GOOD AND BAD PRACTICE

The « good and bad environmental practices » workshop is a time of reflection in national groups to underline good and bad environmental practices in their country in order to present them to the other groups.

Czech Republic || Estonia || France || Italy || Poland || Portugal

SUSTAINABLE AND UNSUSTAINABLE PRACTICES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Positive

Good system of separation and recycling of garbage (paper, glass, plastics, metal, beverage boxes – Tetra Pak), however separation of communal organic waste is not widely applied and still missing in most cities
Ecological liquidation of old electronics and cars – the production or distribution companies are obliged to dispose of the old devices in an ecologically friendly way
Biogas plants constructed in proximity to big cow houses or stock piles – production of gas, electricity and high quality fertilizer from organic waste
Use of renewable energy – solar, wind, water, biomass (6% of total energy consumption is renewable energy)
National program – interventions and support of renewable resources (mainly photovoltaic power plants), isolation of houses etc.
Wide network of organizations concerned with environmental protection, education about ecology etc.

Negative

Official attitude to environment protection – the Czech president is known for his skeptical attitude towards protection of environment protection (specifically fight with the global warming) and calling environmental activists “eco-terrorists”
Breaking of mining limits for brown coal – program of forming new open strip mines for brown coal, which destroy the landscape and are source of air and soil pollution
Transforming of river beds to be suitable for large boats – widening of the river beds would destroy the unique ecosystems of river banks and increase the risk of floods; besides, the river transport is not necessary, since the railway network in the Czech Republic is sufficient enough
Heavily polluted water sources and air in industrial areas
Illegal waste disposal sites – there are illegal stock piles, often even containing chemical substances and other hazardous waste, which are not properly treated, therefore polluting the environment

Discussible

Support of organic farming – organic farmers receive higher donations from the government than conventional farmers. The system is basically positive but there are several cases of misuse. There are officially more than 1500 organic farms in CZ, but a small number of them actually produce organic products. The rest of the farmers only take the donations from the government without producing anything organic. For this reason there should be stricter system of control and certification for organic farms.
Biodiesel – the gasoline used in CZ must contain at least 5% of biodiesel according to the law. The main source of biodiesel is rapeseed oil (Brassica napus) and because the state supports the biodiesel program, most of farmers concentrate on rape production. The result is large areas covered in rape monoculture, which have strong negative impact for biodiversity, the soil and also people’s health due to strong allergen properties of rape.

REPORT OF SUSTAINABLE AND UNSUSTAINABLE PRACTICES IN ESTONIA

Sustainable

Campaign „Let’s do it“- a grass root initiative to clean up the country from illegal waste in just one day. Over 100 000 volunteers took part of this event, 10 000 tons of garbage was collected and 8000 tons of it was recycled.
Fashion designer Reet Aus who is practicing eco-friendly designing and producing fashion, made a collection out of the uniforms of Estonian soldiers who were on a mission in Afghanistan. She is upgrading worn-out pieces of clothing into high-class fashion which can either be worn on important events – such as dresses and costumes or clothes for fashionable people in general.
Estonia is rich for forests, every year people plant new forests to replace those which are cut.
System of packages: if you buy drinks in bottles and cans, you can bring bottles and cans back to the shop and receive Money for that (0, 5 or 1 EEK per bottle). That motivates people to bring bottles back for recycling.

Unstainable

Using oil shale as an energy resource, because Estonia is lacking of nuclear energy and there is not enough energy produced by sun or wind.
Contamination of the Baltic Sea: algae bloom, gas prom will be built, so there are assumptions for the Baltic Sea becoming more polluted.

The popularity of second-life centers is growing in Estonia, recycling is slowly becoming a way of life, but more possibilities for doing this should be provided. People are buying more things from second-life stores: clothes, furniture, also building materials. So there are many clever adolescents who can get their apartment renovated with a small cost and creativity. One of the problems of recycling is that although families can recycle at home, the garbage still ends up in one container so there will be more work for the recycling centre and the effort of these nature-friendly families will be pointless.

FRANCE

Sustainable Practices

AGENDA 21
The agenda 21 is a tool to reduce consumption in French administrations.

PASSERELLE ECO
Is a magazine that promotes eco creative techniques and builds a network between the French eco villages. www.passerelleco.info

Wwoof association
Wwoof is a world wide network of organisations that allow volunteers to live and learn on organic properties. wwoofinternational.org

VOLONTARY GMO CUTTERS
They cut GM fields
monde-dolidaire.org

PERMACULTURE
The association builds a network between permaculture places, and organises trainings of permaculture.
permaculturefrance.com

L AMMAP
Is an association that promotes healthy agriculture and that connects people that want to buy vegetables to local organic farmers.

Unsustainable

NUCLEAR
78% of the electricity are produced by nuclear energy
17% of all energies needed are coming from nuclear sources
58 nuclear sites are working

GMO
In 2007, the global area of biotechnological plants has increased to 114.3 millions of hectares. This increasing of PGM surfaces since 1996, is representing one of the most important rising for a new agricultural technique. A sustained growth of more than 11 % was reached each year, lastings eight years long. Growth of PGM (or GMO) as follows : between 2002-2003: 15%, between 2003-2004: 20%, between 2005-2006: 13%, between 2006-2007: 12%.

ITALY

Sustainable

Eolic energy (25% of national production is in Puglia)
Support to get new systems and alternative energies
People use to differentiate garbage
Preventing pollution with car and bike sharing
Slow food (kilometrer zero – autosufficent farmhouses – farmer’s market)
Biogas production (in the food field chain factories)

Unsustainable

We buy 85% of energy we use from other countries.
There is no way to dispose solar panels ofter their use
Disposal centres don’t work properly
A new project for nuclear energy
New oil platform in the Adriatic sea

POLAND

Forms of nature protection in Poland

Nature Conservation Act of 16 April 2004 established the following forms of nature conservation:

national parks (national parks in Poland),
nature reserves,
parks,
protected landscape areas,
Natura 2000
natural monuments,
Position documentation and geological
sites of ecological,
Teams of nature and landscape,
protection of species of plants, animals and mushrooms.

The most important component of protection is 23 Polish national parks. Within the parks, covering a total area occupies more than 3,000 km2, was isolated in the 683 km2 area of strict protection, where there is no human interference in ecosystems. In other areas of parks staff and scientists support the rebirth of the natural wildlife.

We have so much eco- programmes in schools, televisions. We start used biomas fuel. We dont have nuclear power station.

We have so much resources but we dont use it, like: gas, geothermal sources, energy of wind and water. Polish people dont segregate the rubbish yet but we have conteners for that. The other problem is that in Poland eko-products are very expensive.

PORTUGAL

Sustainable

Eco-villages
Grouth of small villages
Non-profit organizations in cities: Casa da horta; Gaia; crew Hassan; bacalhoeiro
Non-profit organizations in villages: Centro convergencia; galeriq do dessossego
Local exchange trading systems

Unsustainable

Centralized Energy
A lot of dams, bad for nature
privatizations of coasts
Mobility: price of public transports
Mobility: no conditions to use bike
Mobility: Hitch-hiking is forbidden
green washing

Unsustainable growth of cities

coming of multinationals, Supermarkets
Local small producers cant compete and no local production
Their land becomes residential suburbia
People have to work in the city and drive from outside