Module 3: On-Site - Learning Abroad – Discovering Europe through Green Glasses

The Erasmus+ Learning Journeys 2025/2026 are funded by the European Union. They explore the question: When and how can social tipping points lead to sustainable transformation in communities – and what role do storytelling and citizen participation play? The journeys take us to Sweden, northern Spain, and Sicily – turning the theory and insights from Module 1 into lived experiences abroad.These trips offer rich opportunities to compare and reflect: What’s similar or different between your home and the host country? We’ll learn from inspiring examples – useful for everyday life and professional contexts. This sharpens our “green lens” and trains our senses. On-site impact storytelling will be practiced and refined. Looking ahead: In Module 4, we’ll exchange stories of how you shared your experiences – with friends, family, or at work. We’ll celebrate powerful examples of personal storytelling and the diversity of voices in our group. Because good stories are as diverse as the people who tell them. Take a look at some highlights from our Journeys. 

First Program: On-Site-Experience in Sweden - April 2025

Sustainable Urban Living in One of Europe’s Greenest Cities is focus of this learning journey. There are insights into the dynamic second-hand and reuse scene of one of Europe’s greenest cities: Malmö and Göteborg. Participants explore innovative initiatives for circular economy like "SWIDEAS. A highlight are workshops during the International SCORAI Europe Conference 2025 – “Mainstreaming Sustainable Consumption” with  examples of potential social tipping points for sustainability transformation. In Gothenburg, we’ll explore the potential of ‘green rehab’ and enjoy the calm of a forest garden project: Södra Timmervik. 

Stories of our participants: “Where did Sweden feel the most green – for me?” And an everyday - instagram-post by one of our participants...

Second Programm: On-Site-Experience in Galicia (North-Spain) with Paris - Sept. 2025

This Erasmus+ learning journey leads through Paris – a city where green and sustainable development is at the heart of urban planning, driven by the bold and visionary leadership of its mayor. Participants gain insight into how climate-resilient city concepts are being implemented in a European capital. The journey continues into northern Spain, where participants discover an initiative in community-supported agriculture, explore the region’s natural biodiversity. They  learn how abandoned or decaying houses can become the foundation for regenerative village development: self-sufficient energy systems, community-based living, like "It's Thyme". 

Third Programm: On-Site-Experience in Sicily with Naples - Nov. 2025

Sustainable social change in a quarter in Naples will be the start of this journey: Cooperative La Paranza. The on-site experience of social and cultural transformation in rural and urban continues in Sicily. In Palermo, participants visit a former monastery that has been revitalised as a dynamic centre for art, culture and civic engagement - Farm Cultural Park – an inspiring example of creative regeneration. Further inland, the journey leads to Mussomeli, where our group experiences the community-driven Kitchen for Good. On other days, we’ll explore how anti-mafia movements like 'Per Esempio' and 'Addiopizzo' are shaping Palermo’s social and economic future. 

How it all began - about the program "Green Glasses"...

On the Road with Green Glasses – From Travel to Book to Program. What started as a personal adventure – cycling, walking, and wandering through Europe with a pair of secondhand flea market glasses and a head full of questions – has grown into something bigger: A book full of green stories. A program full of possibilities. And a gentle rebellion against hopelessness. On the road, I met bee-keepers on train tracks, tasted mushrooms grown from coffee waste, and listened to people quietly changing the world – often without anyone noticing. The journey was full of contradictions: solar panels and diesel fumes, zero-waste dreams and plastic picnic forks. My green glasses didn’t hide the problems – but they sharpened my view for the tiny things that do make a difference.And somewhere between wild camping and wondering what’s wrong with the world, a new idea was born: What if others could travel like this too – not just across borders, but into stories that empower, inspire, and restore a sense of agency? That’s how “Green Glasses” became more than a book. It’s now a program for adult learners, a collection of hands-on ideas, real-life projects, and hopeful tales – all designed to be tried, shared, adapted. A growing kit for anyone tired of apathy and eager to plant something better – even if it starts with just one conversation, one garden patch, or one stubbornly reused coffee cup. So yes, the road is bumpy. And yes, the planet ometimes feels like a sitcom without a script. But together, with a little humour and a lot of curiosity, we can write our own chapter of change. Green stories wanted. Self-efficacy encouraged. Hope required.