Austria-wide activities of New Acropolis for the “Earth Day 2022” 

Many hundreds of interested people came to about 30 events in 8 cities all over Austria.  Among other things, a maypole was erected at an intercultural festival in Graz; in Vienna, a “green oasis” was created on a busy street; in Carinthia, hundreds of seedlings were distributed; in Innsbruck, rubbish was collected at a corridor cleaning campaign; beds for picking were created; insect hotels were built to support biodiversity in cities. As a nice gesture, hundreds of bags of wildflower seeds were distributed all over Austria – with the wish that many seeds of our joint efforts for a better world may sprout.

On the one hand, the events were about better understanding the earth and its interrelationships. The topics of the impulses, lectures, discussions and workshops ranged from “philosophy of nature” to the “Gaia hypothesis” and “ecosophy”. On the other hand, it was also the idea to celebrate this day and to connect with the earth and with people.

But it was especially important for us to get into concrete action and to show with smaller or larger volunteer projects that it is possible to make a contribution everywhere and at any time. The variety of events showed the richness of Mother Earth and strengthened the awareness for a responsible and connecting way of dealing with nature.

“It is a great concern for us as a school of philosophy to change people’s attitude towards nature. We need to regain an understanding of the large network in which we are all involved, in order to return from this to a respectful and appreciative approach to people and nature,” says Hannes Weinelt, director of New Acropolis Austria.