A more sustainable version of ‘The 3 Little Pigs’ shows 1,144 schoolchildren the circular bioeconomy
A more sustainable and inclusive version of the ‘The Three Little Pigs’ tale characterized as Maruxa, Xaquín and Fuco bring circular bioeconomy to more than 1,000 Galician schoolchildren through the example of a wooden ‘batea’ (mussel farming system characteristic of the Galician Rías Baixas) and with the support of storytelling sessions and a school contest.
Regional
Spain
Galicia
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): FEARMAGA - Federación empresarial de aserraderos y rematantes de madera de Galicia Type of organisation: Business Regional Federation First name of representative: Ana Last name of representative: Oróns Gender: Female Nationality: Spain Function: General Secretary Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Centro de Negocios Costa Vella Rúa de Amio 114, Parque empresarial Costa Vella Town: Santiago de Compostela Postal code: 15707 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 981 56 83 90 E-mail:federacion.fearmaga@gmail.com Website:http://maderasdegalicia.com/
The initiative arises because a lack of knowledge is detected among schoolchildren about the role of trees and wood in the circular bioeconomy, in addition to false myths about the felling of trees and forest species in Galicia.
The tale of ‘The Three Little Pigs’, redesigned and revised in a more modern, sustainable and inclusive version, serves to transfer the values of the bioeconomy to the little ones and generate environmental awareness. Using a language adapted to schoolchildren, the bioeconomy is explained with examples from Galicia, the region where all the participants reside, in order to connect them with our forest and cultural heritage.
In Galicia, the wood industry has a long tradition and the wooden tray created to grow mussels is the common thread to explain the endless reuse of wooden objects. The mussel farms are used to cultivate mussels in the sea for 25 years, they are an example of forest industry design for the Galician fishing industry. At the end of their useful life, mussel farms are reused, becoming furniture or structural elements in the rehabilitation of buildings. Its last use will be to be used as biomass to generate energy.
The new version of the story also shows the importance of sustainable forest management, or the different species that are cultivated in our region.
The new story was brought to preschool and primary education classrooms in the four Galician provinces through 23 musical storytelling sessions. It is an immersive experience that combines the transmission of the environmental values of the story, music and an approach to products and objects made of wood, so that schoolchildren can see, touch and feel wood.
Then the schoolchildren must rethink their particular version of the story, through a school drawing and video contest. The contest prizes are tree-shaped shelves made of pine wood and recycled board that are delivered to the libraries of the winning schools. The shelves are built in schools collaboratively.
#EnvironmentalAwareness
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The main objectives of the initiative in terms of sustainability were:
Show schoolchildren the sustainability of wood and forest products and their different applications in recognizable objects that are present in their region and in their daily lives. The objective was achieved through the new stories of the three little pigs, which show how products of forest origin, such as wooden houses, paper or the furniture they have at school contribute to curbing climate change.
Convey the importance of recycling and the circular bioeconomy, so that schoolchildren internalize concepts such as the reuse of materials and waste or how to reuse materials such as wood, which have an endless life cycle. The objective was achieved with an illustrative example of wooden ‘bateas’ or mussel farms. This wooden construction that generates wealth in the sea for 25 years through the production of mussels and is then reused as recycled material in decoration and construction to later be used to generate energy in biomass, showed schoolchildren the importance of recycling and to give multiple lives to materials. The children sent us a video of their explanation of how the mussel farms work, understanding their productive value and as an example of circular bioeconomy.
Another of the objectives of the initiative is to transmit to schoolchildren the value of sustainable forest management. The books identify the forest species with the greatest presence in our region and show the importance of biodiversity.
Increasing the presence of wood in the spaces and the awareness of the use of sustainable materials is another of the objectives. Through the story, the children discover the objects of forest origin in their school and why it is important to promote their use. Wood is also present in the storytelling sessions, with objects to touch and feel the material, and in the school contest prize, a wooden shelf that remains a natural reminder and will host hundreds of tales and stories
This initiative focused on children was designed as an experience with a high sensory and aesthetic content to attract the attention of children.
The objectives in this area were:
1. Create visually appealing content for children. For this we have the collaboration of a children's illustrator who created the entire universe of the three little pigs in three different stories.
