BLOG DIARY - BULGARIA

Eco-actions started only few months ago.
And then we saw how many things we know.
We tried to teach the others something new.
Oh, please, believe me – they were not a few!
There are eco-posters on the third floor of the school.
And everyone thinks they’re really cool.

It doesn’t matter our age is at about sixteen,
Now all of us want Mother Nature to be clean.
In this poem I’ll have all activities summed up.
“Click a Tree” was the first idea to come up.
Then we went on with an Autumn Exhibition.
It was a major point of our eco mission.
We chose, wrote and put a Notice Board
for all the things that we had ignored.

There were Eco-Lessons Every Week for us.
Then we discussed all problems with the class.
We even spent one special Bonfire Night
For those things we had put out of sight.
Our purpose was to provoke a discussion
thoroughly related to the air pollution.


A path of sorry reputation
was a very good creation-
all punished students planted trees,
instead of doing the following quiz.
Eco-posters, planting flowers, discussions
informed the citizens to rush on.
Picto-poems, blue leaflets and green brochures
are spread among people and citizens for sure.


We did Eco-Pack action for the bins we use
for we don’t want our health to loose.
Some of us distributed more than 500 cards.
People gave us their sincere frank regards.
Our Green brochure says 50 ways for us
how to save the Earth with your class.

That’s why we want to finish our green mission.
We tried even with a National Petition
which was for the forest and the park
and, of course, of general remark.
We visited the Natural Museum here.
Everyone was such a “photo volunteer”!

There was a competition for an eco-meal
which expressed the obesity we feel.
We also had a special “climate-changes” day
‘cause we had some important things to say.  
We organized our first charity activity
and proved we don’t know what is “A passivity”.

‘The Dog and the Deep Dark Woods’ was a play
where we showed that we have to take the blame.
This performance got the audience to know
the greatest damages are done by humans’ paw.

“The Awful Eight”-the theatre was great!
We discussed the air-pollution
The effects it causes and the air revolution.

For building-up the stands
we voted with two hands.
We showed that our lifestyle could be changed
and some of our problems were arranged.
It doesn’t matter our mission’s very tough,
We did manage with it well enough.

White trip, Green trip-
You can see on the webblog our clip.

What a great Earth Month –full of green events!
Green Around Me, World Water Day,
Earth Hour or Earth Day -
Don’t you think we are happy
to think positive and green today?

We’re living day by day on the planet Earth.
“We’re very sorry”, but the fact is the Truth!
The happy guests on it are you, and me and all –
Regardless you are slim or fat, short or tall…

Thanks to our supporters, relatives and eco-friends
We can make a change! Think green!
Take actions!  & Do NOT be mean!

At the end of the project, thanks to Eng. Lachezar Tsotsorkov, PhD - Executive Director of Asarel-Medet JSC, we got our gifts-eco-press and shreder for reducing the wastes. Following their slogan ""From Nature to people, from people to Nature!", they were very enthusiastic to help the planet and people, living on it.

BICYCLES TOUR
On 30 April 2010 some eco-friends from “”Nesho Bonchev” school  took part in the bicycles tour around the town, which was held on occasion of the April uprising. We wanted to unite three events in one (3 in 1) – cutting the red ribbon for the new stands for bicycles, making a tour around the town and showing a support on the celebrating of 134 anniversary of the April Uprising.
The students came just on time at 3:00 p.m. in the school yard. They were very excited and pleased by the new acquisition. (They wanted to paint the stands themselves in green colours.)  They gave special thanks especially to the eco-team of the school for that green initiative, the Mayor of Panagyurishte G.Gerginekov, the Headmistress of the school  V. Barova, the volunteers from the Youth Rotarian club, Mr.Hainov and Mr. Mitovski, some volunteers from “Asarel-Medet” AD, parents and etc. Finally they set off at 3:10 p.m. , made their tour around the town and showed some tricks. The final point was the town’s square.
Now we have three of them in different parts of the yard. Each of them is made for 24 bicycles.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!

