27 young people from Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Croatia and Bulgaria exchanged experience and knowledge on environmental issues and measures at the individual, collective and global levels that can be taken. They learned to knead bread, to recognize plants and their beneficial properties, to prepare natural cosmetics at home, to compost, to make recycled paper.

In just one week, young people were able to build a furnace of natural materials and a geodesic dome.

For their first teacher was Marin Panayotov, who co-founded the Return to Nature project and the cause of Zero Hero, which aims to promote life with minimal footprint.

Ivan Karchev of Maxima Dome led the construction of the dome structure, and in addition to giving practical guidance, he described the importance of this type of structures in historical terms, their closeness to the natural forms and the synergy between the individual elements. The construction in Mindya is unique to Bulgaria and will develop as a social space for local people and guests of the village.

During the days they spent together, the foreigners were responsible for their livelihood.

Each day, a separate team prepared a menu and prepared food for everyone, with dinners devoted to different national cuisine.

“Food is a vital element of human life historically, geographically and culturally. To prepare food for 27 people, some with special dietary requirements, is exceptional

responsible task. This unites the team, teaches people to plan well, allocate resources and tasks over time. That is why we chose our participants to take care of their own food. No one had cooked for so many people before, and this activity helped them grow a lot, “the organizers said.

The youth exchange in Mindya village is carried out by the Future World Association under the Art of Earth project and has received European funding under the Erasmus + program.

Soon, the association is also expecting its first volunteers under the European Solidarity Corps program to continue the educational campaign Code: Zero Footprint – Planet Earth, which it has implemented jointly with the Zero Hero cause last year.

For those who want to learn more or take first steps in a sustainable and conscious lifestyle, the association recommends:

Radio E-Volition is one of the media partners of the exchange: https://e-volutionradio.com/listen-live

You can see more pictures from the exchange here: Gallery