Flash-mob

The story of a planet in danger

Summer 2022. If there is one thing that can tell me the summer has started, it’s an Erasmus+ project. In this case, it was not just any project: two weeks, three countries, 24 young people, 6 group leaders, one facilitator, and a whole management team “in the back” and just enough tents. That’s all I needed to know to be excited and it meant only one thing – an adventure was coming. Well, I was shortly proven right. By being outside most, if not all of the time, we found ourselves responsible for everything – from food, travel, tent building, to organizing ourselves for the activities and to make this experience one to remember. And that’s not all – we had a flash mob to make!

If you don’t know what a flash mob is, don’t worry. Many of us didn’t know either but this was the perfect opportunity for us to learn that.  A flash mob is a pre-organized fast event meant to shock the passers-by, impress them and raise awareness about a particular topic, in our case – climate change.

We got to work… One evening amidst our adventures in Greece, we all gathered for a brainstorming session. What we had were a bunch of people, tons of ideas, a lot of enthusiasm. Of course, we had to make use of all our resources, including the beach right in front of our camping and the drone we had with us.

We settled for a creative idea that represented the bad influence of the pollution and human activities on our planet. Together we built a semi-sphere out of sand – our planet. Around it we buried some of us in the sand, each of us with a different label: greenhouse gases, plastic, overfishing, overconsumption, waste – all things that destroy the environment. Teo’s shovel finally came to use here! Yes, we were prepared for everything!

Our only problem was that we wanted to have an impact, not just on the people on the beach, but much more. That’s where the drone comes in. Now our little flash mob can be seen by people online – such as you.

It was all set.

Action!

One by one, each of us started getting up and walking towards our made-up Earth. It was a scene out of an apocalypse movie. As each ‘’zombie” got closer and closer, we started tearing the planet apart little by little. That’s where our heroes show up to save the day – the Erasmus+ project participants. After dealing with the dangers, beating up the zombies they rest on the ground while hugging the planet as its protectors – a happy ending.

Ecoventure bit: Do something today that your future self will thank you for!

The content for this post is part of our online blog called “Ecoventure” which aims to share our experience in the Erasmus+ Youth Exchange ”Ecotourism Ventures for Youth Environmental Education”. The project was financed with the support of the European Commission through Erasmus+ Programme. This blog reflects only the author’s views, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.