Environmental Education Center in Somoskőújfalu

 The idea of promoting environmental education in a small village in North-Eastern Hungary was born in 1999. The fundamental goal of the Environmental Education Center in Somoskőújfalu (in the following: SKK) was to provide the local school and community with professional help in environment protection, to raise the awareness of environmental problems and to make people environmentally more conscious. The idea was set in motion quite fast as the members of the organization started working with the local kindergarten and primary school.

The local community, especially the children and the young people turned out to be very receptive to environmental issues and the number of children participating in their programs has been continuously growing since then. The range of activities and professional help offered by the SKK has also become wider. While in the beginning they only focused on raising environmental consciousness and deepening environmental knowledge, nowadays they work with people coming from different professions and run very specific, certified programs. Among others pedagogues, special education teachers, kindergarten teachers, environmentalists, ornithologists, and wood-carvers work together to teach children and young people. By now, they are active in environmental education, in preserving the regional environmental values, and promoting environmentally friendly approach among the local people, especially ecological gardening. However, ornithology and guided tours in the nature are also on their list of activities.

 In 2002, the SKK launched its open-air school program in which they bring young people out to the nature to learn about plants, animals, birds, insects and to get to know how to sustain the environment around us. The open-air school program has become one of their most successful initiatives and received a national certificate. However, they are more proud about the fact that children enjoy these unique classes and some of them decided to pursue their higher education studies in a field related to the environment, or to even become a researcher and do PhD in environmental sciences. Since then, a Young Environmental Protectionist Group has also been formed within the frames of the organization, and an open-air kindergarten program has been started which is likely to get a national certificate too.

Their other project which has become popular and successful recently is promoting ecological gardening. The main ideas behind this initiative were to help people make a living in a poor region and also to ensure the quality of the food consumed. The tradition of agriculture was present in the village; however younger generations seemed to forget about this knowledge. The organization managed teach people how to cultivate the land, what types of vegetables and fruits can be grown in the region and even how to keep domestic animals to cover their own meat and dairy products consumption. Due to their work, some people in the village are now maintaining almost completely self-sustaing households.

Being asked about the main challenges during their operation, Zoltán Molnár, the leader of the organization said that being open to new ideas and initiatives is of key importance in order to avoid becoming a “pensioners’ club”. He added that “professionalism has to be the driving force during the operation of the organization and in starting new projects; otherwise failures may endanger the existence of the entire organization.” Talking about what their eco project means to the young people he emphasized that they give a chance. A chance to get to know a field of knowledge, to study about the environment, and about sustainability,  to develop themselves professionally, to build networks and to adopt a new life-style.