Community-led learning initiatives for sustainable living for older people
Intergenerational learning and activities on sustainable practices for older people: eco-sustainable cooking and gardening courses
Involving the older people in initiatives capable of promoting sustainable practices is a topic that is being given particular importance.
In fact, by involving the older people, not only the environment and the elderly themselves can benefit, but also the entire community.
Promoting sustainable practice activities, with an intergenerational learning approach, makes older people more aware of problems affecting the environment and encourages them to participate more actively. Furthermore, it helps young people to retain the great wealth of knowledge and experience that adults leave at our disposal.
It is important that learning is dynamic and motivational: traditional cooking or gardening courses can respond to these characteristics.
Initiatives for sustainable living: Eco-friendly cooking and gardening for older people
For example, in a traditional cooking workshop, sustainable practices can be explored.
Eco-sustainable cuisine is an approach that aims to reduce the negative impact on the environment: knowing how to convey the value of using local products, supporting a healthy lifestyle by adhering to a Mediterranean diet, curbing food waste, encouraging separate waste collection, giving indications on a kitchen that provides low heat dispersion, are themes around which these activities can revolve.
The same thing can happen in gardening activities.
In addition to being able to improve the physical and mental state of adults through contact with nature, exposure to the sun, interaction between peers and young people and/or children, discussions on ecological gardening practices can be developed. You can learn, for example, which plants are specific to your area; cultivating native plants would reduce the need for water and promote biodiversity.
Encouraging activities where multiple generations are involved, therefore, helps us not to forget the values of the past, but without neglecting a positive impulse towards the future.
