Legionowo (Mazowieckie province) is an ageing town, just like many locations in Poland, which is why the importance of activities taken up by seniors (or their negligence) is increasing. At the same time, youths living in Legionowo often come back here only for the night, engaging in activities and initiatives in Warsaw, and because of various reasons they choose not to do it locally. Furthermore, numerous studies indicate that many Legionowo inhabitants from various age groups would like to engage in environmental activities, but they do not know how to do it.
Hence, in our project we decided to encourage young people to involve in social campaigns in our town, providing them with specific tools and knowledge on how to engage in local activities. We also activated seniors to join initiatives for the climate. We established EkoCentrum in Legionowo. It is an educational venue running initiatives related to environmental protection, such as eco workshops for seniors and youths aged 13-18, increasing the awareness of pro-climate initiatives. Their participants came up with 22 sustainable solutions that could be carried out in Legionowo. Eight of them were selected and implemented, e.g., a climate protection quiz, ‘Our Wardrobe’ – a small cottage at which residents can leave items they no longer use and exchange them for something they need, and a clothing swap. We also organised a debate joined by town representatives to present the outcomes of our project.
During the project we noticed that significant environmentally-friendly changes took place among participants, for instance, by the end of it nearly all of them started using reusable instead of disposable water bottles, they also started paying more attention to their own behaviours and started changing them to more sustainable alternatives. Cooperation between youths and seniors also led to numerous positive effects, since both groups could share knowledge with one another, e.g., on more efficient mobile phone use or on cooking.