The Alliance Française, Port Harcourt has organized an exhibition programme tagged ‘The Endless World’ to mark the 2024 World Environment Day held at its Premises at Herbert Macaulay Street, Amadi Flat, Old GRA.

The Director, Alliance Française, Mrs Marina Lacal who disclosed recently said that the exhibition tour was part of activities mapped out to mark the ‘Day’.

According to her, the initiative was made possible by the *Embassy of France to Nigeria, a major sponsor of the initiative and Institut Français Paris, which provides the exhibition to its network to raise public awareness of the challenges of ecological transition.

She stated that the Exhibition “The Endless World,” is an Educational Visual Adaptation adapted from the graphic novel “Le Monde sans fin” by Jean-Marc Jancovici and Christophe Blain (over 800,000 copies sold in France in 2022), the exhibition illustrates the in-depth dialogue between the two authors. Jean-Marc Jancovici, as the guide, and Christophe Blain, in the role of the innocent, explore themes of energy: its historical use, the rise of fossil fuels, and humanity’s impact on the environment, particularly the climate. This exhibition calls for action by addressing essential questions such as non-carbon energy, food, transportation, and urban planning, while proposing concrete solutions.

She noted that in line with this year’s UN theme, ‘Generation Restoration’, about 165 students, ranging from wards from 6 primary schools in Port Harcourt, as well as students from the French department of both the University of PortHarcourt and those from the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education participated in the exhibition tour.

The UN theme, this year, ‘Generation Restoration’, is based on the premise that while we cannot turn back time, we are the generation capable of restoring our relationship with the Earth, saying that the exhibition offers a selection of content that illustrates and questions the major issues of the environmental crisis, while providing avenues for solutions to reduce our impact.Activities and Target Audience.

The Alliance Director, further said that the programme which is educational was aimed at creating awareness, foster connectivity of cultural propagation and proffer solutions to climate crisis affecting the earth with French Language.

“The Alliance Française, Port Harcourt has planned guided tours and mediations around the proposed solutions, aimed at primary and secondary school students, French department students, and learners at the Alliance. The goal is to raise awareness among the generation that will be active tomorrow. About 165 youths already booked their tour of the exhibition. An Educational and Cultural Opportunity The exhibition, provided by the Institut Français, is a boon for the Alliance Française. It fits into its cultural projects and idea debates, which aim to reconcile cultural dissemination with the learning of the French language,” she explained

“The Endless World” combines the aesthetics of a French comic book with the expertise of two ecological figures, offering a unique opportunity to work on vocabulary related to eology.Ecological and Sustainable Solutions,” she said.

The Tide reports that the exhibition was printed on flexible PVC banners, a material that is both durable and lightweighted. Also, to avoid waste production, accessories such as bags, pouches, and keychains were made from these banners and distributed to participants. These accessories will also be used by the Alliance Française teachers for their professional needs. Seats were made for permanent installation at the Alliance. Additionally, the exhibition was mounted on wooden panels, thus reducing its ecological impact.