Earth Day walk | Gdańsk University of Technology

Every year on April 22, International Earth Day is celebrated. On this occasion, pro-ecological activities like group cleaning of parks, zero-waste workshops and many others, are organized around the world. The International Relations Office decided to take this chance and invite younger and older residents of the dormitory for a nature walk, to talk about nature at the Polish seaside and the importance of taking care of it.

In search of unusual shells

Punctually at 10 a.m. on Saturday, a group of over 20 people set off from the dormitory to the pier in Brzeźno, where our guide - Agnieszka Sadowska from the Faculty of Biology of the University of Gdańsk was already waiting for us. On the beach, the children got their first task - to collect as many different shells as possible, and then divide them into different species on special posters. Agnieszka Sadowska told us about the former inhabitants of shells - mussels, crustaceans and snails. The question of where the sand came from on the beach turned out to be not an easy one. Fortunately, our guide explained to us the process of crushing rocks into smaller and smaller parts, down to small pebbles that make up the sand.

Who lives in tree booths?

From the beach, we went to the nearby Reagan Park. Our first stop was trees with unusual booths. Wooden houses turned out to be a shelter not for birds, but to everyone's surprise… bats. The children also answered the guide's questions about the types of trees (mothers demonstrated broad knowledge here) and about the purpose of colorful, fragrant flowers on some of them (obviously, they are supposed to attract pollinators, e.g. bees). The children also listened with interest how various plants cope in winter when the ground is covered with a layer of snow. Our guide talked about plants that leave behind only seeds that sprout again in the spring, and those that produce tubers and roots that allow them to overwinter in low temperatures.

At the end of the walk –our guide gave us posters with various species of birds and insects that can be found in Polish parks and forests to encourage everyone to explore nature,.

More walks ahead of us

Refugees from Ukraine have been living in one of Gdańsk Tech dormitories for almost two months. Most of the children go to school, while their mothers are learning Polish and some of them are already working. There is also a common room in the dormitory, where art classes are organized every Tuesday. A joint walk on the beach and the park with a guide was another nice entertainment for our guests' stay in Gdańsk and certainly not the last such event that we organized for them.

Thanks to:
Mrs. Agnieszka Sadowska from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Gdańsk for being our guide, 
Mrs. Natalia Malyk for helping us with translations,
Ms. Jowita Kurach from the Information and Ecological Information and Education Center in Gdańsk for handing over gadgets to participants,
Ms. Martyna Wojcieszenko for taking beautiful photos. 

see photos from the walk