Green Hope for the Blue Planet
A project on ecological responsibility and sustainability in libraries
Autor: Petra Špačková
Contents
- Annotation
- Our library
- Sustainability
- Climate change on site – tornado strength in South Moravia 2021
- Library activities
- Finished and planned projects
- Summary, expected results
Annotation
In my contribution I would like to present our ideas and activities on the topic “Sustainability in Libraries”. The library supports the Sustainable Development Goals as an independent educational institution and offers a space for public discussions under the motto “Together we can do it”.
Our library
The Hodonín Municipal Library is the educational, social and cultural centre of the region and organises a range of events to promote cultural life in the town.
The municipal library was founded on 1 July 1921. The number of library units is 141 787 media. The library has 17 employees, including the director. In 2023, the library had 4,450 readers, including 1,660 children under the age of 15.
The library’s public information and educational services were used by 156,535 users
Sustainability
The Hodonín Municipal Library is officially participating in the ‘Sustainability in Libraries’ programme for 2021.
Climate change on the ground – tornado in South Moravia in 2021
On 24 June 2021, South Moravia was hit by the largest tornado in modern Czech history. It swept through the Breclav and Hodonín regions (seven municipalities in total), leaving six people dead, dozens injured, hundreds of houses destroyed and more than 1,600 roofs damaged. The damage caused by the tornado was estimated at around CZK 15 billion – 607.75 million euros.
Our employees actively participated as volunteers and contributed financially to collections for tornado relief. We shared information via social media to coordinate relief efforts and provided facilities and programmes for children in the affected areas.
The tornado reached intensity IF4, had a track length of 27.1 km and a maximum width of 2800 m east of Breclav.
Library activities
One of the most important initiatives in the area of sustainability and healthy living was an online programme prepared in time for the pandemic measures at the end of 2020. Chiropractic Advice for Wellbeing and Health was a pilot project with 14 filmed video blocks for the adult public.
For primary school pupils, unconventional readings “Great October Collective Reading” have been organised in the assembly area, incl. creative workshops with recycled materials. The senior citizens’ office, which is integrated into the library, organises lectures on growing herbs and environmentally friendly behaviour.
Finished and planned projects
In 2022, the Hodonín Municipal Library implemented 2 projects on education for environmental responsibility and sustainability, supported by grants from the Ministry of Culture and the Local Action Group.
“You will change the world” – a project for children in kindergartens and primary schools
A total of 44 pupils from kindergartens in Hodonín and primary schools took part in the “Water Drops on the Street” programme, which we organised in cooperation with the Dúbrava Eco Centre.
The “Green Hope for the Blue Planet” project for the general public was organised under the patronage of the Senator for Hodonín.
500 visitors took part in the project events. The target group of our project was the general public of all age groups.
2023
In April 2023, the premiere of a film documentary about the return of water to the landscape and the rescue of Šumava’s wetlands entitled Water Lost and Returned took place in the Svět Cinema, presented in cooperation with the Hodonín Municipal Library and the Svět Cinema by the PR coordinator of the Šumava National Park Administration’s LIFE for MIRES – Life for Wetlands project, Mr Lukáš Linhart.
The documentary film was accompanied by a lecture on the project, the water cycle in nature and the
possibilities of its retention in the landscape in the context of global warming. 250 spectators came to see the morning and afternoon programme.
Events in 2024
The project “Herbology in the Library” was prepared for primary school children. Sustainability in libraries and the promotion of reading skills are at the centre of the project. For primary school children, there is an author’s reading with the regional writer Zuzana Teplíková, the author of the book “Celestýn’s Magic Balls”. The project ends with a workshop in which each child receives a small canvas bag that they paint with plant-based textile colours and fill with dried herbs.
House of Nature Hodonínské Dúbravy
A lecture on the visitor centre of the Hodonínská Dúbrava National Nature Monument.
Moravian Tuscany – demonstration organic farm of Peter Marada
Petr Marada, a private farmer and university lecturer, has been working on transforming the formerly intensively farmed landscape without water areas since 2007.
All about herbs
Medicinal herbs and their uses. How to grow, collect, process and incorporate them into your diet, as well as instructions and recipes on how to use them for various ailments of the body.
Herbs for everyone
The use of herbs in traditional Chinese medicine.
How to cook a simple all-day meal
Seminar with a nutritionist on how to prepare simple and good all-day menus, including snacks.
We cooperate with the founder in the campaigns “Healthy City”, “Earth Day”, Cycle to Work and collect unwanted mobile phones
The future:
Drinking water for your home, clean water for nature… – Presentation by the water manager about drinking water sources in Hodonín and the surrounding area and their protection. Hodonín wastewater treatment plant – excursion following the lecture.
Environmental psychology – environmental and social psychologist Jan Krajhanzl will give a lecture on the relationship of the Czech public to environmental protection.
Summary, expected results
“Hic sunt homines”. This is where people live, says the poet Radek Štěpánek, one of the authors involved in our project.
We want to draw attention to this problem not only in our region, but in the entire Czech Republic and thus contribute at least a part to the global environmental problems.