Coco, a conscious consumption Project

Phrases like conscious consumption, sustainability and social responsibility are often used synonymously, but some of these phrases have carefully measured definitions, while others are a bit looser. Conscious consumption is an umbrella term that simply means engaging in the economy with more awareness of how your consumption impacts society at large. Shopping sustainably, with the intent to preserve the environment, is one way to consume more consciously.

The goal of sustainability is to reduce your ecological footprint, which is a measure of how fast we consume resources and generate waste compared to how fast the planet can recover from our habits. And while Fair Trade Certified companies must meet a certain set of standards, a company can say their products are “ethically sourced” or “artisan made” without having any certifications or standards to prove it — it’s up to you to find out what that means. Luckily with new technologies this issue will assure better its transparency and providence as it is case with Blockchain.

 

CoCo project 

coco will lead to the realization of a game-based learning tool and a curriculum aiming at empowering citizens to gain awareness on how they can contribute with better consumption choices to resolve environmental challenges in their community.

Regarding Eurostats, Europeans spend most of their available income on Food and restaurants (21,8%), furnishing (5,5%) and clothing (4,8%). Instead of abstract science, CoCo will focus on creating game micro-exercises, addressing the everyday activities of the learners and providing them with alternatives (e.g. cloth swapping, urban gardening, re-use, upcycling), which are easy and creative to be replicated, save costs and help to create a more sustainable, circular Europe. In this way CoCo wants to promote social inclusion and is aiming to create outreach to people with fewer opportunities, but at the same time being open to all citizens.

The aim of the project

Environmental education and issues in general are often a complex topic, being complicated for people with learning problems, language barriers, usually people facing socio-economic difficulties to follow. Serious games are great tools to engage those groups. Edutainment can be non-verbal, learning outcomes can be presented in entertaining micro-lessons, which help people to stay interested in the topic. Through the game we want to create an inclusive environment that fosters learning on green topics in equity, responsive to the needs of the wider community. 

CoCo is seeking to create behavioral change of European citizens towards more conscious and green consumption patterns. By teaching a more circular and resource- efficient consumption, we tend as well to contribute to the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, providing transparent information, helping especially socio-economic disadvantaged learners to easily access ideas, tools and practices and help them to make informed decisions as active citizens. 

The Present of Coco

The project partners of Coco gathered in Barcelona on the 26th and 27th of September to continue working on the project and connect with some of the best initiatives in the city which contribute to inclusive sustainability as for instance: 

 CoCo Arrels

Fundació Arrels

The Fundació Arrels is an entity that helps people that live in the streets of Barcelona to achieve an autonomous life as soon as possible. The foundation covers their basic needs both social and health care and guaranteeing accommodation to those in a more vulnerable situation. The foundation has various social centers where they offer different services, one of them being La Troballa, an occupational workshop.


La Troballa is a small but very open workshop that has a very familiar environment. The people in this center perform different arts and crafts, but above all it represents for them the opportunity to avoid loneliness and be able to relate to other people. Depending on the needs of the person, the foundation gives them different kinds of activities. It should be highlighted that Arrels Foundation collaborates with different figures, one of them being Curro ClaretThanks to the solidarity of the foundation and all the volunteers and collaborators nowadays the
Fundació Arrels is well recognized all around Spain.

Humana

Another very popular foundation from Barcelona is Humana. Since their beginnings they tried to protect the environment through the reuse of textiles and carries. The foundation has a lot of clothing shops where they sell second-hand clothes, and they also participate in development cooperation projects to help different communities of Africa, Latin America and Asia. Humana has become a major player in the social economy, a driving force in the circular economy and a generator of green employment.

top manta coco

Top Manta

A group of sellers street sellers from Africa with great difficulties to regulate their status in Spain have decided to take the concept of "Top Manta " and create their own brand in order to end the discourse of the society that they "only sell replicas of products", and to fight for their rights. Since then, thanks to their clamming designs, the association has become very popular in different parts of the world. Top Manta fights for slow fashion, for the rights of immigrants in front of the government, denounces the racism and persecution of their collective. They receive no institutional support for any of their activities. 

The project team (Comparative Research Network EV, EURO-NET, Dr. Ludwig Intelligent Projects GmbH, Kaakkois - Suomen Ammattikorkeakoulu Oy, Erasmus Learning Academy, Fundacja Otwarty Plan, Blue Room Innovation) will include the inputs received from the three entities in order to create a decision making solution attractive for people open for the conscience consume and a sustainable future.

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