Thanks to the Group Active Citizens, Czech Students are Addressing the Problem of Illegal Landfills and Hosting Sustainable Garden Parties To Raise Awareness
Published: Jun 16, 2022 Reading time: 3 minutes
During one of their daily outings, students of a small family-run school located in Kunice, a village a little over 20 kilometers south-east of Prague, noticed how messy their surrounding were and they decided to do something about it (getting their whole village on board in the process). As part of the Active Citizens project (organised by People in Need), they hosted a sustainable garden party this month. The original article was published online in the magazine, Flowee.
It all started when two teachers began meeting with some of the students boarding at the Kunice High School of Crafts (Střední škola řemesel Kunice). The school is rather small and has a family-like environment. The majority of the 50 students live in a dormitory on campus and spend most of their free time in the countryside.
The school, together with other five schools, is participating in People in Need’s Active Citizens Project, Protecting the Climate (Chráníme klima). The students are especially aware of their environment and because of this and they can’t stand to see how much trash there is all over the surrounding countryside how the local forests are positively clogged with garbage, resulting in the creation of several landfills.
FROM THE FORESTS TO THE MAYOR’S OFFICE
From their survey, they learned that everyone is outraged by the mess as they walk through the forests. But for the students of Kunice, they didn’t just want to leave it at outrage. Instead, they decided to approach the town mayor and do something about all the litter and the illegal landfills. The town mayor, Jiří Šíma, responded positively to their requests and cooperation began.
A GARDEN PARTY TO INSPIRE ChaNGE
The aim of this event is to raise awareness about the dire ecological situation in the area and to inspire more people to get involved was the garden party, held on June 15th from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.
Each department had planned to offer one organic, sustainable, vegetarian or vegan product. “For example, the cafeteria is preparing vegan sandwiches, the career department is sewing bags for grocery shopping made out of old cloth, and the dormitory’s stand will show people how to recycle plastic bottles,” described Bára Lupínková, before the event.
Garden party guests could also look forward to a package-free mini shop, a charity bazaar full of clothes and other household items, as well as vegetarian and vegan hot snacks and excellent coffee. Parents are welcome to bring small children, as kid-friendly ecological games will be provided. There was a lecture on climate change, as well as an exhibition of objects found by students in the forest, accompanied information about their expected decomposition time. A musical performance will add to the atmosphere of the event.
Read the full report in Czech on Flowee's website.
People in Need's YOUTH PROTECT THE CLIMATE (MLADÍ CHRÁNÍ KLIMA) Program
Kunice Students were able to use a grant of CZK 8,000 (€ 323) from our program, Youth Protect the Climate (Mladí Chrání Klima) to organise a garden party with the theme of sustainability and nature protection.
If you’d also like to host a similar event at your school or take a small step in your area to contribute to climate protection, feel free to check out how to receive the CZK 8000 (€ 323) Youth Protects the Climate grant here (in CZ).
The grant can be obtained by either a group of students, an informal group of friends or an association of people aged 15 to 35. The next application deadline will be July 31, 2022.
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