In the Netherlands, the "Groene Voetstappen" week ran from September 19th to 23rd this year. Children from 70 different schools all across the country collected their footprints for our environment and for this year's climate conference in Egypt. The footprints were earned by getting to and from school by bike or on foot as often as possible. The Dutch children did so, in fact quite enthusiastically!
Together the 15, 312 children collected 98,966 Groene Voetstappen
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Over the course of the week, the students focused their attention on various aspects of traffic, such as traffic safety and environmental impacts. To receive the collected points in Nijmegen, city official Cilia Daemen visited the NSV2 elementary school, where the eager climate protectors welcomed her with much excitement.
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Apart from the groene voetstappen, the students also collected "gouden voetstappen" for activities surrounding vegetarian diets and energy saving. The latter allowed for some creativity, such as shorter showers, candles instead of lights, or sleeping without night lights. That did not only please Mother Earth, but also marked a further step in growing up for some kids.
At school, it was time to work on the Groene Voetstappen project every morning. The children did not only record their points on the digiboard, but they also worked through exercise sheets and decorated green footprints.
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Breda
The municipality of Breda came up with a very nice idea this year and made a special deal with the children: For every 2,500 Groene Voetstappen collected, the municipality donates a bicycle to a family that doesn't have the money to buy one themselves.
By the end of the campaign, the children from the 14 participating schools in Breda managed to achieve nine bicycles with their number of footprints.The municipality was so impressed by the kids effort, that they doubled the number of bicycles and thus 18 bicycles could be provided.
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