GREEN   TRIP
Camping in the mountain

Panagyurishte is primarily known for being the center of the April Uprising against the Ottoman rule in Bulgaria in 1876. It was capital of the Forth Revolutionary District which was the main centre of the rebellion. The uprising was bloodily suppressed after 10 days of declared freedom, and the town was burnt down and almost completely destroyed by the Ottoman Turks.  
On occasion of celebrating 137 years from the April Uprising, on the 24 April most of the nature-lovers from “Nesho Bonchev” school took part in the march from Koprivshtitsa /a picturesque town in restored Bulgarian Revival style/ to Manzul village in Sredna gora mountain.
We set off  from Panagyuriste at 12 o`clock on Saturday. We arrived in Koprivshtitsa in about 40 minutes and then we headed to Manzul. The entertaining part began there. We were free to walk along the mountain trail, wandering happily and smiling. There was a lot of laugh, fun and excitement. We were full of energy, all eco-friends spent the day pretending we were adventurers exploring the woods. Along the way we sang, enjoyed ourselves and told stories each other. It was pleasant to walk among the nature and to breathe the fresh air of the forest. Also it was great to go to a place where the nature and the air are away from the pollutants that we can see in the urban environments. The weather was nice, it was drizzling at times, but that couldn`t scare us. We managed to do a lot of interesting photos. The time passed away in pleasant conversations, games and photos and then we arrived at the hut.
The evening was also very interesting. We sang again and had fun all together. We played numerous games and when we got tired, we went to bed. We all slept well and had sweet dreams because of the previous day-we were really exhausted.
The next morning we got up early, had breakfast, enjoyed the fresh morning air and went back home. On the way back we weren’t able to take our eyes off the beautiful nature and took our final photos.
Finally, we thanked to our guide for the wonderful moments together and we promised ourselves to keep nature, if we want to feel happy and delighted forever!

23 April - Cleaning-up Action

23 April - All students from Nesho Bonchev School cleaned our town enthusiastically thanks to our request to the Municipality and the Ministry of Education. The students came in the school yard at 9:00am. The smaller students from 7 to 11 years cleaned the school yard and the river bed in it. The students from 12 to 17 years old cleaned the town’s park and the square. All students were excited and wanted to help the Earth. Each student got a pair of gloves and biodegradable plastic bags. All of the students’ group know that our planet is in danger and we have to save the Earth! The students showed that we can keep clear our town. When we ourselves clean it, we will keep it clean. They also understood that the human is the main pollutant and leaves its footprint. We made a lot to stop the climate change and keep our planet. Change your mind! Think in “green” for a living planet and do not forget that actions speak louder than words!

SCHOOL   FEST
22 April 2010 – Earth Day
The climate shouts for help!
Do not throw away waste products! If you collect them separately, you can use them to prepare souvenirs, shoes or even clothes!
All of these items you can see on our Exhibition.
All of the students who had bins for separate wastes in their classrooms, collected the rubbish through the school year and decided to present some of these items on the Earth Day in our Exhibition.  They promised themselves to reuse it for producing souvenirs and show their products. The students told how they produced them, saw a presentation, related to using recycling bins, sang eco-oongs and etc.
At the end of the opening event, the bigger students from our eco-team gave the smaller ones medals “Get a Heart”, produced by non-toxic paper. The kids are eager to join our activities every time. On that event there were guests from Municipality of Panagyurishte, representatives from Ecological Departament, Environmental Agency, The Town’s Library, current and ex-teachers.
The Wish Tree was designed by the students who study English. They cut green paper into leaves and wrote their wishes for a living planet,  showed how they will be able to help the Environment. Then they bound them on a dead tree. They can make a difference.
We brought out a newspaper for the Earth Day. The students handed it out to the guests and citizens free.

