LTT 3 "Me and my physical activity"

The focus of our project meeting in Denmark was the question how we can connect physical fitness and eco-friendly mobility.

Not only did we use the meeting to try out the effect of physical activity and fresh air on ourselves (lake walk and getting to know each other day 1), we also looked for ways of how bike riding is supported in Copenhagen (throughout the week) and tried out a unique Danish invention- the Me-Mover, which smartly combines fitness exercises with urban mobility (day 3). Also we visited two museums to understand the development of human mobility better (day 2) as well as to learn about innovative solutions to make mobility more efficient and eco-friendly (day 4).

During the work sessions at school we followed the idea of setting up a green mobility competition between the partner schools with the help of an app. The students and teachers had tried three different apps for this purpose and evaluated them in internationally mixed teams.

Furthermore we collected ideas of how to act eco-friendly at home. The students then made film clips to promote these ideas. These were presented to the schools in connection with an ecofriendly action day, the Veggie Day, which all schools took part in between May and June 2017.

Ever since then the Veggie Day takes place on a monthly basis in the Turkish school, the German school organized another Veggie Day in October and the Swedish school even had a Vegan Month in October in cooperation with the chefs of the school canteen.

The Me-Mover

Me movers are a Danish invention- a mix of a Segway and a stepper, so you move the whole thing with your own muscle power.

The “Me movers” are a good invention because you can exercise while exploring Copenhagen. You can also use it for work or everywhere else. We all thought it was fun, easy and a good workout. It was also very different from a bike. The best thing about the “Me mover” is that it is ecofriendly.

There are some negative aspects about the “Me mover”. It is quite heavy, slower than a bike and unable to go uphill.

However, the positive things overweigh the negative and we recommend everyone to try the “Me mover” because it is fun, easy to use and ecofriendly.

Human mobility through the ages and the importance of inventions

At the Danish Technology Museum we looked at different vehicles and how the changed through the ages. The museum mostly has cars and airplanes, or different kinds of vehicles.

A special highlight was to learn about the Danish inventor Jacob Christian Hansen Ellehammer and his contribution to the progress in powered flight.

At one point the guide asked the students to come up with their own ideas of how to make mobility more efficient and more ecofriendly. There were some good ideas even though it might be a long way to go until we can make plant powered cars become real.

The second team had a guided tour, discussing great inventions and new inventions that might be better for the environment. When the both teams had been through the tour, we headed back towards the school.

Evaluation of saving-CO2-apps and how we can use them for a competition between schools:

In preparation all the participants tested different Green apps to get an impression about advantages and disadvantages: They encourage to make conscious choice about your mobility but also food choices. Some tell you how much CO2 you emitted, some tell you how much you did not emit.

Here are the three apps that we tested:

Apps for test: Group 1: www.changers.com

Group 2: https://joulebug.com/

Group 3: http://www.stepsapp.io/

It had been the original plan to use such an app as a basis for a competition in Sweden. But when we went there in 2015 (LTT1) they did not work because it was not finished, so we could not use it.

In Denmark we tried to work with the other apps, but with the same purpose. Yet every app had some major problem, so that we could not use it:

Joulebug is an app that is about getting points for doing eco-friendly things, it is like a competition against your friends. The problem is that you could not connect to the app without wi-fi. As an international group it was no possible to be on-line the whole time, so we could not compare. Instead you can enter results manually, but then it is easy to cheat. Finally we did not think the points were distributed fairly. Challenging activities got the same points as simple things. Also if you claim to walk you win points but they do not increase the number if you walk a long distance.

Changers app seemed promising but the organizers told us that because of some prizes that you can win, it is not legal to use for under 18s.

Finally the Stepsapp did not work because it needed wifi too. This app only works on iPhones and not androids.

We were a little disappointed but then we decided if we cannot do the competition we have to find another way to promote eco-friendliness at our schools

Promoting ecofriendly activity at our schools

On Tuesday we were divided into smaller international groups and got the assignment to promote ecofriendly activity at our schools with the help of film clips: We had to make a storyboard to a short video, which aims at avoiding unnecessary CO 2 emissions and other earth damageable types of waste.

There were a lot of different ideas of how to save CO 2 and how to promote them. The storyboard had to be done by the end of the day, so that we can start filming Thursday. The filming and cutting happened as planned in Thursday. There was not a lot of time, so we had to cooperate well.

Veggie Day in Denmark: Tuesday the 13th of June Bagsværd Friskole went veggie on a volunteer based challenge.

Approximately ⅓ of the children and adults did not eat meat the whole day. Number of participants was therefore about 70 people. Calculation show that their change of diet saved the planet for polluting the earth of about 15 kg of co2. Many students were surprised by the amount. At the same event it was also displayed how much electricity a charger uses when left in plug, but not used. That meant the change of habits for a lot of children and their families.

Veggie Day in Sweden: June 2017 Täby Enskilda Gymnasium

Täby Enskilda Gymnasium serve veggan food a full month in October, but some students are critical and mean there should be a meat alternative. Chef Tobias Bentley: "I think more and more young people are aware that vegetarian food is good for the environment."

Usually Täby Enskilda gymnasium offers a vegetarian option every day and once a week there is only vegetarian food in the dining room.

Turkish School

German school