Every gesture counts. “Caring for the environment means caring for life”. With this phrase in the air, spoken by the students themselves, Llucmajor celebrated the closing of the Energy Ariya Challenge 2024-2025, an educational and sustainable initiative that has travelled through almost twenty municipalities in Mallorca over the last few months, bringing workshops, activities and messages of environmental awareness to hundreds of schoolchildren.
The Plaza Mayor in s’Arenal was filled with colour, ideas and energy thanks to the 346 students who joined the initiative. The day turned into a big party celebrating our commitment to the planet.
The morning kicked off with the arrival of the fifth and sixth grade students from the S’Algar de s’Arenal school, who began the scheduled activities before 10 a.m. On this occasion, in addition to the usual Energy Ariya Challenge workshops - a recycling gymkhana, talks on sustainable mobility, energy-generating bicycles and a creative proposal - Llucmajor Council, together with the educational centres, prepared a unique proposal: “Llucmajor té veu”.
An initiative in which students were able to present their ideas for a clean and sustainable Llucmajor for the future. With posters and very clear ideas, they explained all the initiatives they had thought of in class to achieve a greener municipality: proposals for sustainable parks, less polluting transport, clean beaches and communities more committed to the environment were just some examples.
‘We are lucky to have a special coastline, and we must take care of it and value it, because there are many people who would give anything to have it,’ explained one of the students.
The involvement of the Llucmajor Town Council was key to the success of the event. In addition to organising the event, it gave reusable bags to the participants and invited the Club Nàutic s’Arenal and the environmental management consultancy Gram to carry out activities with the children. The former presented their sailing courses, while Gram organised educational games designed to teach about recycling.
The students from s’Algar were accompanied at the start of the day by the president of the Council of Mallorca, Llorenç Galmés, and the mayor of the town, Xisca Lascolas, who took an interest in the students’ proposals and did not hesitate to join in all the planned activities, even getting on one of the bikes: ‘At this rate, I’ll get to Santanyí without getting off,’ joked Galmés with a laugh.
Throughout the morning, fifth and sixth grade students from the Jaume III de Llucmajor school and the Sant Bonaventura school joined in the activities. Students from up to seven 1st year ESO classes from the IES Llucmajor school put the finishing touch to the activity.
‘We are participating for the third consecutive year in this initiative, which for us is a sure bet to highlight the environmental values that we promote from the Town Council,’ said Lascolas. President Galmés added that ‘helping children learn what they can do to care for their environment and see that Mallorca is a fragile territory that must be cared for is a priority for the island’s institution.’
As they cycled, the pupils were able to see how a light was turned on or a mobile phone was charged, gaining a direct understanding of the relationship between energy and effort. They learned where to put each type of waste and how to get around while reducing environmental pollution. They also showed off their originality by designing what will be next year’s poster for the challenge in Llucmajor, and to beat the heat, they enjoyed a healthy snack featuring melon and watermelon.
Once the challenge was over, and as one of the new features of this year’s edition, each of the students received a seedling to encourage individual responsibility in this area. Throughout the day, the teachers accompanied the groups, and many of them shared how these practical workshops complement and reinforce what they already work on in the classroom. ‘Seeing how the students apply what they have learned in a practical way and how they get involved and reflect on their environment is a reward for us,’ explained María González, head of studies at s’Algar.
The councillors of the Llucmajor Town Council, Inmaculada Pérez (Urban Maintenance and Planning) and Maria Cristina Pomar (Education) also wanted to be present. Pomar thanked the schools for their involvement, while Pérez stressed that ‘the new generations have to see the world as their home and therefore take care of it as such’. The event was part of a series of activities organised by the town to commemorate World Environment Day.
The activity was made possible thanks to the Llucmajor Town Council, the Regional Ministry of Business, Employment and Energy, Nissan Nigorra Baleares, and the collaboration of the Saica Foundation, TBC, Viveros Can Juanito, Agromart and Cash & Carry Rotger. With the sun high in the sky and the last few pedal strokes behind them, Llucmajor bid farewell to this edition of the Energy Ariya Challenge with the certainty that raising environmental awareness from childhood is not only possible, but necessary. Young people are clear about this: every gesture counts. And if caring for the environment means caring for life, Llucmajor took a firm step towards a better future.