How sustainability leadership provides both the will to learn and the will to change

Jun Che’, Jun K’aslem (one tree, one life) was one of many action plans that came out of the community congress in Patzun in June 2015. The youth behind the plan, a group of change makers from the community of Chuacacai, were all filled with hope and belief that they can make a change. Education comes from the will to learn The group of youth from Chuacacai could see all the beauty around them: the crops growing in their village, the diversity of species in the forest next to them and the beauty of the high mountains surrounding them. So they asked themselves how they could make sure their community’s sustainable way of living could be preserved for future generations, just as it has been during so many generations before them. “We want that our children one day can enjoy moments like those, when the magpie sings, when you lay down in the grass and smell the pine trees, the cypresses and the wild flowers. When there is a plenitude of water and firewood to use and all you need to do to have a sweet plum is to stretch your hand to the tree where it grows. When money is not important to enjoy all this. This is the world we want to keep on living in” they say. They wanted to learn because they wanted to make a change, and so they talked to experts and their own grandparents to learn more about how their ideas could become reality. And they did learn a lot. Like Mauro Buc, one of the young leaders from Chuacacai, says: “Education for me happens at the time when I want to do something, but without knowing how”.   Knowledge leading to action In SERES 6th Annual Sustainability Summit of young Central American sustainability leaders, the action plan of the youth from Chuacacai won both the votes of their peers and the SERES judges. Inspired by this vote of confidence for their action plan, and with a small amount of seed capital the group found a piece of land where they could turn their ideas into action. To protect and pass on the knowledge of their ancestors they built a vivarium with trees and an earthworm compost, as a first step on their way to real change. In one day they then meticulously planted 70 trees, working together with a lot of organization, collaboration and dedication. They planted cypresses where landslides occur and oak trees where other trees were cut down to be used as firewood. Just as the experts and grandfathers had told them. Passing on the knowledge But the youth of Chuacacai won’t settle with this achievement, instead they are already planning for next reforestation day, this time inviting teachers and students from the village’s primary schools. The youth in this group come from subsistence farming and weaving families and even though they would have a lot of work to do at home they dedicate one day a week to work with their reforestation project. They see themselves as K’asemaal (sowers of life), and hopefully many more will one day learn from them.   Acknowledgements: SERES, through Jonna Lindberg