To have a sustainable existence in the 21^st century, the individuals of today and tomorrow should continue their individual and social development in a healthy environment that is in harmony with nature. Green Steps Environmental Education Foundation (Yeşil Adımlar Çevre Eğitim Derneği) aims to raise and spread awareness about the environment that is necessary for a healthy 21^st century society that is at peace with nature as well as urban living. It is a non-profit volunteer organization where educators and experts from different fields collaborate to reach the foundation’s goals.

Green Steps believes that a participatory society that is sensitive to environmental issues, creative, responsible and proactive, can be created only through education.

Our logo is a frog, not just because frogs are green and exceptional jumpers, but like many other species, frogs are also in danger of becoming extinct. Scientists liken the importance of these sensitive amphibians; that breathe through their skins, to the eco system to what canaries, which can feel the colliery explosions at the coal mines long before they happen. This endangered species is not only becoming extinct in the areas where the pesticides are overly used and human functions are in excess, but also in the well-reserved and protected eco systems. This issue has alarmed the scientists, because it is interpreted as a sign that we are facing more serious and critical global environmental issues than imagined.

There are different ideas about why this is the case. Some scientists think that frogs are becoming extinct because the ozone layer has become thinner and the ultraviolet rays are damaging the larva. Some others believe that the pesticides and chemicals that are carried with the wind to all different places cause the extinction of frogs, and some other scientists think that it is because of the acid rains.

OUR GOAL

Our goal is to raise awareness in the society about the dangers incurred to the eco system, to inform and educate the whole society about how to live without damaging the eco system and to get them to take action in order to protect it.

OUR OBJECTIVES

* To make youngsters to own up to the environment they live in by developing protective, preventive environmental projects and to help them put their projects into action through the preparation of educational programs by collaborating with relevant organizations,

* To make Environmental Education widespread in K12 and higher education institutions, and to work towards the integration of the this topic to other relevant courses,

* To arrange environment related interactive and participatory activities to raise awareness in children and youth about environmental issues,

* To become a knowledgeable source with regards to environmental issues and  supporting the scientific experiments and publications in accordance with our goals,

* To raise awareness in the consumers about the ingredients and the manufacturing processes of the products they consume without questioning, and the costs to the environment, and inform them about the alternatives to the environmentally harmful products they consume while supporting their adherence of healthy consumer behavior,

* To prepare educational programs, which include ways of cutting down on waste, recycling and using energy and raw materials without wasting them, in order to teach the small and middle scale producers the ways to be environmentally friendly while at the same time  improving their efficiency,

* To inform and educate the large scale producers about ways of manufacturing which are  environmentally friendly.