From 14 to 17 July, the new TeoDorka Rehabilitation and Leisure Centre in Ciechocinek, located away from the hustle and bustle of the spa, but close to the Vistula River, hosted its first group: participants of the Polish Green Summer University. While the 20th Jubilee International Festival of Romani Song and Culture was a spa attraction, Polish and foreign Green activists, activists from organisations sharing similar values, representatives of friendly local communities or simply supporters interested in a Green understanding of the world, Europe and Poland debated, exchanged knowledge and integrated their environment in the Vistula silence. For the first time, the new possibilities offered by Facebook for streaming via smartphones were used, so that many debates and workshops were available live and can still be watched.

Thanks to ZLU, Rebecca Harms, co-chair of the Greens/European Free Alliance faction in the European Parliament, visited Ciechocinek to share a key message with participants in a debate on democracy and the future of Europe, with the participation of Mateusz Kijowski from KOD and Greens Party chairs Małgorzata Tracz and Marek Kossakowski: ‘Brexit has shown that at a time of such great crises and threats to the unity and survival of the European Union as we are experiencing today, the people who hold dear this unique experiment in international cooperation, which is a guarantee of peace, solidarity and cooperation in Europe, free movement of citizens and mutual learning between nations divided by history, must have one priority – to save the EU from disintegration. Only then will we be able to look at how to reduce bureaucracy, increase citizen participation in decision-making and improve European institutions. “We may not agree with EU decisions, but they are not decisions of bureaucrats, because decisions in the EU are taken by the European Parliament, elected by universal suffrage in all countries, and by the European Council, i.e. democratically elected governments. EU citizens need to be reminded of this again and again,” said Rebecca Harms.

Rebecca Harms also participated in the public debate “Should the Vistula be restored to navigation, are there better solutions for the development of Ciechocinek?”. It was also attended by the President of the City Council of Ciechocinek and at the same time the President of Uzdrowisko Ciechocinek, Marcin Zajączkowski, hydrologist Dr. Janusz Żelaziński, Przemysław Nawrocki dealing with rivers and their ecosystems at WWF and river eco-tourism promoter Jakub Gołębiewski. The moderator was Dr Marta Jermaczek-Sitak. A resident of Ciechocinek, Professor Marek Grześ from the Department of Hydrology and Water Management at the Nicolaus Copernicus University (UMK) in Toruń, who is particularly knowledgeable on the subject, was also invited to front row and speak.

This debate was organised because the future of the Vistula, as well as the Oder and other, smaller rivers in Poland, is under serious threat, which was one of the key themes of ZLU 2016. Hence the title of the Green Summer University: “Green Poland, Green River”. Decisions on the Vistula will depend, among other things, on provincial and local governments. Greens, biologists, ecologists and hydrologists are proving that today’s projects to dredge rivers, and above all Europe’s largest renaturalised river, the Vistula, are irrational and will have disastrous consequences: Billions of euros spent on damming up the river through the construction of 10 barrages, billions more to be spent in the future on maintaining the navigability of a Class IV river, even if only for a small part of the year, with major new flood risks, and the Baltic Sea dying out even faster due to blue-green algae and anaerobic zones. Added to this, of course, are the disastrous consequences for many river species: primarily birds and mammals, but also river fish, which are now a paradise for thousands of anglers. Both Przemysław Nawrocki of the WWF and Dr. Janusz Żelaziński spoke about this, hydrologist, who referred to the wise after the fashion of the French, who have learnt from the unpleasant experience of the 20th century’s rivers being impounded, so that today they adapt their ships to the rivers and not vice versa. He cited the examples of the Loire and Dordogne rivers, which are an extremely important part of the great tourist attraction of the regions through which they flow. Jakub Gołębiewski, a practitioner of river eco-tourism on the Vistula, tried to prove that the potential of the Vistula is enormous in this area, also for Ciechocinek. The outstanding example of the Dordogne River was highlighted in the discussion by Ewa Sufin-Jacquemart, President of the Board of the Green Zone Foundation, twenty-five years living in France, where she graduated in territorial development through sustainable tourism. “The project to use the Vistula River is irrational, even detrimental to the development of Ciechocinek, which lives on health tourism, while the development of river eco-tourism could be a very interesting addition to the city’s tourism offer today,” Sufin-Jacquemart argued. Radosław Gawlik, formerly Secretary of State at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, today President of the Ecological Association EKO-UNIA and Green Party activist, also spoke. He emphasised the risk of flooding drastically increased when the new water level will be built. He spoke of how Professor Grześ had erected a pillar not far from the centre where we were, on which he marked the water level from the last big flood. Amazing. To ensure that flooding is not a problem and does not cause great losses, i.e. costs to taxpayers, rivers should have natural undeveloped floodplains rather than dams with full reservoirs. Gawlik also reported on an appeal by NGOs and scientists criticising the ‘Assumptions for the development of inland waterways in Poland for 2016-2020 with an outlook to 2030’ recently adopted by the Council of Ministers. (the appeal can be read here).

