Dr' Karl J' Schmidt

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Sustainability Education and Social
Entrepreneurship in Poland

• Dr. Karl J. Schmidt
• Director of International Affairs
• Professor of History and Political Science

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What is Sustainability?

• Many different definitions, depending upon
  subject
• A simple definition is that one derives more
  benefit from an activity that the amount of
  energy going into it
• Often sustainability is a bit of a moving target

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Sustainability Education

• Focuses on teaching people about sustainable
  practices
• Often centers around issues of energy
• Includes such topics as conservation, land
  stewardship, food, climate change, among others

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Social Entrepreneurship

• Entrepreneurship is a term familiar to many
  people
• More commonly, the term is related to business
  and the actions of the individual to create value
  by making money
• Social entrepreneurship is about creating value
  that is of broader benefit to groups of people or
  society as a whole

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Why Poland?

• Two visits to Poland (2005 2007)
• In planning for the second visit, became aware of
  the work of a woman named Jadwiga Lopata, who
  runs a non-profit ecocenter in southern Poland
• During the second visit, was able to meet Jadwiga
  and spend a day at the ecocenter

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Poland Today
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Agriculture in Poland

• About 2 million small farms, employing 27 of
  workforce
• 60 of land is agricultural
• Farmers resisted collectivization during
  communist periodwere successful
• Agriculture is primarily still in private hands
• Average farm size in Poland is fewer than 20
  acres in Malopolskie, the average size farm is
  12 acresmost farms are subsistence
• Poland joined the EU in 2004 and most farmers are
  having problems adjusting to new requirements
• Most farming is organic

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The Study Abroad Program

• May Interim 2009
• Undergraduate 3 credits
• Course meets on campus April 2008
• Travel portion is May 11-25, 2009

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Locations in Poland

• Travel portion focused on southern Poland
• Stryszów
• Kraków
• Both locations are in Malopolskie province

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Host Site in Poland

• ICPPC-Ecocentre in Stryszów, a village of 2,000
  people
• Run by Jadwiga Lopata, a social entrepreneur
• Its purpose is to promote the use of ecological
  technologies
• The ecocenter is a practical demonstration
  sitethe only one of its kind in Poland
• The ecocenter offers lectures and workshops
• In June 2002, the ecocenter was visited by Prince
  Charles

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About Jadwiga Lopata

• Born in 1954, Jadwiga was raised in Stryszów
• She went to university and studied computer
  programming
• In the mid-1980s, she became active in rural
  preservation issues
• In 1993, after spending many months in the
  Netherlands studying eco/agri-tourism, she
  founded ECEAT-Poland

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Jadwiga as Social Entrepreneur

• For her efforts to help empower small farmers,
  Jadwiga was awarded two prestigious international
  recognitions
• Ashoka Fellowship, 1996
• Goldman Prize for the Environment, 2002

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Her Work ECEAT-Poland

• European Center for Ecological Agriculture and
  Tourism-Poland
• Based on a Dutch model
• Visitors stay on small farms, eat local foods,
  learn about ecologically-friendly farming
  practices
• Today, more than 130 Polish farms are members of
  ECEAT-Poland
• ECEAT-Poland has attracted worldwide attention,
  including a grant from the Rockefeller Brothers
  Fund. ECEAT-Poland also won the British Airways
  Tourism for Tomorrow award in 2001more than
  170 organizations were considered for the award
  that year
• http//www.eceat.pl/oferty/index.php?wersjaeng

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More about the ICPPC

• International Coalition to Protect the Polish
  Countryside
• Founded in 2000, its purpose is to protect small,
  family farms and to promote organic agriculture
• The ICPPC was founded by Jadwiga Lopata, in
  collaboration with Sir Julian Rose, a large
  organic farmer in the UK

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Topics and Workshops

• Topics, workshops, and site visits organized by
  the Ecocentre during the 10-day stay included
• Eco- and Agritourism in rural Poland
• Organic and non-GMO Agriculture
• Tour of the ICPPC-Ecocentre, Stryszów
• Alternative Building Methods
• Local Crafts and Vanishing Occupations
• Farmers Markets and Local Foods
• Appropriate and Eco-friendly Technology
• Hands-on Farm Experiences
• Kraków, the Cultural Capital of Poland

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Eco- and Agritourism Farm Stays
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Organic and non-GMO Agriculture

• Experience included lectures on organic
  agriculture and on the anti-GMO campaign in
  Poland
• ICPPC began their anti-GMO campaign in 2004, just
  before Poland entered the European Union (EU)
• The organization started at the provincial level,
  working to get local politicians to declare their
  provinces as GMO-fee zones

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Tour of ICPPC-Ecocentre, Stryszów
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Alternative Building Methods

• Program included a 3-hour clay and straw-building
  workshop
• The ICPPC-Ecocentre has such a building on-site

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Alternative Building Methods
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Local Crafts Vanishing Occupations
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Visits to Farmers Markets
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Visits to Small Farms
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Local Foods and Cooking
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Farm Experiences
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Local Visits Babia Góra

• Full-day trip to Babia Góra, called the Queen of
  the Beskidy Mountains
• Part of the Carpathian mountain range
• 1725 m above sea level
• A Polish National Park
• Also part of UNESCOs Biosphere Reserve Program,
  which demonstrates approaches to conservation and
  sustainable development.

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The Students in Stryszów
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For more information, please contact

• Dr. Karl J. Schmidt, Director
• Office of International Affairs
• SAD 101, Box 2201
• South Dakota State University
• Brookings, SD 57007

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Questions?