Based on a 2012 Election School project which engaged 1,700 students and teachers in a mock-election and intensive class work, the U.S. Embassy in Berlin will cooperate, once again, with Leuphana University Lüneburg and eXplorarium Life e.V. on a new project: "Sustainable Education - Going Green".

While Germany is considered the birthplace of the green party and receives world-wide attention for its efforts to implement the "Energiewende", the U.S. is often perceived as a nation more interested in profit-making than the environmental agenda. Both countries pursue sustainable development, but their approaches differ.

Going Green will look at the different measures both countries are implementing concerning environmental issues. It will explore the role of the federal government versus local and state initiatives and contest commonly held stereotypes. In order to facilitate a dialogue between German and American students, existing school partnerships will be supported. Discussions with counterparts in both countries regarding local and personal measures to protect the environment while allowing for economic development and growth will be explored via Skype or Google Hangouts, chats, e-mail exchange, and social media. Gaming will become an interactive element in the lesson plan.

Students will reach out to local policy makers and organizations, compare measures that could be implemented in their families, their schools and their respective communities and develop ideas to further the environmental agenda. Students in Germany and the U.S. will learn from each other and possibly turn the virtual exchange into target-oriented school exchange.

Students from both sides of the Atlantic are encouraged to develop ideas for "real life actions", execute them and present them on a shared e-learning platform. At the end of the project period, these actions enter into a competition with awards for excellent sustainable activities.

A final conference in which students present and discuss their award winning ideas will be held in December 2014 in Berlin. This conference correlates with the concluding UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014).

Timeline

By the end of January 2014, a model curriculum with a focus on “plastics” will be available for discussion and testing and will serve as a model for all other themes. Themes to be developed will focus on sustainability and ecotourism, mobility, nutrition, fashion, and the green city.

A flyer and a website for the project “goinggreen2014.org” will have been created by February 2014.

In April/May 2014, future teachers at Leuphana University Lüneburg under guidance of Prof. Dr. Torben Schmidt will develop course materials in a block seminar. These will be posted on an online platform designed by eXplorarium Life e.V.

Throughout the year, the U.S. Embassy will invite expert speakers to talk about green projects in the U.S. in teacher seminars. Please look out for announcements on our website www.usembassy.de (upcoming programs) for detailed information.

Earth Day 2014

Earth Day 2014 programs will be used to launch the Going Green project nation-wide. Selected schools will be invited to test this model via official teacher training institutes in the various German states.

August 2014
With the beginning of the new school year, a competition for the best "green" project coming out of classroom work will be started. Classes participate in the course and enter a final presentation of their results and real life actions into a competition.

December 2014

During a virtual conference, the most creative and innovative projects previously selected by peer review among participants online will be presented. Prizes will be awarded to the best Going Green project at a final student conference in Berlin. This event coincides with the end of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014).