Students discussion:Group Two: Martin, Petr, Aggie

Hi Martin, Petr & Aggie

Sorry I didn't comment earlier on your first assignment - the diary entry - I corrected the English and then moved onto the next group without making any observations in the discussion page. You made a reasonable summary of the day's events and added some nice images of the places we visited. A short description of and link to the 'White Carpathian Tradition' would have been good, and perhaps what methods were used to involve the local community in building the Vulkanland 'brand'. Finally, I don't quite follow your criticism of photovoltaic energy and its impact on the Third World; further explanation and at least one or two references would be very helpful!! :) Otherwise all good.

Second Assignment

Nice choice of the sustainable campuses :) Good to see you picked up on the earlier aborted efforts to start something like a green campus in the Czech Republic (there's another idea doing the rounds at the moment to revive the green campus concept in CZ). Any idea why the earlier attempts were so limited and died so quickly? You provide a useful summary of the some of the sustainability measures the University of Graz has in place; don't forget that the university also hosts the Graz-Styria Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (which has been involved in the Vulkanland project). And be careful not to place too much emphasis on environmental science departments, as SD is about much more than just the environment ;)

I really like your appraisal of the current potential of Masaryk University to instigate a green campus. I was surprised to learn that it does in fact follow some 'sustainable' practices already (I presume the "swift nesting boxes" refers to "vlaštovky", so I changed it to "swallow nesting boxes"). And I especially like the idea of using its rivalry with Charles University to spur it to become the first truly sustainable campus in CZ.

Finally, I wonder about Czech attitudes to sustainability as a "luxury", given that there was such a rich history of environmentalism under the late socialist regime and the early 1990s. I don't disagree with you, but I wonder what your opinion is of why there is such an attitude other than the feeling that there are more pressing problems, like economic recession and corruption, etc. What roles have the media and certain highly placed politicians played?

Altogether a very good effort! :D

Andrew