To ensure that flooding is not a problem and does not cause large losses, i.e. costs to taxpayers, rivers should have natural, undeveloped floodplains rather than dams with full reservoirs. Gawlik also reported on an appeal by NGOs and scientists criticising the ‘Assumptions for the development of inland waterways in Poland for 2016-2020 with an outlook to 2030’ recently adopted by the Council of Ministers. (the appeal can be read here).
Also the ‘Green City’ seminar was open to the Ciechocinek audience. The aim was to showcase various urban policy measures, consistent with the Green Vision – inclusive cities, for all citizens, but also liveable, caring for water, air quality, nature and greenery in the city. Visitors were able to learn about revitalisation and homelessness prevention projects in Gorzów Wielkopolski, mobility and transport policy in the Czech Green city of Brno, as well as about the opportunities open to local authorities to improve air quality or the health of residents, and also about urban policy in the Catalan Green-ruled city of El Prat near Barcelona (where the agglomeration’s airport is located). In El Prat, thanks to a long-standing consistent and comprehensive policy, a marginalised deprived neighbourhood has been excluded, water management has been revolutionised to clean the river and beaches, public and zero-emission transport has been developed and nature conservation has been greatly improved. All this was presented by the vice mayor of El Prat, Sergi Alegre Calero, who came to Ciechocinek from outside Barcelona especially for the Green Summer University.

In the section on Green Vision for the Future entitled ‘Towards a Different Society’, the lectures of two wise women who came to ZLU from the Benelux countries were very interesting. Belgium’s Dr Anne Snick from the Club of Rome – EU Chapter gave an extremely inspiring analysis of the pathologies of today’s financial and economic system in her talk ‘Sustainable work in a post-growth society’. A financial system based on the free creation of money by banks through the granting of credit is unsustainable – the economy has lost its primary function of ensuring the well-being of communities and has become an end in itself. “Work” as a socially useful human activity has been reduced to paid employment, without regard to the social utility of this activity, and it is not considered “work”, does not reward and does not include in economic indicators like GDP many of the activities of people for the well-being of communities (care work, community work, etc.). However, many local initiatives are developing today to counterbalance these pathologies, based on civic activism, cooperation, direct trade and exchange of services.

The theory of common goods as a tool for implementing social change was discussed by Prof Tine De Moor of Utrecht University. A continuation of the work of Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom, Prof De Moor is among the theorists following the practical applications of common goods theory. This approach limits recommendations to privatisation or nationalisation as the only strategies for managing common goods. Many examples show that people are not driven solely by their own personal interest and that common goods, which are necessary for community well-being, can be effectively managed by local communities using specific institutional arrangements. In July 2017, a major conference of common goods researchers will be held in Utrecht, which Prof De Moor strongly encourages Polish researchers and activists to attend.

The debate “Can we afford pacifism in the 21st century?” addressed an extremely topical and difficult topic in view of today’s tensions in the world and in Eastern Europe, especially for the Greens, traditionally strongly attached to the ideas of pacifism, dialogue, respect for differences, and non-violent conflict resolution. The debate opened with a recorded comment from the co-chair of the European Green Party, MEP Reinhard Bütikofer, and was debated by representatives of the Green Party and the Green youth group Ostra Greens, an expert from the think-tank GlobalLab, and activists from Bread and Salt, a refugee organisation. It was apparent that in our part of Europe in particular, in the face of real or subjectively perceived threats from Russia, the issues of the presence of NATO troops and the US missile shield arouse different feelings, and the allocation of 3% of GDP for armaments seems exaggerated. Especially when it is accompanied by the creation of a 300,000-strong ‘new army’ in the form of youth paramilitary ‘civil defence’ organisations, while refusing to help war refugees from countries affected by armed conflicts. After a heated discussion, it was clear that there is no clear Green answer, what is certain is that there is no consensus on the rhetoric of war, and that dialogue, diplomacy and education for peace must be the priority.

