Students:Martin Růta

About me...

I'm 36 but still feel ok:) I study in Usti nad Labem - Univerzita J. E. Purkyne. My study programme is Ecology and Environment Conservation. The fate of our planet is not indifferent to me and I think that sustainability is a way how to preserve it. I'd like to know more and more about technologies, methods and new ways how to protect the enviroment we live in. I the the best way how to achieve it is to visit particular places and meet people which are involved in this field. I'm looking forward to meeting new people with similar interests. I really like to participate on any trip 'cause there is always more fun than in the university:) Germany is good place to go. Everything is well organized and prepared and the beer there is almost as good as czech is;) Hopefuly there will be a time and energy to enjoy a pint or two:) Hope I don't forget pajamas:)

Sustainability Field Trip to Lüneburg

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Diary

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Day zero: Take-off from Usti nad Labem - arrival in Lueneburg:)

Day one: After great breakfast we started a guided tour about history of city Lueneburg. We had two proffesional guides - Marlene Mader and Insa Otte. They showed us the heart of the city and told us many historical and interesting facts. Afterwards they took us to the campus of Leuphana University where we've had delicious lunch. That was followed by the lecture called Basic concepts of sustainable development presented by Maik Adomssent. The next part of the schedule was a workshop prepared by students of local university. Our task was to come up with some ideas how our university can be participating on the sustainability. We've created four groups and presented four ideas - 1. reduce of using elevators in the university, 2. protein (insects) events, 3. cycling for free and 4. fair trade products. Afterwards all students was looking forward to having a dinner which has beaten all expectation - we had schnitzels:) After that everyone was necessary to comply drinking regime:)

Day two: First event today was a lecture about renewable energy presented by Alexa Lutzenberger. That was very detailed description of the alternative sources of energy using in Germany nowadays and also about a distribution the sources in the future. The following part of a shedule was a campus tour in Leuphana university. Next chapter of a day was very interesting excursion in Neu Wulmstorf landfill. The use of a waste to produce energy, or the use of landfill area as a space for wind turbines and photovoltaics was explained by dr. Tilman Wolfsteller. So far the most interesting event of this field trip. Afterwards we went to Hamburg where we spent time as turists:)

Day three: We started at the Alfred Toepfler Academy of Nature Conservation at Schneverdingen. Susanne Eilers has focused on the methods how to popularized sustainability to the public - young people or local inhabitants - by the form of non-scientific way. For example by various games or direct discussions with residents. The most interesting part was her experience with using interactive sustainability game in the conference with scientists and politicians. We went to Lueneburg Heath after where we heard (from Jan Brockman) a lot about a history of heats in Germany especially in Lower Saxony. And also about the management of heathlands in present days. The third event was a visit Baukhof dynamic organic farm very interestingly guided by Ralf Weber. Our visit was accompanied by uncommon lunch with local farmers. So far every place we went was very inspirative and we can only hope that we will see similar methods guaranteeing sustainability in Czech Republic as well.

Day four: First of it we were listening to Sebastian Heilmann a member of the Green Party. He gave us an idea about a history of "greens" in Germany and also about current situation both in Germany or in the Lower Saxony. The most remarkable was the allocation of seats of Green Party which is 28,7%. He's also mentioned a problem of historical brick buildings in Lueneburg - bricks absorb a heat of the sun during the day and release it in the night time. That causes an increase of temperature in the town center. That was followed by DialogN - an NGO initiative in Lueneburg. Their target is to bring various organizations dealing with the sustainability together and to approach new ideas to the public. Later we went to Hamburg to visit IBA - Internationale Bauaustellung. It's a company which researches new methods in building houses, make them sustainable using bio materials, alternative sources of energy - photovoltaics, solar thermal energy and also very interesting algae reactors implemented directly to the walls of houses. Next visit was in the Energy bunker which will be renovated and used inter alia as a water tank and a solar power system to generate hot water and thermal heat for dwellings in Hamburg.

Day five: First speaker today was Marcus Falke from The Leuphana innovation incubator which is a project mostly funded by the goverment and its objectives are - e.g. construction of new university directorate, expansion of research force through attracting international scientists or a growth of employement. He was followed by three students with different PhD projects. Sarah Veltens project was Sustainable agriculture, Lotte Lutz came to introduce project of renewable energy and Jana Timm presented her project about sustainable entrepreneurs. Our task after their presentations was to come up with our ideas regarding to all three topics and discuss them with students. This session was followed by "abfahrt" back to the Czech.

Summary

The whole trip was very interesting and enriching but if I had to highlight and select the most interesting event it would be an excursion to the landfill in Neu Wulmstorf. Firstly it was accompanied by a very sophisticated interpretation by dr. Tillman Wolfsteller who was able to answer all questions regarding to the facility.

The entire conservation process of dumps seemed to me almost perfect. Technologies used in Neu Wulmstorf starting with insulating the landfill from the surrounding environment which prevents from penetration of rain water into the stored waste and thus prevents a leakage of polluted water into the ground water. The next step how from unsightly dump get back the "original" landscape is to overlap insulating layer of quality soil , which is thus separated from the waste and can not be contaminated. Since the area of landfill is vast offers a number of possibilities for its use such as golf courses or recreational purposes or planting of Christmas trees. There are currently three wind turbines located on a formed hill which provide electricity for adjacent residential areas. Another positive of this place is a generating electricity from gas which is collected from decomposing processes in the waste.

All of this forms a complex way of recultivation of a land affected by the storage of waste. It is inspiring method which should be used in the Czech Republic where is a large number of landfills that can be treated in this way.