School may be off for the summer, but not for our 10:10 schools in Balkan and Adriatic, here is what just some of them are doing this summer:

Students from "Matija Antun Reljkovic high school" in Slavonski Brod, eastern Croatia, planted tomatoes and they excpect 600 - 700 kilograms of ripe tomatoes per month. They even built their own planters, and are now expanding to flowers and lavender. Most of their crops they sell on the market or to hotels and restaurants.

(photos credits Matija Antun Reljkovic High School)

If this summer you are staying at one of the hotels in Istria, you'll probably eat tomatoes that are produced by students and teachers of Secondary School Matija Antun Reljković from Slavonski Brod.

Schools manager, Mr Prskalo, explains that the whole idea is to show students the possibilities of sustainable living. The positive addition is that Slavonski Brod is located in Slavonia - a part of Croatia that is generally known for its agriculture. A role of the school to make some development, create a climate where children are not ashamed of the work on the field - the 55 year old school manager explains.

Students are not growing just tomatoes. They also planted lavender, and after picking it, they will dry it, pack it in small bags and sell it as well.

The school property stretches over 80 hectares, and besides flowers, lavender and tomatoes they are also growing raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, apples, pears, cabbage, potatoes, onions, and the great crops of wheat, canola, sunflower, sugar beet, oats and soybeans. All naturally grown. They have a small paddock with Lipizzaner horses and they planted an arboretum with rare species of trees.

In September the school will organize voluntary 10:10 classes for both students and teachers, and learn more about climate change and carbon emissions.

Thanks to all this effort and great yield of fruits and vegetables, students will be
eligible for meals at affordable prices, and their field trips will be paid for from the money collected from fruit and vegetables sales.

More schools are cutting carbon, here are their plans, and we look forward to their stories in the weeks to come:

5th gymnasium in Zagreb; Croatia is using the summer break to re-evaluate all maintenance in the school, and find ways how to cut carbon in the maintenance area.

11th gymnasium in Zagreb, Croatia is following the Rs - reuse, repair - as they repair all broken furniture in school and paint the walls.

Elementary school in Vrbani, Zagreb follows their example. They organized themselves in fixing and repairing all neccessary equipment and furniture.

15th gymnasium in Zagreb re-evaluates their New Equipment Purchase list, as they try to find equipment that consumes less energy  and/or is more energy efficient.

The Čakovec Gymnasium in the north of Croatia decided to repair all their electrical installations this summer.

(elementary school Sokobanja, Serbia)

Elementary school "Mitropolit Mihailo" in Sokobanja, Serbia decided to declutter and either give away or recycle all unnecessary items from school.

Pupils and students from Kruševac, Serbia organized a big lake cleaning.

(Lake Ćelije, Kruševac, Serbia)