FINAL  CELEBRATION

On the 15 April 2010 our eco-team organized a celebration party in a restaurant. So called final celebration is not the last party for our eco-team. By the way, we celebrated together after each big hot event. /The last party in May we are going to do it like an outdoor activity, sitting and playing on the lawn./ At the beginning we spoke about the useful results from the project till now, then we discussed our following activity on the Earth Day and the day after it. It will be a free day for cleaning-up action, thanks to our Municipality and the Ministry of Education. While we were standing around the cake, we promised ourselves to involve more nature-lovers to our team. Then we cut the cake, ate healthy food without GMO, pop-corns and sweets, drank soft drinks, etc. After recharging with sweet positive energy we danced a lot, together with our lucky panda and then organized a competition. The competitors had to eat a cake without hands, they laughed and entertained a lot. They gave themselves sweet kisses. You can see that part of the celebration on our web blog. Enjoy yourselves!

SWITCH THE LIGHTS OFF,  SWITCH YOURSELF ON !

On 27th March at 8:30 p.m. students, teachers, parents and citizens came in the school yard to support the Earth Hour. The main aim of the meeting is to unite people all over the world and show that it is time for ECO ACTIONS, NOT WORDS! It is an hour while you have to think about taking part in developing sustainable future and making stand against the global climate change. All stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent.
Energy Saving, Amazing Entertaining!

We feel very happy to support similar initiatives!
We felt wonderful at that dinner party in the dark. At the beginning Nikolay told us that the Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sidney, Australia, then he said that the biggest city centers and global landmarks turned their lights off for one hour too. This year over 120 countries and more than 1 billion participants are taking part in that global event. It was unusual to hear that information by using a megaphone. Strange! We have to be different, not indifferent!

After the introductory words, Gabi invited us to take a lot of photos of our activities and then we played Bulgarian traditional dances, sang Wind of Change to show that we can change ourselves and danced a lot. We sand together  united in small circles. Staying together and dancing was exciting and just an hour wasn’t enough.

EARTH MONTH

After the grandiose celebrating of the World Water Day on 22 March, we did the best of ourselves to realize our next impressive green activity.

GREEN AROUND ME

“Green around me” is a green initiative of the leaders’ team of Nesho Bonchev School. All students from the school raised money for charity. Under the leadership of Semova and Bateva, who are Natural Science teachers, the ambitious students bought different kinds of evergreen plants. Having in mind that 25 March is Lady Day, the enthusiastic pupils chose this day for starting new beginning. The nature-lovers planted not only different kinds of plants in the school yard but also they put some of them in their classrooms. Our eco-friends were eager to put all of the pots everywhere in school lounges and corridors. They were longing for doing it with love and laugh.
Now everything is green around us.
Think positive! Think green!

22 March – World Water Day

Thanks to Municipality of Panagyurishte, hundreds eco-friends from the town celebrated the World Water Day and said “Welcome Spring“. This year it is under the slogan “Clear Water for Health World”. The main aim is to increase the public consciousness and culture, to bring up our kids that water is priceless from the early age.
The Deputy Mayor Velko Sapundziev, the PR of the Minicipality N. Katsareva, ecologists from the Ecological Department, parents, teachers, many children from 5 kindergartens and students from primary schools came in the central town’s park to enjoy together.
Life, as we know it, can’t exist without water. Water is spring of Beauty and rechargable energy. There is water in the air, soil, the rocks of the Earth’s crust, in all living things. There is, of course, water in the oceans, lakes, ponds, rivers and streams. We must know well the Water Cycle if we want to protect water balance, the quantity of water on the Earth. We must value each drop of water and use it with sense and knowledge.
All of the guests drew, played, sang and entertained on all aqua-activities under the music sounds. All of the guests got blue leaflets with valuable information about water – how to use it sensibly, how to change our habits and etc. The leaflets were made up by our eco-team.
The kids from the kindergartens were very happy to take part in the drawings “Nature-it’s my Life” or “Water-spring of Life”. Each team of four members told us its own suggestion about a slogan, related to the World Water Day.
The students from the primary schools were very enthusiastic too. They were eager to take action in the aqua-games which were held in three rounds. Each team was consisted of 5 members. The 1st round: pouring water from one plastic cup to another one till the fourth member. The fifth member holds a plastic bottle. The 4th student has to spill over from the plastic cup into the plastic bottle without losing any drop of water (It is precious!). The 2nd round: answering 10 questions related to water knowledge. The correct statement has to be checked. You can notice the excitement on their faces. The 3rd round: making up a slogan or a rhyme about the World Water Day. For the most enthusiastic pupils there was an extra task. They had the ability to get additional 5 points if they manage to solve the “Water use picture story”. It was about typical household activities in which water is used. Some people in the household are efficient users and others waste water. The pupils had to mark the efficient water users with a plus sign (+) and the water wasters with a minus sign (-).
It would be great if we can include some of our slogans or rhymes in the international contest “Water”, organized by WWF every year.
22 March - an amazing water event! The people were pleased and happy. The parents, looking at the smily childrens’ faces, didn’t want to leave the park.