2. Offer a sensory experience to children that helps transmit the values of the initiative. For this, musical storytelling sessions were launched in which the music and the story of the little pigs are mixed to offer an immersion in the sustainable values of the story. At the end of the sessions, the students see, touch and feel objects made of wood and of forest origin.
3. Bring the aesthetics of the story and its values to the classroom. To do this, we bring informative materials and sustainable merchandising to schools (coloring sheets, wooden pencils, wooden puzzles, stories...) as well as a dummy version of the three little pigs in the same size as the children so that they can take pictures with them.
4. Generate positive emotions through wooden objects. For this we created the school contest in which the prize is a wooden object that appears in the story, a tree-shaped bookcase created with pine and marine board that is built collaboratively and is donated to school libraries.
The main objectives of the campaign in terms of inclusion were:
1. Create an initiative accessible to everybody. To do this, we publish the new stories of the three little pigs on our website so that they can be consulted and downloaded by all interested people. To promote the dissemination of the initiative among schools in Galicia, a mailing was sent informing about the campaign and the possibility of participation.
2. Free and open access. All schools that requested their participation were included in the initiative. Storytelling sessions in schools are free, as is the delivery of informative and complementary material. Many of the participating schools have students who come from low-income families, which is why we promote their inclusion in the initiative.
3. Show the three protagonists of the story as a model of a new society. The three little pigs come to life with attributes of the European society of the 21st century (a professional and empowered pig or a gay pig connected with the natural values of rural life).
The participants in the initiative have been involved in it at different levels:
- The teachers of the participating centers have discovered a new way of transmitting environmental awareness to the little ones and showing the importance of recycling and the circular bioeconomy with concrete and local examples. For this they have new materials (stories and didactic guides) with proposals for activities to work in the classroom after participating in the initiative.
- For their part, the participating schoolchildren are able to rethink the story of the three little pigs and show the environmental values that the initiative transmits through the drawings and videos in which they show us their own version of the story.
- In addition, the schoolchildren participate in the final construction of the wooden bookshelf (contest prize) together with their teachers. A 'do it yourself' object that remains in schools as a reminder of the initiative and the use of wood as a sustainable and reusable material.
The initiative had different collaborators involved in the design, implementation and spreading of the initiative:
- Management team and teachers from primary schools in Galicia, who collaborated in organizing the musical storytelling sessions and disseminating the story among schoolchildren.
- Companies from the Galician forestry sector and members of the Fearmaga federation, who participated in videos to show how the companies in the forestry sector work in Galicia.
- Cultural Galician associations, such as Agalcari (Asociación Gallega de Carpintería de Ribeira) who collaborated through a video that explained how wood that comes from the forests can be transformed to create boats of wood that fish or transport the mussels that end up on our plates.
- Forestry research and training organizations, such as the CIF Forestry Research Center in Lourizán, for holding storytelling sessions and informative talks on the forestry sector in Galicia.
- European projects such as LIFE Lugo + Biodinámico, through the collaborative celebration and dissemination of storytelling sessions aimed at families during the summer, in natural and sustainable spaces such as the Urban Forest or the Impulso Verde building in Lugo.
- European initiatives such as the selection by the Galician regional Administration to participate in the 'New European Bauhaus Galicia Festival' initiative with storytelling sessions in a school in Santiago de Compostela, as an example of good practices for the construction of the new Bauhaus European in our community.
- Regional institutions such as the agency 'Axencia Galega da Industria Forestal' dependent on the Government of Galicia, through the financing of activities and participation of the director of the Agency in project activities.
- Galician business associations such as the Cluster de la Comunicación, which selected the project in 2022 as a finalist for the ‘Paraugas Awards’ for Communication and Marketing in Galicia and helped its spreading
In the development of the initiative in schools, different areas of knowledge have been combined:
Knowledge of the natural environment, through the environmental messages disseminated in the story. Recognition of different species in Galicia and importance of sustainable forest management. The forest origin of many everyday objects is also shown, explained by representatives of the Galician forestry sector in videos.
