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Results of the European ZOOM campaign in 2003


Walking, cycling, skating is environ-mentally friendly and fun for both old and young people. That is what the campaign "ZOOM - Kids on the Move" wanted to show kindergarten and primary school children (as well as their parents).

Children from all over Europe, Climate Alliance and its numerous partners went on a 28,029 miles long symbolic journey from Brussels (domicile of the European Commission) via Kyoto (origin of the homonymous climate protocol) to the 9th UN-Climate Conference in Milan. More than 80,000 children aged 4 to 12 years old collected a total of 544,008 Green Footprints as their contribution to global climate protection. In fact, this was enough to take them from Brussels via Kyoto to the Climate Conference in Milan twenty times! Or they could travel almost 14 times around the world - plenty of time to convince all the adults they met about the importance of each little step towards climate protection!



Children in 18 countries took part and enthusiastically held project weeks: They did not only try to move as eco-friendly as possible, but also learned a lot about their daily environment e.g. by exploring their surrounding on listening walks or by drawing their way to school or kindergarten. They discussed advantages and disadvantages of different means of transports and carried out experiments on the greenhouse effect. They learned how children in other parts of the world get to school, where they live and what it is like in their country. Or they just calculated how long the traffic jam would be every morning if each child will come by car.


The Launch by EU Commissioner Margot Wallström


Margot Wallström, former European Commissioner for Environment, officially launched the ZOOM campaign at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 3 June 2003.
The Commissioner received an enormous Green Footprint made by children from Rheinau, Germany, listing their wishes and suggestions for a better environment. They also proudly reported about their results and activities in the previous year, when they took part in the predecessor of the ZOOM campaign which was carried out in Germany by Climate Alliance and VCD - Verkehrsclub Deutschland.


Many little steps lead to something big


(ZOOM 2003 in Austria)

28.000 children in Austria collected 298.380 Green Footprints altogether. The best six schools were allowed to present this remarkable result at the closing event of the campaign during COP9 in Milan.

The ZOOM campaign has not only effected the children themselves: Through their behaviour, they could show their parents that climate-protection is quite simple. Even after the project week, the children don't think about using the more comfortable car. "The children still walk to school and they obviously have fun!", says Johanna Moyses from the primary school in Mörbisch am See.


A Memorandum for Car Drivers


(ZOOM 2003 in Germany)

About 25,000 children in more than 1,100 groups participated in the ZOOM campaign in Germany. As in the previous campaign in 2002, a lot of kindergartens decided to have self-made posters for each group next to the sticker albums for each child. This is to involve the children even closer to the campaigns aiming to raise awareness about how big results can be if, many people make little steps into the same direction. In Großhansdorf a bigger brother even collected green footprints for his sister, as she, sitting in a wheelchair, had to use the car to get to school.
Independently the children explored their everyday environment and for instance found out that their playground could be twice as big, if they could use the space reserved for parking cars. Some groups drew up huge maps or made a three-dimensional model of their residential area to show the adults where and what they would like to be changed. Some groups even organised their own press conference to publish their results and to force the local authority to really react on their inquiries.


Thousands of Children on foot around the world


(ZOOM 2003 in Italy)

Approximately 10.000 Italian children from Sicily to the Alps participated in the campaign, going to school for one week on bike, by foot or bus as a contribution to sustainable mobility in our towns, showing "the big ones" that with a little good will it is possible to get to school in an environmentally friendly way. The parents, after some initial hesitation, have offered their full collaboration, accompanying their children to school and leaving the car at home at least for a few days. Those convinced that one cannot move around without a car were surprised by this action week.
The experience was entertaining, exciting and we should not underestimate its positive effects on health for the children and the adults. "It was kind of an experience of times gone by to meet in the morning other parents and kids and to go to school all together, having a little talk and avoiding the stress of the morning traffic", said one of the parents in Città di Castello, Umbria. In Reggio Emilia it was decided to organise collective bike rides to get to school, others organised a kind of car pooling of the mothers that took turns to transport their own and other kids.
The children of Perugia felt like real grown-ups with their "signalling discs", part of their equipment, seeing themselves in the role of "traffic officers", registering the hot spots on their journeys to school.


Thinking of the Environment


(ZOOM 2003 in Luxembourg)

In Luxembourg, all 4-12 year-olds attend local municipal schools or are taken by school bus to central schools. This means all children can walk to school, or to the bus stop. But despite this, many children are still being driven to school by car.
In Luxembourg, ZOOM was implemented by Mouvement Ecologique and Klimabündnis Lëtzebuerg, under the motto "Collect green footprints and think of the environment". 4,800 children from 300 groups in 33 municipalities participated in the action week in October. 1,800 Detectives on the road drew up municipal traffic reports.
The children collected 28,350 "Gréng Meilen" (green footprints), thereby symbolically covering the distance from Luxembourg-Kyoto-Milan all on their own!


Persuasion of Parents


(ZOOM 2003 in Portugal)

3,326 portuguese children from 46 schools participated in the ZOOM campaign and collected a total of 15,685 Green Footprints!
The participating children really enjoyed the project and even tried to involve their parents or other adults: "I am going to persuade my dad not to drive our car so much...but he is a bit stubborn" told Inês. And Joana said: "I think people who use cars too much should be fined. This way they would not pollute so much."
The Institute for the Environment (national project coordinator) tried to involve municipalities and some of them did accept the challenge and acted as intermediaries and local project coordinators. They were excellent partners and some will try to put the children's suggestions into practice.
Although all materials were available on the European website, many teachers asked for hard copies of the basic materials. So the handbook with games, resources and necessary adaptations to 2003, a sticker album, the questionnaire on the "Expedition" and a Detective's Badge were printed. These materials were one of the factors that greatly contributed to the success of the project in Portugal.
The Institute, in partnership with one of the municipalities involved, is planning to organise an exhibition of the materials produced by the children and a small ceremony for handing a "certificate of participation" to each participating school and class, represented by the teacher, as a way of recognizing the work done and also of raising awareness to these issues.


Beyond the Campaign ...


Although quite some parents being very critically at the beginning, they finally got caught by the enthusiasm of their children and in the end very much enjoyed accompanying them on their daily journeys on foot or by bike even if it might have cost a bit more time than giving them a lift by car on their way to work. 
Many children continue going to school without using the car because it is fun and good for the environment. The children prefer to walk or cycle to school, and only a tiny minority (2-5%) prefer to be driven to school - a clear indication to parents to leave the car at home.
Teachers, too, supported the children's initiatives with additional actions (e.g. clarifying responsibility for journeys to school, public events on related issues, closing events with the mayor).

The great success of the campaign also reveals that action in the fields of safer journeys to school, independent mobility of children and designing urban space according to specific demands and abilities of children is definitely needed. Hopefully, local decision-makers will stick to their promises made during the ZOOM campaign in order to achieve long-term improvements for their children's environment.

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interner Link folgt2003 ZOOM campaign