EkoSkola Malta

Healthy Plants , Healthy Planet activity book

This activity book has been designed, written and illustrated to bring children and young people closer to the world of plant protection; the science that deals with plant health. Although addressed to an age group between eight and twelve years, this book can also be useful for older kids and educators. It can be considered as first, simple plant protection manual, designed on the occasion of the International Year of Plant Health 2020. Year of publications: 2020 Place of publication: Rome, Italy Pages: #24 p. ISBN: 978-92-5-132761-6 Author: FAO Publisher: FAO Agrovoc: plant health; plant protection; awareness raising; children; educational resources

Learn about SDG 2 – No Hunger (Year 9 – Year 11)

Follow Up: COVID 19 and Hunger – A tale of two realities! (Year 9 – Year 11)

Reality 1: Food and milk being thrown away because the demand is much lower since schools, restaurants and hotels closed due to COVID 19: Watch these videos: Video 1: Why Coronavirus Is Forcing Farmers to Destroy Their Crops Video 2: Farmers dump milk that can’t get to markets              Reality 2: On the other hand according to the 2020 – Global Report on Food Crises – World Food Programme: It is expected that due to lockdowns, economic recession and collapsing of supply chains the number of people in the risk of hunger will be growing from 135 million to 265 million! Have a look at this article: Risk of hunger pandemic as COVID-19 set to almost double acute hunger by end of 2020. To get an idea of the sufferings that people are going through have a look at this situation in India after the lockdown due to Covid-19 was announced: Millions of Indians who have been without work for weeks are facing hunger as the country battles the coronavirus outbreak. – Watch Video 3 So is this right? Is it fair? On one hand you have people throwing away food and milk and some kms away you have people dying of starvation? Comment! Can’t something be done to deliver the food that is being thrown away to these hungry people? Why can’t something be done? Is it true that there are not enough delivery persons? Is that the real problem? What other problems can you forsee? Why can’t the aeroplanes be given special permission to deliver the cargo? Is it true that most food is perishable? That unless refrigerated it will go to waste?

Follow Up: Food fighting festivals! (Year 9 – Year 11)

Food fighting traditions in Spain and Italy have been going on for years. Watch these videos to watch what happens: Video 1: Thousands gather in Ivrea, Italy to pummel each other with 1.1 million pounds of oranges Video 2: Hundreds Of Tons Of Tomatoes Are Used As Ammo In Spain’s Tomatina Festival Carry out some research about these traditions and how they originated. What is your opinion about these traditions? Should they stay or should they go? Whilst some people in the name of traditions waste so many tonnes of fruit in food fights, 820 million people go to bed with an empty stomach each day. Comment!      

Follow Up: Solidarity meals Malta – Playing journalist! (Year 9 – Year 11)

In Malta although the COVID-19 pandemic is relatively contained, the people on the risk of poverty is still a reality. Even though the government has introduced several schemes to assist the employers and employees there are still individuals who can’t get a decent meal daily unless assisted by other associations: These people include: Individuals who prior to COVID-19 outbreak already had low income The elderly who live alone and cannot receive any help from their neighbours Parents who have children with severly disability who can no longer use respite services Homeless people Foreigners who lost their job and are not entitled to unemployment benefits or government benefits on rent Those who fear they will not be able to pay rent due to reduced income People who suffer from mental health issues People who are dependent on drugs and cannot attend rehabilitation programmes Children and women who suffer from domestic abuse Luckily a team of volunteers assisted by Caritas Malta are providing individuals with a decent meal each day. They have re-opened the kitchen of the restaurant that had to close because of the measures of social distancing to prepare these solidarity meals. Read this article. Several local councils are also assisting their communities by delivering meals to those in need. Would you consider joining any of these teams of volunteers to provide food? Aren’t you afraid that you might get infected with the virus? Some people are more concerned about being robbed of their dignity other than going without food. To beg for food is something nobody should be doing and yet in different parts of the world many people each day have to beg for food. They have no choice. Imagine you are a journalist and you will be allowed to ask a couple of questions to the Minister in a live broadcast session to investigate if these people in the list above are all  being catered for either by the responsible Ministry or the voluntary associations? Express your concerns by preparing a set of questions. Share them with us and we will try to pass them on to an independent journalist to ask in your name unless you can come up with some other ideas yourself!