Knowledge in the cultural field, showing schoolchildren examples of traditional Galician constructions and systems such as wooden trays for growing mussels or the traditional relationship between wood and boats in our community. The president of the Ribeira Galician Carpentry Association shows schoolchildren the relationship between wood and the sea in Galicia.
Skills in the artistic field, through the school contest in which teachers and students capture their particular version of the new tale of the three little pigs in drawings and videos, full of sustainable and environmental values.
One of the innovative elements of the project is the redesign of the children's story, adapted to current environmental and social values. In this way, traditional children's literature is updated to transmit to schoolchildren new values of modern society.
Another innovative aspect of the initiative is its immersive nature. The story takes shape and comes to life through storytelling sessions in the classrooms in which music and the three little pigs help convey the values of the initiative.
The prize for participating schools is also innovative: a wooden bookcase that comes to life from the pages of the story to be built collaboratively by schoolchildren and remain a reminder of the initiative and its values in the school library.
We consider that all aspects of the initiative can be implemented in other regions. However, the Galician cultural and social references that were included in the project to increase the sense of belonging and identification of the participants should be updated according to the region where it is launched.
The methodology used in the organization of the initiative includes the following phases:
- Spreading of knowledge and values to schoolchildren, through the messages collected in the new tale of ‘The Three Little Pigs’. For the elaboration of the messages, contributions from different actors in the forestry sector (organizations, representatives of companies in the sector, etc.) and from the educational sphere (teachers) were taken into account, with the aim of filling deficiencies detected in forestry and environmental education of the students.
- Immersive experience through the organization of musical storytelling sessions held in collaboration with schools. The sessions become a sensory experience that offers schoolchildren new ways of understanding the messages from the tale, with music and exploration of wooden objects.
- Subsequent collective reflection. After participating in the sessions, the schoolchildren participate in the school contest where they must reflect on the new story of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and offer us their particular sustainable version of the story.
- Construction of wooden objects. A wooden bookshelf is established as a prize for the school contest that the schoolchildren must assemble collaboratively to connect with sustainable materials such as wood and understand their life cycle. The shelf remains in the centers as a memory of the initiative and as a useful element for school life: a shelf for the books from their library.
One of the main challenges of the initiative was the difficulty of explaining the circular bioeconomy to schoolchildren, a concept with which they were not familiar and which might seem far from their reality. For this, a language and tools designed specifically for them were used, with the aim of bringing forestry and environmental knowledge closer to very young children. In addition, real examples from our community were included, to bring schoolchildren closer to our environment.
Overcoming false myths existing in Galicia, such as the idea that trees should not be cut or that there are bad and good forest species, was another of the challenges that had to be overcome. Through the story, we show schoolchildren the importance of practicing proper management of forest resources and that sustainable forest exploitation includes cutting trees to renew the forest and obtaining natural, recyclable and renewable raw materials. The story also shows the importance of the diversity of forest species, identifying the most used species in our community and showing their characteristics through activities.
The solution to these challenges are in our region. Galicia is a forestry power at European level and the new generations must understand and value our forest heritage. The initiative transmits to schoolchildren our role in the sustainable forest management of our forests, the use of local wood of various species and the reuse and recycling of wood, through concrete examples of our environment that they can identify and understand.
The initiative has completed all its stages and currently continues to be executed. The project has a great level of maturity, it was launched in 2019 and each school year new schools and collaborators join and new features are added to generate more participation and spreading.
The direct beneficiaries are the Galician schoolchildren and teachers participating in the initiative. So far, 1,144 schoolchildren have participated in the sessions since the campaign was launched, through 23 storytelling sessions in schools and organizations throughout Galicia. Currently, more than 500 schoolchildren have applied to participate in the 2023 edition of the initiative.
With the aim of spreading the initiative and sharing its messages with Galician society, indirect beneficiaries of the campaign, 24 pieces of information were published in the Galician media and specialized media. This information reached an audience of more than 2.26 million people and has an estimated advertising value of more than 21,500 euros.
The values of the initiative were also shared with the virtual community of the Galician forestry sector, through the publication of information on social networks. The campaign publications reached an audience of 13,000 people through a total of 52 publications on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube.
