Switzerland, Geneva United for fresh water and climate change
The impact of climate change is become increasingly visible in Switzerland as we witness the shrinking of glaciers and experience unprecedented temperatures.
The Swiss Learning Venture focuses on learning, exchanging, and lobbying together about fresh water and climate change.
BACKGROUND
In the Geneva region, there are numerous initiatives addressing climate change at the local, national, and international level. Despite efforts to deliver high-quality and impactful activities, the time allocated for learning, sharing, and exchanging with the public sector is limited.
This limitation diminishes the overall impact of these initiatives. This community requires moments of reflection to develop common strategies and unite to become more impactful and coordinate with the needs and expectations of the public sector, which has developed ambitious climate plans at municipal and regional level.
The Geneva region is abundant in freshwater resources – including lakes, rivers, and torrents – and glaciers, which play a crucial role in the Swiss natural ecosystem. The melting of alpine glaciers and its potential impact on the entire freshwater system is alarming and concerning. Many individuals feel a sense of helplessness or frustration due to the perceived lack of action.
As climate change’s impact on water affects all sectors and human activities, addressing the issue demands a collaborative approach. The Swiss Learning Venture approach acknowledges the complexity of the topic and necessitate reevaluating our methods of production, consumption, construction, and work.
MISSION AND VISION
The Swiss Learning Venture collaborates with communities in the Geneva region to raise awareness on the pressing issue of climate change and fresh water, a resource that has been so far taken for granted. We work with public authorities, the private sector, associations, researchers, and science communicators to better understand; the topic, what’s at stake, what we can do as individuals and as a society, what we can still preserve, and what we need to accept.
The Swiss Learning Venture operates in an open schooling setting to create a learning ecosystem that helps learners to understand the complexity of the issue and pilot frugal technological solutions developed by schools in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
Maker education, insights from neuroscience, and participatory methods are the main tools used by the Swiss Learning Venture.
