students, whose content is collected in a freely accessible and downloadable document. The kit was created by the students of the 4C class of the Virgilio Human Sciences High School of Milan in the 2017-2018 school year, with the aim of educating primary school pupils on Sustainability and the 2030 Agenda. The activities are of different types and the proposals are calibrated to meet the skills and learning needs of children according to the various age groups. The topics covered can be summarized in four strands: environmental education, water management, separate collection and creative recycling. The kit, in addition to describing the activities, games and resources necessary for the creation of small workshops, is accompanied by detailed methodological notes in order to replicate the project, or part of it, in other schools. Because ultimately, Confucius’ maxim is always valid:
if I listen I forget, if I see I remember, if I do I understand.