What a Load of Rubbish?
The students from the 6th grade under the leadership of Sonya Filina did a class waste paper survey. The pupils worked in teams. They recorded the weight of the wastepaper that is thrown away by them on a normal school day for 24 hours. The results from the survey were very disappointing. Having in mind the estimated weight of wastepaper in grams, it turned out that each class wastes paper approximately between 1kg and 1.5 kg. a day. That is an awful result. As a result they discussed the issue and made suggestions about saving paper to reduce the environmental footprint. They presented their results and ideas in posters - what items could they recycle and how could they use less paper. The students advised their classmates not to put their rubbish in the same bin.

We aren’t good at speaking
         But we are best at singing.
         Monika has made it up for us,
         In order to sing together in class.

     

              ECO ORCHESTRA
        We created instruments for music
        with the things from our daily life.
        Hey, you, let’s start singing
        Clap and jump, then count to five!

         Look the metals and the plastic-
         Now it’s our happy chance.
         Don’t you think it sounds fantastic?
         The applause is in advance.

         Let’s start singing for recycling!
         It’s the answer here and now.
         Instead of driving – try the cycling.
         Say all you want and then take a bow.

         What’s the lesson from the song?-
         Reduce, recycle and reuse!
         Hey, kids, don’t stop, sing right along!
         You’ve got nothing here to lose!

         That’s not to bite on granite,
         with a song on lips,
         we can save the  Planet,
         just follow some of our tips!

         Save the energy, don’t waste!
         Stop the water tap for a while.
         Do you like life made of paste?
         Save the Earth – do one thing in style!

“The Awful Eight”
By Carolyn Duckworth




On 22nd January 2010 in the Municipality Hall of Panagyurishte, the students from “Nesho Bonchev” School performed “The Awful Eight”. The ecologists from the European School for a Living Planet (it is a project of WWF in partnership with ERSTE Stiftung), presented their second ecological play for charity. The nature-lovers discussed the major air pollutants – the Particulates (Dust, Soot and Grime), Carbon Monoxide, Carbon dioxide, Sulfur Dioxide, Nitrogen Oxides, Good and Bad Ozone, Toxics, CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons - freons). They asked the audience to recognize them. The air pollutants wanted to guess their English names or chemical formulae. They discussed not only what produces them, but also the effects they cause on people’ health and the environment. Raising money for charity is a very important part of the project. Collected money from this charity eco-performance will be used for building stands for bicycles in the school yard. We want to encourage the pupils to use eco-transport, not cars. At the end of the play, the students showed their eco-rap, which was made up by themselves.

We are thankful to the youngest Rotarians from the INTERACT CLUB, who made a donation of 50 Euro to support our eco-ideas for the stands. Thanks a lot!

