Caring for the Earth is Caring for Life is a participatory journey that explores the relationships between people, animals, and the living systems we are part of. The project grows from a simple question: how does care for the Earth translate into care for one another — across species, generations, and territories? Aimed at younger generations, the project cultivates collective knowledge exchange and investigation toward nature thorugh an artistic lense. Thorugh a participatory approach students co-design the project’s content and work together on a final exhibition.

To promote agroecology and environmental stewardship among young people through experiential, hands-on education, and art as means to investigate and organise knowledge around living systems and local food

spread the agroecological approach, and nurture empathy, respect for animals, and ways of living in harmony with the land. It brings schools, farms, public institutions, and associations together into a local network through experiential and educational activities designed to reconnect young people with their environment and strengthen shared community knowledge.

The project takes place in the Tuscia area and involves 60 youth from local high schools  from June 2025 to July 2026 thanks to the support of “8×1000 dell’Unione Buddhista Italiana”

In the Tuscia area (in Italy’s Lazio region), the recent rise in intensive livestock farming has become a subject of local concern over its effects on biodiversity, ecosystems, and rural traditions. In response, Navdanya International is launching a new youth-focused project that builds on its earlier work fostering alliances among local associations, organic farms, public bodies, schools, and citizens to promote healthy, fair, and ecological agri-food systems.

The initiative continues and expands an educational path begun in 2023 with “Biodiversity is Life,” later developed through “Agroecology is Life” within the Ecoculturae program. Planned activities include an experiential training course with workshops and guided visits to agroecological farms and animal-welfare initiatives; labs on the links between soil health, animal wellbeing, and sustainable food systems; hands-on sessions on regenerative agriculture, wild-herb foraging, breadmaking, and pollinators; and the production of multimedia educational materials alongside a local communications campaign. It is promoted by Navdanya International with support from the 8×1000 funds of the Italian Buddhist Union.

• 3 groups of young people meet regularly.
• Each group joins 8 participatory sessions, 2–4 hours each.
• Sessions are co-created spaces (not traditional lessons): participants bring questions, experiences, and ideas.
• Learning develops through farm visits, ecosystem observation, dialogue, hands-on practices, and creative expression.
• Artistic practices help transform experience into shareable narratives.

• Visits to agroecological farms.
• Encounters with animals rescued from harmful conditions.
• Ecosystem walks and field observation.
• Cooking, planting, listening, and group reflection.
• Collective storytelling through visual and artistic practices.

• A public final exhibition with visual materials, stories, and artistic outputs developed during the journey.
• Ongoing documentation (photos, short texts, reflections) that keeps the process open and shareable.
• Public presentation and discussion of what participants have learned together.