Edaphonistas! Citizens give their voice for the life of the soil

CSO: Weltacker
Area: Awareness for Soil Biodiversity
Location: Berlin

Type of project

Soil biodiversity and its connection to human health and the global climate are largely unknown to the public. The project collaborates with citizens, especially young people, to create audio plays exploring the interactions between soil organisms and the climate. Moreover, it should inspire fascination with soil biodiversity and its role in climate protection in both the Global North and South.

The project combines scientific and artistic storytelling. While science uses experiments, data, and models to create compelling narratives, artistic methods challenge perceptions in a productive way. Through the creation of audio plays a wide reach is expected.

Target

Disengaged: The targeted schools have had little to no exposure to Education for Sustainable Development or Global Learning. Additionally, the project plans to reach out to music and art teachers, as well as organizations for people with disabilities, to incorporate a diverse range of voices.

Science-Based

The project is based on the concepts of soil biodiversity and One Health (Banerjee & van der Heijden, 2023). Participants of the workshop will co-create research questions that are explored through scientific soil measurements while integrating creative and digital techniques.

Gender

The workshops encourage participants, especially young people, to empathize with other living beings and give them a voice. This approach helps dissolve social and identity barriers, promoting (gender) equality and inclusion. Events on gender topics are foreseen, f.e. “Women in agriculture: in the past, today and in the future”. In addition, research work by women from the Global South is incorporated into the implementation.

Planned activities

• 1 Workshop: Consisting of 3 parts, conducted at least 11 times by the end of the project
  • Preparation, Promotion and Introduction: Defining of necessary concepts (1 activity)
  • Co-Creation Concept: Developed for the second part of the workshop series (3 activities)
  • Audio Play Production: Created by young participants and multipliers (4 activities)
• Participants: 180 young people (approx. 20 per workshop) and 60 multipliers

Action model

• The project incorporates soil topics as part of environmental education, filling a gap in environmental learning programs
• The plays explore interactions between soil organisms (Edaphon) and the global climate, highlighting the importance of soil biodiversity for climate protection in the Global North and South
• Participants collect scientific soil and climate data while creatively engaging with bacteria, fungi, insects and roots