Green University in the Czech Republic: Difference between revisions

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→‎Situation in the Czech Republic and first steps to solving it (possible outline)

Barbora Božková

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 == Situation in the Czech Republic and first steps to solving it (possible outline) ==
-When considering applying the Austrian model of a carbon neutral university to Czech circumstances, one must take into account the situation in our country. Austria have a long history of putting sustainable development issues into practice whereas Czech Republic has not met many of the stated priorities yet. [7] [8]. The typical university in the Czech Republic is much more dependent on fossil fuels than the Austrian one. In order to make the smallest (and more easily applicable) steps first, we will concentrate on greening the university before focusing on the energy issues most related to carbon neutrality (heating, electricity). As far as these topics are concerned, Austria is well-known for its long and positive approach to sustainable development concept and renewable sources of energy.
+When considering applying the Austrian model of a carbon neutral university to Czech circumstances, one must take into account the situation in our country. Austria have a long history of putting sustainable development issues into practice whereas Czech Republic has not met many of the stated priorities yet. [7] [8]. While Austria is well-known for its long and positive approach to sustainable development concept and renewable sources of energy, the Czech Republic is much more dependent on fossil fuels.
-However, we would still like to be the first ´Green University´ in our country and that way set the path for other Czech high education institutions, our project should therefore be first aimed at greening the university by various ´simple´ steps. Possible solutions to addressed problems (or other challenges) will be discussed in the third part of this analysis.
+However, the issues most related with possible carbon neutrality (heating, electricity) are difficult to change, our project should therefore be first aimed at greening the university by various ´simple´ steps. Possible solutions to addressed problems (or other challenges) will be discussed in the third part of this analysis.
+Also, we would still like to be the first ´Green University´ in our country and that way set the path for other Czech high education institutions. Actually, there was a Czech project called Zelená univerzita aimed at the same issue, unfortunately it finished a couple of years ago for reasons unknown to us. []
 First of all, the actual agenda should be set. We will set up a team of active individuals (ideally around 10 people) who will create the plan of long-term activities. In order to gain information from successful cases of foreign ´green universities´, we will contact University of Lueneburg (Germany), University of Graz (Austria), Lund University (Sweden) to provide us with information, advice and tips how to proceed. [] [] []
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 Before we start with a potential campaign, we will investigate our possibilities of obtaining a grant. We shall also discuss it with the rector´s office regarding a possible support (financial as well as/or official patronage). At the moment there is a good oportunity to get a O2 Think Big grant which would enable us to finance the activities in our project. [] For further funding we will consider addressing companies conducting business in the field of renewable energy sources. We realize that in this project we will not focus on energy itself, on the other hand, cooperating with local entrepreneurs may be a very good tool for attracting students of technical studies at the first stage – once the students join the project, there is a potential of them getting a job or a training in those companies).
-The next - and the most challenging - step would be to attract students to the Green University project and raise awareness about the issue of sustainable development itself. As far as we are concerned, there is not much knowledge among Czech students about the implementation of sustainable development goals, we would thus start our campaign with questionnaires based on queries related to this topic. In order to enhance students´ awareness, we will organize lectures and workshops with lecturers from cooperating universities. An interactive webpage will be set up for students and teachers to write their ideas and tips how to green their university.
+The next - and the most challenging - step would be to attract students to the Green University project and raise awareness about the issue of sustainable development itself. As far as we are concerned, there is not much knowledge among Czech students about the implementation of sustainable development goals, we would thus start our campaign with questionnaires based on queries related to this topic. In order to enhance students´ awareness, we will organize lectures, workshops and field trips with lecturers from cooperating universities. An interactive webpage will be set up for students and teachers to learn more about our goals and read background information. There will also be a carbon footprint calculator for them as well as a box for their ideas and tips  how to green their university.
+Promotion of our project will mainly be done by the website mentioned above, we will also print brochures with basic information. Once a year we will organize a Green Festival at the campus where we plan to address students from all fields of study and inform them about our activities. The Green Festival would comprise of various activities, e.g. contests for environmentally-friendly prizes, games.
 == Proposed solutions for Czech universities ==