YES to Sustainability

Written by Dario Ferraro

This year the Yes to Sustainability network has run several new youth exchanges and training courses, organised by young people who are part of the network. The subjects of these projects range from exploration of the dimensions of sustainability as outlined by GEN and the Gaia Education, and Permaculture, to Digital Detoxes, and Nature Connection. Participants, some already living in ecovillages, others only beginning to explore sustainability, have come from counties across Europe, and even non-EU countries, to join these projects and to learn and create together and from each other.

Yes to Sustainability embodies the values of environmentalism, learning, exploration, and connection with like-minded people. The opportunities that the network creates to travel to different and diverse international ecovillages, and sustainable initiatives gives young people the chance to learn and deepen their skills.

One of the most valuable things that Yes to Sustainability offers is the chance and impulse to connect with other people who have similar interests, goals, and values: the projects that are organised and run through Yes to Sustainability offer unparalleled opportunities to network and grow inspiration, skills, and connection with others. Many of the people who are now part of the Yes to Sustainability network started out by attending a youth exchange or a training course, and several young people who have attended these projects have chosen to write and run their projects through the network with connections that they made in the youth exchanges they attended.

Youth exchanges and training courses run through Yes to Sustainability incorporate a wide variety of subjects related to sustainability; such as permaculture, group decision-making tools, communal living, and inner work. For young people who have grown up in or who currently live in ecovillages and who might already be familiar with these subjects, these courses can be a chance to practice the tools in real situations. It also gives those who have less experience on the subject of sustainability the opportunity to learn with other young people and get excited by the enthusiasm and creativity of facilitators, hosts, and other participants. The mingling of different levels of experience, and the chance to travel abroad and still be connecting to important values, with people who share them, are just some of the ways that Yes to Sustainability’s non-formal educational models can enrich the lives of everyone involved.

Yes To Sustainability offers and provides not just a thriving network but also many invaluable resources on how to create projects and how to incorporate more sustainability into your life, and the lives of potential participants. Such as the brochure on how to bring sustainability into youth exchanges that was released earlier this autumn. The brochure is an open resource for anyone curious about sustainability and how to include it in Erasmus+ projects. The brochure is just one example of a growing library of resources, tools, and knowledge that the Yes To Sustainability team is curating and creating to help bring more sustainability and youth empowerment into the world.

The brochure can be found here: https://bit.ly/yts-brochure
To get involved please visit our website: https://yestosustainability.org/
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yestosustainability/

Join our group on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/yestosustainability.org for all our latest updates and opportunities.