The Ecological Family Picnic “Bioeconomy and Climate Change” was held on April 7, 2024. The main initiator and organizer of the event was the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation – State Research Institute, while the partners of the event were the Museum of Polar Research in Puławy and the Lukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of New Chemical Syntheses. The Picnic was attended by dozens of people, the great majority of whom were families with children. It was a very family-oriented and valuable time, enriching both the youngest and adults with knowledge on the circular economy and bioeconomy. Participants could learn about many interesting issues related to conducting polar research, but the main part of the event was a workshop on bioeconomy.
Adults had the opportunity to listen to five lectures on aspects related to the bioeconomy. The first speech explained the concept of bioeconomy and presented bio-products as an opportunity and alternative to conventional products based on the example of the BIOECO-UP project, delivered by Piotr Jurga, M.Sc. from IUNG-PIB. Another presentation dealt with climate change and mitigation actions that can be taken within the bioeconomy – topics presented by habilitated doctor (PhD) Jerzy Kozyra of IUNG-PIB. During the next speech , the audience could learn about the variety of applications of bio-waste to create bioproducts, as discussed by Barbara Mazurek, PhD of the Lukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of New Chemical Syntheses. The penultimate presentation was related to the organic matter cycle in horticulture and crop protection products. This topic was presented by Lukasz Kopiński, PhD, owner of the Ribes Technologies startup. With the last presentation , participants were introduced to the topic of “Elephants in Antarctica,” prepared by habilitated doctor (PhD) Rafał Pudełko, from IUNG-PIB. While adults had the opportunity to listen to these very interesting presentations, children participated in musical workshops, a field game, and had a unique opportunity to create their own biocosmetics. The next stage of the event was a theatrical performance prepared by the Katarynka Theater – titled: Fairy Tales Become Reality. “Recycling Fran, Four Elements and Ecodancing – an ecological play”. The youngest participants of the show will certainly take from it a valuable lesson on how to take care of the planet, thanks to the opportunity to actively participate in the performance on stage and take part in interesting experiments.