At the end of the evening, the eco-leaders appealed their classmates, guests and citizens to take part in the following eco-activities. PLEASE, Do Not Forget to Support the Earth Hour on 27th March at 8:30 p.m.
The Earth Month is coming soon!

NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!

http://econb.schools.officeliv...om/default.aspx 

Vasil Kolarov, who is involved in our eco-team, takes part in a competition for making up an unusual site. It includes our eco-activities, photos, presentations and etc. He is working now on it (it's not finished yet). We have planned a lot more activities to do. We also put a calendar with our eco-events. It is the best way to involve more students in our activities and popularize our ideas thanks to WWF and ERSTE Stiftung.

We talked about a factory producing animal food, which pollutes the air and the river. Kristiyan said that we could do something about solving this problem, but I didn't think so. In spite of this Veronica and Krassi supported Kristiyan and they wanted to help for stopping air and river pollution. Later I agreed to help them, too. Krassi said that she knew a man who can help us, but his parents and his brother work in the factory and he will not agree to help nature. We think that if the factory goes on to pollute the air it has to be closed. But at the end of the talk, Krassi said that the owners have agreed to repair all damages and to stop air pollution.

kids4future.ppt
( Powerpoint, 25,48 MB)

                         Kids4Future

Reading “ Rainmakers” - it is a project of "Kids4future", supported by AEE (Agency of Energy Efficiency). Sylvia Bobekova  is a representative for reporting the childrens' activities on the meeting of the European partners.
“St. Pokrovsko” School was a school branch of “Nesho Bonchev” School. In 2007 ten European countries started a 3 years project, supported by AEE (Energy Efficiency Agency), whose basic objective was to improve the students’ knowledge about energy efficiency and the basic problems of the future. The children are those who will encounter the problems of the climate changes and energy efficiency. That’s why participating in the project “Kids for Future”, we would like to inform our kids for rational usage of energy resources, saving energy and environment through games, watching films and having fun.
From September to December 2009, the kids from primary classes of Nesho Bonchev School, read the third “Rainmakers” book by Claus Hagerup – “Our Earth will Survive” and showed their knowledge in drawings, paintings, songs and presentations. We presented the final report in the following presentation.

WHITE TRIP TO BYALO KAMENE, SREDNA GORA MOUNTAIN
Byalo Kamane Resort Complex is situated at the foot of the Sredna Gora Mountains under Mount Chevira and Mount Alexitsa. It is located 8 km north west from the impressive Thracian complex Starosel. The archeological findings prove that the area was inhabited 7- 8 millennia ago. In the V century B.C. here was situated an ancient Thracian village with mighty tribe chiefs and wealthy local aristocracy. Byalo Kamane is an oasis with an atmosphere of calmness and pleasure throughout all seasons of the year. Here you will relish the fresh air and beauty of Nature! Here you can see rare birds (owl, the little owl, falcons, doe, the Royal eagle, whose international way passes above our town), foals, small deer, cows and etc.
Our outdoor activities were a part of a white fairytale. The basic goal was to reflect the person’s own needs, to raise awareness considering the global environmental as well as social problems and to create a setting for productive discussions. After warming-up, we did a plenty of activities:   provocative statements – exchange of thoughts; concluding open sentences; happy moments (the magic stick, team works, getting active, carwash and etc.); discussing the concept of the Ecological Footprint -  Footprint conference; what can you see, smell, hear or feel?
The white excursion to Byalo kamene (The White Rock) was an inspiring alternative for the follow-up work at school. All of the students spent their weekend among nature, feeling the clean air and seeing  untouched biodiversity. Nature - it’s my life!

