DEAR Project Stories: Young Imagination for the Climate

A 16-year-old student wrote a story expressing her climate change concerns and sent it to her home municipality in Greece (Fyli). Inspired by her words, the mayor and counsellors broadcast her messages for more sustainable policies through their media relations and digital communications. Ten Greek media wrote about and published her story and video, including a popular Greek children’s website.

The story inspired the creation of an animation video “Your daughter Hero” - a small audio-visual legacy of the “Walk the Global Walk” DEAR project. 

Some words on the animation’s story: 

The main character Hero observes rubbish, factories, the pollution of the environment, floods and fires. They trigger dramatic images in her mind and extremely negative thoughts about how the world is degrading. Her mother believes that there is something wrong with her and sends her to a child psychologist. In an important scene, Hero looks extremely sad in the therapist’s office. He watches her with concern. Hero's mother is waiting outside. The concluding dialogue reveals the video’s message:

DOCTOR - Hero is a very sensitive girl and has a great imagination… 

MUM - What should I do doctor?

DOCTOR - Listen to her.

Watch the film here: Υour Daughter Hero 

The film is dedicated to the volunteer firefighter Vassilis Filoras, from Zefyri (Municipality of Fyli), who lost his life during the August 2021 fires in Greece. The story was co-written by Marina Lizardou, a student from 1st Lyceum Ano Liossia, one of the project’s most active youth leaders. 

More information: 

The animation was produced with the support of BROSinARTS animation studios, with the direction of Apostolis Iliopoulos and Ilias Roumeliotis, based on the script of Marina Lizardou, Apostolis Iliopoulos and Aris Kaplanidis.

Walk the Global Walk “ran” for 3 years, involved 21 partners in 11 European countries, trained 1 700 teachers on the 2030 Agenda and involved 33 000 students in educational activities. See the many learning resources, which you can use and share, on SDGs for “Sustainable Cities and Communities” (SDG11), “Climate Action” (SDG 13), and “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions” (SDG 16). As a result, 1 800 youth leaders committed to communicate about the sustainable development goals (SDGs). 

Let's listen to them!