• The Lille association Oui Change offers a school program to raise children's awareness of sustainable development.

  • The idea is to reach parents through the teachings received by the students.

  • This program is divided into 4 stages spread out between kindergarten and 6th grade.

The IPCC report, published on April 4, recommends a 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 2019 if we want to be able to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

A certain urgency to accelerate the ecological transition that we did not however see reflected in the ballot boxes, Sunday, during the first round of the presidential election in France.

For the Lille association Oui Change, the anchoring of sustainable development in everyday life can only go through children, via a specific school program.

For Heather Noreen, co-founder of Oui Change, the score of the EELV presidential candidate is more a disavowal of political ecology than a disinterest of the French for this question.

"We can clearly see on the ground a certain evolution of people in the direction of sustainable development, and children are prescribers in this area", assures this American expatriate in France and former director of educational innovation in the private sector.

This is how, with three other people, she founded, in 2021, Oui Change.

“Ecological transition should not be a constraint”

The postulate of the founders of the association is to support citizens in their ecological transition through their children.

“We have developed a 4-step school program to be implemented at school, during school time, from kindergarten to 6th grade.

The goal is to work on different areas, including food, the most effective way to reduce your carbon footprint,” explains Heather Noreen.

This is done through workshops, games, songs and challenges to be carried out at home with the parents.

“For this to work, the ecological transition must not be a constraint.

You have to set goals to achieve gradually and above all not do everything at the same time, such as going to zero waste, changing your diet and abandoning your car, ”insists the co-founder of Oui Change.

Moreover, the latter took three years to achieve its ecological transition and reach 4 tonnes of CO2 annually.

“The goal is for each of us to drop below 5 t of CO2 per year by 2030,” adds Heather Noreen.

The program distilled for children was developed following the recommendations of the State, Ademe and ARS, by members of the association or specialists in their fields: circular economy, nutritional engineering, pedagogy.

It is also applied in 18 schools in the North, mainly private schools.

“For the public, it is more complicated, there are more obstacles and too many interlocutors”, recognizes the association.

However, the ambition of Oui Change is great, with a goal of one million students supported by 2030.

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  • Lille

  • Hauts-de-France

  • Environment

  • ecology

  • Education

  • Child