BIODIVERSITY IS OUR LIFE - BIOMODELS of BIOAREAS
‘Humans are part of nature’s rich diversity and have the power to protect or destroy it. Biodiversity is essential to sustaining the living networks and systems that provide us all with health, wealth, food, fuel and the vital services our lives depend on. Human activity is causing the diversity of the Earth’s life to be lost at a greatly accelerated rate. These loses are irreversible, impoverish us all and damage the life support systems we rely on every day. But we can prevent them. Let’s reflect on our achievements to safeguard biodiversity and focus on urgency of our challenge for the future. Now it’s time to act.’
Task:
1.Examine the climate features and biodiversity (the variety of life on the Earth) in a particular bio-area.
2.Visualize through a bio-model your own view about ecological clear region, although the outside human interference.
3.Use special non-toxic materials that do not pollute the environment.
Objectives:
1.To popularize ecological and natural knowledge among students, having in mind that 2010 is an international year of Biodiversity.
2.To become well acquainted with the biodiversity and the beauty of each natural area. It’s a stimulus to motivate students to keep nature clear and realize what Ecological footprint is.
3.Organizing practical students’ participation and getting knowledge about natural-safely investigating of the bio-areas.
Description:
The students were divided by four teams. Each team chose a certain bio-area, for example:  sea bed, tundra, a coniferous forest, a broad-leaved forest. Their investigating work prolonged for a month. The students looked very eager to do their bio-models and show us.
On 22 January 2010 each team presented their own work and shared his impression with his classmates. Each team protected his bio-area and explained to others why he did that, what can human do to protect it. Beside these bio-models, the students presented the characteristics of the areas in presentations and albums (endangered species, becoming extinct). That interview will be broadcast in the media.
All in all, participation in such work allows students to become aware of the most important features of the region and to feel nature close to them.

VOLUNTEERS WILL TAKE CARE
OF A GARDEN IN THE CENTRAL PARK

On 14 January 2010 the students from “Nesho Bonchev” School held a celebrating procession to the central park, where there is a monument of him. We put a wreath on the monument to worship the patron of the school and then our headmistress announced putting our eco-sign. We put a sign which said: “Nesho Bonchev School and Panagyurishte Municipality take care for this garden”. There were many guests from Panagyurishte Municipality in front of the monument who heard that we were eager to make the garden green and beautiful. Many volunteers are looking forward for spring days to plant their flowers and trees in the garden. Panagyurishte Municipality supports our eco-activities.

“The Dog and the Deep Dark Woods” – charity theatre performance under the slogan “Save the Earth”, supporting world conference in Copenhagen against climate changes. Collected amount of money will be used for building bike stands in the school yard.
•Let’s encourage green transport!
•Eco-friendly houses!
•Initiative “Christmas tree in a pot and plant it in the spring”!

On 21 December 2009 a group of students from “Nesho Bonchev” School-Panagyurishte performed their first charity artistic activity under the slogan “Let’s save the Earth”. That eco-minisketch was performed at the hall of the theatre to motivate students, teachers and citizens to work together, to get knowledge and understanding to save the world. The slogan of the eco-team is ECO-ACTIONS DO MORE THAN WORDS. The amount of money that will be collected we are going to spend to build 50 stands for our bikes (bike-park) in the school yard. Let’s encourage students to use green transport!
The eco-friends from the European school for a living planet organized that eco-sketch in December, because they wanted to support the world conference in Copenhagen, to show that they can help together against the global warming and climate changes. They want to live in better place and that’s why they sang the song “The Wind of Change”. The participants showed us that together, we can do more and we can change our lifestyle. The audience stood up on their feet and sang together.
We performed “The Dog and the Deep Dark Woods” in English. We performed the sketch in international language, because we are going to present it in You Tube, My space and others and that is the perfect way to motivate many Europeans not to be irresponsible to the environment.
The students chose forest plot, because they wanted to show that they live in a mountain area and to keep the wood clean is their dream.
Actors were the students from 8B class, because their school profile is “English, Biology and Information Technology” (supported by 8a & 9a). This was the cause to show that the eco-problems could be involved in different school subjects, even Music (eco-songs), Art (special decorations), Physics, Chemistry, Geography and s.o.
The actors tried and succeeded to motivate their parents and citizens to become eco-friends and participate together with us in the future eco-initiatives. We want to help the planet together, because it is in danger. The Earth needs of our help. At the end of the performance we invited our fellow-citizens to involve in our initiative “Christmas tree in a pot and to plant it in the spring”. We have already got such tree. At the very end of the show, we sang the song about “Santa Clause is coming to town” and Santa Clause promised us that our dreams will come true! Think Positive, Think Green! ;) We said good bye to our guests with Bengal lights to fire the people’s consciousness to consume less with sense and pleasure (in the New Year holidays). These symbols provoked the following discussion.

