Lower Saxony

Bückeburg

The Evesen Elementary School has collected Green Footprints not once, but twice this year. From April 17th to April 28th, 2023, the 8 classes there gathered 2,309 Green Footprints , and from September 18th to September 29th, 2023, they added another 2,342 Green Footprints. So, throughout the year 2023, they totaled an impressive 4,651 Green Footprints.

Energy Region Hümmling

The Energieregion Hümmling, a collaboration encompassing the municipalities of Lathen, Nordhümmling, Sögel, and Werlte, has made significant strides in climate protection. In partnership with 17 primary schools across these regions, involving over 2143 students, they have collectively amassed an impressive total of 36,335 Green Footprints this year.

Breaking down the results by the participating municipalities, here is the breakdown of their achievements:

Meppen

This summer, the Johannes Gutenberg School (JGS) in Meppen collected Green Footprints for the second time – and it was worth it – because exactly 30 more Green Footprints were achieved than last year. The result encourages the children and teachers to participate again next year and to break their personal school record once more.

The photo was taken during the car-free week, which took place from 22.05. - 26.05.23. The result of the collected Green Footprints was festively announced in the schoolyard. All participants were happy and eager to participate and are already looking forward to the next kids for climate action campaign.

Papenburg

Children at St. Lukasschool had 180 students participate in the Kids on the Moce campaign this year. In total, the collected 1,966 miles! 600 of these miles were green, 930 were red, and 436 were blue. Very impressive! 

Rhede (EMS)

The Kindergarten St. Nikolaus Familienzentrum in Rhede (Ems) has sent us a nice photo on which they have placed the number of collected Green Footprints with crayons: Congratulations on 238 Green Footprints! 

Wallenhorst

This year, the Regenbogen daycare center in Wallenhorst has again been busy collecting Green Footprints. Last year, 75 children took part and collected a total of 715 Green Footprints.

This year 5 kindergarten groups participated: Namely the moon, sun, cloud, and beetle group. Together they achieved 252 Green Footprints, 27 Red Footprints and 18 Blue Footprints.

Kita Regenbogen also sent us a detailed report with great photos. It says that the children were often very motivated and often managed to encourage their parents to cycle, scoot, or walk to and from the daycare center. And even the families who rely on the car in the morning were able to collect Green Footprints with their children in the afternoon. The educators give us even more insight into how they talked to the children about the topic of climate protection and what actions they carried out:

"To introduce the topic, we read the story „Der König, sein Daumen und der Geradeausweg" with the children. Together, we considered what forms of transportation actually exist. Then we sorted them into climate friendly and not good for our climate.

We talked for a long time about the fact that a bus is worse than a bicycle, but that it is better than everyone traveling in their own car. Instantly, the children rearranged the group room and took some bus rides across the country. On another day, the children told us about their routes to kindergarten and how they get to us. On a map of the town, we marked the kindergarten and the children's roads. While painting their kindergarten routes, real works of art were created. During the period in which we collected the Green Footprints with the children, a climate breakfast also took place. As an introduction, we read the story „Der König, der Daumen und der Jahreszeitenkalender“ with the children. Afterwards, we discussed the following with the children:

•     What does seasonal and regional mean?
•     What fruits and vegetables are growing in Lechtingen right now?
•     Have you planted fruits and vegetables in your garden?
•     What is a greenhouse?

Some children were allowed to go shopping with us, others baked breads and prepared breakfast. Afterwards, we all agreed, that it was "really a great breakfast."

Here's what the kids said about the climate breakfast:
"Today we didn't need to bring anything to kindergarten because breads were already baked. Many children helped. We had climate breakfast today. Climate breakfast means that the things didn't come from far away. They are from the farm or from somebody's garden. The things that come by ship or by plane or by motor are bad for the environment. It's better to go regional." 

Wolfsburg

The Wolfsburg participants in 2023 showed impressive results. The DRK Kita Fallersleben Ost, with 75 participating children in 3 groups, collected 412 Green Footprints. The Bewegungskita des VfB Fallersleben e. V., involving 105 children in 5 groups, gathered 125 Red Footprints, 601 Green Footprints, and 17 Blue Footprints. The Diakonie-Kindertagesstätte gGmbH, with 40 children in 2 groups (Delfine and Pinguine), achieved 157 Green Footprints, 47 Red Footprints, and 46 Blue Footprints. The Bärengruppe of Bonhoeffer Kita, comprising 25 children in 1 group, collected 471 Green Footprints, 45 Red Footprints, and 47 Blue Footprints. Lastly, the Kath. St. Marien Kindertagesstätte, involving 105 children in 4 groups, accumulated an impressive 767 Green Footprints. The variety of Footprints collected showcases the active engagement and commitment of the Wolfsburg participants.