Zero waste workshops, planting herbs and flowers, creating rain gardens, and a super sorter zone – these are just some of the attractions that Gdansk institutions prepared for the Gdansk Eco Zone (Gdańska Eko Strefa). The event, which took place on Saturday and Sunday (August 13-14), could not miss the Center for Sustainable Development at the University of Gdansk.
During the last weekend of the Dominican Fair, the CZRUG team had the opportunity to meet at Hevelius Square with the residents of Gdansk and tourists who visited the city. We prepared attractions for both younger and slightly older participants of the event. For the first ones we prepared coloring books and educational games promoting the idea and goals of sustainable development. In turn, teenagers and adults had a chance to test their knowledge in a quiz on gender equality and climate action (Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 13).
Prizes alluding to a healthy and balanced lifestyle awaited both children and adults. In our games, the prizes to be won were apples and… a honey meadow of flowers ideal for sowing in a home garden. However, the most important thing in all the fun was not the prizes, but the opportunity to expand one’s knowledge and awareness of climate change. One of the questions of the quiz was about wetlands, which store water and counteract droughts, absorb carbon dioxide and are a store of carbon dioxide and a sanctuary of biotic diversity. Not everyone knows that in Poland 80% of such areas have already been drained.
However, that’s not all. For the Gdansk Eco Zone we also prepared a mini-exhibition “Anthropocene – how man dominated the world in seventy years”. Photographs depicting the effects of climate change in Polish terms were taken and described by Dawid Weisbrodt, PhD. Some of the boards were also devoted to the idea of sustainable development.
You could meet our team both at the CZRUG booth and in the chillout area, where you could talk with us in a slightly less formal atmosphere. The Center for Sustainable Development team was represented by Sylwia Mrozowska, PhD, DSc, Prof of the UG, Director of CZRUG; Krzysztof Szczepaniak, PhD, Deputy Director of CZRUG; Barbara Kijewska, PhD, Associate Dean for Student Affairs of the Faculty of Social Sciences UG, CZRUG Internship Program Coordinator; Dawid Weisbrodt, PhD; Bartosz Duraj, M.Sc.; Jolanta Mrozek, M.Sc.; Maria Karbowska, M.Sc.; Szymon Gronowski, M.Sc. and CZRUG intern Pelin İndibay.
We would like to thank the City of Gdansk for inviting us to participate in the Gdansk Eco Zone!