Objectives:
1.Getting the audience to know that the greatest damage being done to our planet today is that being done by humans.
2.Understanding the problem-the wastes (a boot, a kettle and a plate) are thrown away by people and we must try to reduce them and not to be irresponsible.
3.Discussing some of the effects that the rubbish has on people and the environment.
4.To show our attitude to the Environment and skills how we can help nature with consciousness and pleasure.
5.Demonstrating that working together – we can do more. We must involve as many people as possible.

presentation_save_the_earth.ppt
( Powerpoint, 4,76 MB)

Christmas gifts from Panagyurishte Municipality – 50 energy-saving bulbs and putting aluminium window-frames.

Christmas Carnival - Bal with animals’ masks and eco-quiz with Christmas rewards.

It was the day when our Headmistress announced the competition about the most creative poster, reflecting activities against the climate changes. Also, we invited students, teachers and citizens to visit our charity eco-minisketch “The Dog and the Deep Dark Woods”. In that way, we supported the world conference in Copenhagen.

National week against the obesity – a competition for eco-meal and doing sport activities. If we want to be healthy, we must keep nature clear (non-toxic soils, fresh water and air).

Natural Scientific museum –getting knowledge about biodiversity in Panagyurishte’s region and presenting eco-reports. Enjoy yourselves!

Support of the National petition for protection Bulgarian forests.
Fortunately, all of the students from my class are strongly motivated. Anyway, all of the students from secondary level in Nesho Bonchev School already voted for the Earth hour /more than 810 students/ The students sent a link to all of their e-mail and Skype eco-friends. We also voted as an organization too. My colleague, who is Information Technology teacher encourages students to vote for another similar initiatives, for example for the forests, the National parks and s.o. That's why we won and got more than 30 trees from the European Click a tree Initiative clickatree.europa.eu/ . Now we keep some of them in our classroom and another part is already planted. We'll wait till the spring to plant all of them.

Picto-poems – presented in the lobby of the school – Nature, Trees for All, Global warming, The Black sea, The Lake, River, Mountain, Seasons, We love animals.

50 ways to be eco-friends -5 mobile groups visited all the classes in their special "Lesson of the class" to present the easiest ways for students for acting and thinking green, also reported tragic facts about the Earth and the Ecological footprint.
They encouraged their classmates to change their lifestyle and reduce their consumption at home through saving energy, saving water, collecting the wastes separately, using their own cotton bag and s.o. These advices are sent to 10 different schools in Bulgaria and also to schools in 10 European countries (partner schools from Comenius projects).

On the 8th November 2009, the students from “Nesho Bonchev” School from 9A class, worked together with Panagyurishte Municipality for distributing cards, brochures and containers for separate wastes. Three-coloured containers were delivered by Eco Pack Bulgaria. The event was organized in the center of the town – on the town’s square. The students took part in this action, because they wanted to motivate as much as possible citizens of Panagyurishte to dream, act and use their three-coloured wastebins. All of us took for ourselves such containers for domestic usage. The students distributed more than 500 cards with a valuable message from the Mayor and 500 containers.

