Last week, four of us visited Bilbao, Spain, for an Erasmus+ project training called VET Schools Doing Green. The aim was to increase our awareness, as well as that of teachers and learners, about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
"It was fascinating to see how other schools are implementing the 17 sustainable goals, how they highlight them," Tiia Jõgi shared. Teachers from Finnish and Spanish schools discussed how their various assignments and educational projects support achieving these goals. We do similar things, but we don't emphasize that it supports the achievement of a goal or add the corresponding logo to it.
The core of the project, the sustainable development goals, cover broad areas from reducing poverty, equality, environmental activism, to economic growth.
Tiia noted that compared to us, some issues and topics are different in Southern Europe. For example, there is a water shortage around the Mediterranean Sea, which is not a concern for us.
One organization that presented its activities was Koopera, which has a background with the Catholic Church. They have 2,200 clothing containers on the streets. Three containers create approximately one job for people in at-risk groups. The goal is to offer jobs requiring more complex skills so that people can move on from Koopera.
The containers have sensors showing how full they are. Unlike our containers, they can accept unusable clothing items. The collected items are sorted semi-automatically.
"A Spaniard throws away 11 kilos of clothes a year, it seems they are a fast-fashion nation. Only 15% of discarded clothes are put into collection containers; most are just thrown into trash bins," Erik Riige explained.
"The better part of collected clothes goes on to a retail chain named Koopera. All clothes are cleaned, and a separate, more expensive section is created for brand clothes. An identification code is used to determine underprivileged people who can get the clothes for free. The use of second-hand clothes has been a taboo in Spain. However, the attitude is changing as even well-known people have started to wear used clothes publicly."
The clothes that Koopera cannot sell are burned for energy. Notably, their annual report is organized according to the SDGs.
Waste management in Bilbao is organized differently: street trash bins are for everyone, not specific to a homeowners association or household. "Waste sorting is also practiced, but there is room for improvement, just like in Estonia. In one trash bin I looked into, there were all sorts of things," Erik mentioned.
Sille Lapp praised the opportunity to discuss and work in groups with other teachers in an international environment over three days. Dutch teachers mentioned that the SDGs are vast and difficult for learners to grasp. Guided by them, we were able to consider the framework of Inner Development Goals in group works, thinking about how our personal development goals and the ability to envision the future could contribute to global development.
Bilbao left an impression as a clean city with exciting architecture, where a lot of free time is spent outdoors.
Erik noticed that people express their opinions: Palestinian flags, Basque Country flags were visible in several places. What differs from us is that, due to the history of the Basque Country, the armed forces and police do not have a good reputation.
On our last evening before returning home, a football match, despite the relentless rain, brought 60 thousand supporters of Bilbao Athletic to the city center. The city was filled with red-and-white-striped Athletic scarves.
