Tomorrow, 20 April, Earth Day will be celebrated in Brno. The official date falls on 22 April, a month and a day after the spring equinox, but the weekend offers more opportunities to celebrate.
Špilberk park will host a series of activities from 10am until 6pm, under the motto “Less waste – less impact”. The theme is the prevention of waste, which will be viewed from different perspectives, aimed at both adults and children.
The smallest visitors can try a range of activities at several stations, including a “Do it yourself” workshop with tips, composting and upcycling, and a visit from a garbage truck. In the afternoon, adults can learn about the circular economy, and how even the largest international companies are switching to its principles, as well as learning about the negative impacts of fast fashion and tips on how to run a household with a minimum of waste, through several lectures and workshops.
One lecture, starting at 1pm, will involve an excursion around Špilberk Castle with an expert from Brno Public Greenery and a botanist from Lipka, who will lead a guided walk of the park, discussing the age of the trees in the park, water management, and other environmental topics.
Visitors will also be able to find out more about ReUse points, and to visit a special pop-up one, selling various second-hand items for low prices. The entire amount raised will go to the collection for Brno Public Greenery, and used to plant and care for flower beds with spring plants in the city centre.
The company SAKO Brno will also be running a recycling scheme for old and unused mobile phones. During the whole day, used and non-functional devices will be collected for a small reward. In this way, participants can participate in the competition for a family ticket to the Žlutý Kopec Reservoirs, while 20 crowns for each phone donated will go to a local dog hospice.
Other cultural activities in the park include the Mikro-teatro theatre performing ‘Wind from the Sails’ and ‘Nevidelná’, a slam poetry contest in Czech, and a concert performed by the groups 2AP and Žamboši.
For the whole program at Špilberk, check here.
But that’s not all, more events to mark Earth Day will be taking place in other parts of Brno.
Brno Zoo will host a program of special activities starting from 1pm. These activities, prepared in collaboration with students from the Faculty of Business Economics of Mendel University, are directed mostly to a younger public, and aimed at stressing the importance of environmental protection in a fun way.
They will include an interactive program involving tree planting, sensory learning workshops to discover a new way of perceiving the world using only a specific sense, food waste games to learn more about the importance of saving food while having fun, and a waste sorting game through an interactive quiz, which will teach participants how to properly sort waste and protect the environment.
A special themed photo corner and a paper visitors’ wall will also be available.
Finally, another highlight will take place in Kralovo Pole, at Božetěchův park, where from 10am to 4pm a series of themed workshops and events for both adults and children will take place, and a seven-metre model of the night form of the planet Earth will be on display, lent by the Brno Observatory and Planetarium for the occasion.