Green University in the Czech Republic: Difference between revisions

=== Situation in the Czech Republic and a possible outline of the Green University project ===

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 the Czech Republic has not met many of the stated priorities yet.<ref>Stav místní Agendy 21 ve dvanácti evropských zemích URL: < http://www.cenia.cz/web/www/web-pub2.nsf/$pid/MZPMSFHW5QFD/$FILE/stav_ma21_ve12ti_zemich_evropy.pdf ></ref><ref>The strategic framework for sustainable development in the Czech Republic URL: < http://www.mzp.cz/C125750E003B698B/en/czech_republic_strategy_sd/$FILE/KM-SFSD_CR_EN-20100317.pdf ></ref>. 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.  

As far as we are concerned, the issues most related with possible carbon neutrality (heating, electricity) are difficult to change on a short-term basis, 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 concluding part of this analysis.  

Simultaneously, we would like to be the first ´Green University´ in our country and that way set the path for other Czech high education institutions to follow. Actually, there used to be a Czech project called Zelená univerzita aimed at the same issue, unfortunately it finished for reasons unknown to us a couple of years ago.<ref>[9] ACSA URL: < http://www.acsa.cz/zuni/ ></ref>

First of all, the actual agenda should be assessed. 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.

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. <ref>Nadace O2 - Think Big - Pravidla URL: < http://www.o2thinkbig.cz/pravidla/ ></ref> 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 chance for them to get 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, 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, demonstrations of environmentally friendly projects and products.