Discussion about the basic air pollutants

The opening event of the project was on the 5 November. It was created with colourful fireworks. That evening was amazing, but it was the time when all of the students from the school saw that air pollution. The fireworks provoked the following discussion. On the next day the students from our eco-team discussed about the major air pollutants – the particulates, CO, the toxics, SO2 , nitrogen oxides, good and bad ozone, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), CO2 . At that time they started investigation what produces them. On the next sessions we discussed some of the effects they have on people and the environment. “The Awful Eight” was born. ;)

Bonfire Night with fireworks – all tragic news about the planet were presented on the video-wall in the schoolyard.
Children from the whole school took part in the evening event. There was a video-wall, where my students  put on slides their messages to save the planet. At the same time they composed their own posters and showed them in front of their parents, grandparents, guests and journalists. Everyone can see them in the media and You tube.
Our children were very happy and positive thinking that evening.
Thanks once more that you-my colleagues, WWF and ERSTE foundation were spiritually among us.
We can't live such modern life like in some other rich countries  .  We want to do our part in saving energy and against climate changes. That's why there was just one big light bulb in the school yard and most of the pictures are dark. The opening event was in the late evening /after the inspiring meetings for students & teachers/. Anyway I took pictures and put them in the weblog and also we put our Bonfires Night in You Tube. We won’t do such kind of celebration any more, because these fireworks provoked a discussion about the air pollution. It was the reason to decide to prepare a mobile mini-theatre performance about “The Awful Eight” air pollutants. Our students are eager to know and understand what causes air pollution, how the air pollutants affect people, wildlife and the environment, what people can do to help reduce this type of pollution, involving an enormous audience.

"Eco-friends" English lessons every week: 300 students in secondary school are informed on the topic in English and think about their personal responsibility.

Preparing posters with a lot of information (texts and pictures) about the global Earth's problems: The ecological Footprint, Environmental Challenges (Global warming, Climate changes, Priceless Water), The wastes, What can I recycle? (There are more than 40 posters till now).
-The posters are put on the third floor of the school to be read and observed by all the students, teachers, parents and guests.
-Ad: A school competition for the most creative eco-poster.

We came back home from Illmitz strongly motivated. We understood that our planet is really in danger and soon after coming back in Bulgaria, we generated many new ideas about what can we do and how can we help the Earth. We produced the first presentation for students and teachers and tried to encourage them to work together.

Investigating local nature. We had planned that event earlier, because we wanted to find innovative way for our students to get knowledge and understanding to save the planet. All of the primary and secondary schools participated in the event. It was in the Children's Complex.

It is a campaign for a public support against the climate changes (Climate Action - Energy for a changing world) www.clickatree.europa.eu . We got more than 30 trees by that European organization and planted them in the school yard. Some of the trees and bushes will be planted in the spring.

Creating (the 1st dig) “A path of sorry reputation” – all punished students and teachers plant trees in the school yard and around it.
Each evil for good!

Panagyurishte is a small town in Bulgaria, located in Sredna Gora Mountain. “Nesho Bonchev” School is a famous gymnasium in Panagyurishte. It is the biggest and the oldest school in our district.  It is 170 years old.  A lot of famous people come from this school – members of Parliament, scientists and an expert in the Ministry of Ecology. They support us in our activities.

The school has 810 students between 7-19 years old and 56 teachers. Veska Barova is our mistress. She is Biology and Healthy Education teacher. She always motivates and supports teachers and students, who want to work for the Environmental Education. She says: “Let’s help our students become more environmentally literate; let’s help them gain knowledge, skills and attitudes they will need to act in an environmentally responsible manner; let’s help them realize that improving environmental quality is in our best interest.”

There are English and German language classes. The classes from secondary school are specialized in English, Biology and Information Technology. There are two Biology classrooms, in which students grow their own flowers and other plants to provide oxygen.

We, the students from "Nesho Bonchev" School realize that helping nature means helping ourselves. That is why we want to know and understand more about the hot topic "The Ecological Footprint". We can do our part! Do not wait any more, but take action!

Eco-actions do more than words!

We have all the power
we could help them all.
Can't we work to safe all creatures
great and small!