Press Release: Students on Mount Hymettus: Where Knowledge Becomes Experience – Environmental Educational Activity by SPAY within the European GreCo Programme

The experiential educational activity of WP4 of the GRECO project was successfully completed on Thursday, March 26, 2026. The event took place at the Patitiri location, near the Argyroupoli Fire Lookout, in the forested area of Mount Hymettus.
High School students participated in the activity, gaining the opportunity to approach the forest ecosystem through direct field experience, connecting theoretical knowledge with experiential understanding and the concept of personal responsibility. The educational approach was based on active participation, observation, and interaction, without the use of printed materials.
The activity began with a clean-up of the area, during which students were confronted with the consequences of human activity in the forest. Through this process, issues related to waste management and its impact on ecosystems were highlighted. Particular emphasis was placed on distinguishing between recycling and biodegradation, underscoring the importance of natural cycles. Students thus understood that in the forest, organic matter is reintegrated into the system through natural processes, unlike materials such as plastic, which remain in the environment and burden the ecosystem.
This was followed by a presentation of decomposition processes, with emphasis on soil structure, highlighting the function of the forest as a dynamic system of interdependencies, where matter, water, and energy move in continuous cycles, maintaining the balance of the ecosystem.
A special moment of the activity was the students’ meeting with the Volunteer Forest Protection and Firefighting Team of the Municipality of Elliniko–Argyroupoli (EODPEA), who shared experiences from their operational work and demonstrated the equipment used in fire incidents.
Finally, the students were guided to the fire lookout at the Patitiri site, where they had the opportunity to observe the capabilities of digital mountain monitoring through live images transmitted by thermal cameras installed on Mount Hymettus. At the end of the activity, all students received certificates of participation.
This “green” educational activity was implemented in terms of the European project GreCO (Green Cultural Oases), specifically within Work Package 4 “Forests as Living Heritage,” aiming to help students understand the forest of Mount Hymettus as a natural ecosystem and a living part of our cultural heritage.
These initiatives are implemented in the context of engaging and raising awareness within the local community to foster a more sustainable urban environment.
GreCO is implemented by a cross-sectoral consortium following the Quadruple Helix model, connecting public authorities, academic institutions, businesses, and civil society organizations. The partnership includes the Municipality of Elliniko–Argyroupoli, the University of Piraeus, the National Technical University of Athens, the National Observatory of Athens, Elliniko Anelixis, Zelus, and the Association for the Protection and Development of Mount Hymettus (SPAY), which plays an active role in citizen engagement and the environmental dimension of the project.

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