The year 2020, in addition to the many challenges we faced, also brought the Krzyżowa Foundation a lot of good. The small number of guests allowed us to focus on improving the operation of our center in terms of its impact on the environment. The project "Towards sustainable development in education and practice", which we implement thanks to funding from the Heinrich Böll Foundation from Warsaw allowed us to implement many pro-ecological projects and develop this part of our activity, both in terms of education and practice (in line with the name of the project).
As we assumed it a year ago, while working on the ecoconcept, we introduce ecological solutions with the participation of members of various departments of the foundation - substantive employees cooperate with technical employees. Thanks to this, many educational materials were created, including those for use in the space of our center. Some of them are:
Read more: PROJECT || "Towards sustainable development in education and practice"
Today at the Foundation, not only online work prevails over working in lively contact with people participating in educational projects, but also our publications appear more and more often in digital form, not in the form of a book that smells of print. The currently presented publication is the result of a two-day online BarCamp organized in June 2020 together with the Kreisau Initiative e.V. and Freya von Moltke Stiftung, to participate in which we invited youth work specialists from Germany, Poland and Ukraine.
The subject of BarCamp was reflection on the current situation of historical and civic education in our three countries. Innovative methods, which we are currently developing in order to maintain the existence of non-formal education, especially historical and civic education, played an important role here. The publication summarizes our experiences related to the implementation of BarCamp online. The entire chapter is devoted to ideas on how to transfer popular integration games and energizers to virtual meeting spaces. The publication is now available in English on our website and can be downloaded for free.
Read more: PUBLICATION || #(Hi)storytelling. My History, Your History, Our History
The climate crisis and environmental degradation are among the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. The paradigm of economic growth at all costs, the spirit of consumerism, the attitude of greed and exploitation which man has applied to the Earth and its resources, as well as to the weaker ones, has led to ecological imbalances, environmental degradation, social inequality and climate change.
We are seeing the progressive effects of climate change all over the world. It can also be felt in our part of Europe: ever warmer winters, deeper droughts, and extreme weather phenomena such as heavy rainfall are occurring with increasing frequency.
The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, report in English, report in German) clearly shows that, if we do not take decisive steps towards a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, we could lead to irreversible, long-term effects, even leading to the loss of certain ecosystems.niektórych ekosystemów.
Read more: The climate crisis - what can we do? || Anna Dańkowska
How should the Krzyżowa Foundation behave in the face of the climate crisis, environmental degradation and deepening social and environmental problems? We believe that it has a duty to ask courageous questions, to criticise the exploitation of the planet and people, to seek constructive solutions for a better future, and to support attitudes of respect for nature, Earth's resources and solidarity with others.
The Foundation, which runs a large educational centre and hosts more than 10,000 people from many countries every year, has considerable possibilities for pro-ecological activities. At the same time, it is statutorily obliged to do so. The Statute recommends the implementation of tasks for, among others, "ecology and animal protection and protection of natural heritage". In addition, it defines as an objective of the Foundation "to stimulate and support activities aimed at the consolidation of a peaceful and tolerant coexistence of nations, social groups and individuals", while the climate crisis and environmental degradation are increasingly a threat to peace.
Read more: Our vision of ecology in Krzyżowa || Anna Dańkowska, Robert Żurek