The debate on nature conservation and the environment was not to be missed at the Green University. Despite the high level of expertise of the panellists, it was a painful session, full of bad news, as the current government’s policy in this area is even worse than that of its predecessors, whom the naturalist and environmentalist community has repeatedly criticised – for its archaic energy and climate policy, for the lack of conservation plans for Natura 2000 zones, for inadequate implementation of the Water Framework Directive, for difficulties in accessing environmental information, for blindly favouring deplopers at the expense of the environment and nature, and so on and so forth. The authorities manipulated information and procedures, consultations were facade, dialogue hypocritical. But there was no open warfare. The current Minister of the Environment decided to drop the mask of hypocrisy and launch an open war against the conservation and environmental communities, calling the cultivation and exploitation of nature its protection, ordering large-scale logging in the national natural treasure Bialowieza Forest and introducing the concept of energy wood into the law so that the Forest could be sold to energy companies for green certificates and burned along with coal. The minister then dismantled the century-old independence of the State Council for Nature Protection and replaced its members, as well as successive national park directors, with people subordinate to him and sharing his vision. Poland has in a few months become a paradise for foresters and hunters, at the expense of nature and the environment, and therefore at the expense of the collective interest and future generations. PLN 12.5 million has been earmarked for bonuses for hunters for the extermination of wild boars throughout eastern Poland (40,000 wild boars were shot during the breeding season), permission is being prepared for commercial hunting of protected species, with many indications that this will also include the Bia這wie瘸 bison. In order to ‘pacify’ nature conservationists and environmental protection directors, the competence requirements for these positions are being removed, which will allow these positions to be filled from a party key. The proposed amendments to the Nature Conservation Act also remove guarantees of the independence of regional nature conservation councils, but most importantly abolish national regulations on restrictions on tree felling (send a letter to Prime Minister Szydło ratujmydrzewa.eu). Indeed, trees and wildlife are an obsession of the Minister for the Environment, and the freedom to cut and kill them a Sarmatian or Christian privilege. And Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si”, written in the spirit of deep ecology, is of no help; Minister Szyszko allegedly found in it confirmation of his nature-destroying vision. In addition, environmental organisations are being deprived of grants, the National Environmental Protection and Water Management Fund (NFOŚiGW) is ceasing to fulfil its role, serving primarily institutions and organisations that cooperate with the authorities. The old dreams of regulating and using rivers, in times of rapid climate change and the necessary concern for increasingly scarce and valuable water, not to mention the necessary protection of invaluable riverine ecosystems and the prevention of other threats mentioned above, are also being revived. Billions of zlotys of taxpayers’ money are to flow into this in the coming years.

In addition to debates and lectures, ZLU 2016 hosted 16 workshops, seminars and trainings on a wide variety of topics: Women’s rights, climate change and the energy transition, the TTIP (EU-US) and CETA (EU-Canada) free trade agreements, the Green Network of Organisations in Europe, the difficulties of parents of LGBT+ people, tools for fundraising campaigns, communication when organising events, an introduction to river ecosystem knowledge, organising lobbying for river protection, legislative updates on food and agriculture issues, up to a highly inspiring analysis of the relationship between freedom and equality by Edouard Gaudot, advisor to the Greens/EFA group in the EP .
Participants at ZLU 2016 also had the opportunity to ‘come into contact with living nature’, thanks to river eco-tourism enthusiast Jakub Golebiewski and the excellent naturalist-ornithologists accompanying him. Emotions towards the beauty of the Vistula River and its true inhabitants were many. Lots of photos were taken, which will gradually be made available (photos here).

Green University 2016 brought together more than 100 male and female participants, including more than
30 panellists and panelists, great experts and experts, activists and activists. It would be impossible to mention them all in a short report, here is their list and bios:Bios-ZLU2016
Recordings of the 2016 Green Summer University debates and workshops are available here . The organisers apologise for their “experimental” quality and promise an improvement at the third ZLU, planned for summer 2017 in Podlasie, in partnership with Green organisations from Ukraine. The guiding theme is to be the sustainable regional development of ‘lagging’ rural areas with rich agro-natural potential. There will certainly be talk of eco-tourism, distributed renewable energy and energy communities, organic farming, regional transport and cooperation between municipalities.

The Green Summer University 2016 in Ciechocinek was organised by the GEF European Green Foundation in partnership with the Green Zone Foundation, with the support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Warsaw and with funding from the European Parliament. #gefsummer #GreenUniversity Photos: Elżbieta Hołoweńko [birds on the Vistula shoal Andrzej Bak].