Greener solutions for Gemer – how to do it?

The establishment of the Center for Sustainable Energy Gemer n. o. dates back to the beginning of 2018. Jano, Anka, Edo and Slávo were present at this birth. Gradually, Ondrej joined us, whom we elected as director, Marek – our IT rescuer, and the tender part of the team was strengthened by Danka and Bianka.

A team of people was created, which began to solve issues related to energy self-sufficiency, energy savings and the use of renewable resources. We provide information and assistance to municipalities and citizens of the Rožňava district in this area.

The topic of climate change, both globally and locally, is nothing new. Worldwide debates, conferences, researches and surveys are being carried out, culprits are being sought, solutions are being proposed. Big problem, big topic, lots of unanswered questions.

And we have Gemer here – the districts of Rožňava, Rimavská Sobota and Revúca. The three “R’s” top the list with the highest unemployment rate. Almost without young people leaving for work and a better life in the west. The lack of infrastructure has an impact on the lack of interest of investors in this region. The region, which even a few decades ago was a strong mining, engineering, textile, food manufacturing location and a center of tourism. And now? After mining, only memories, a “moonscape” and heavy environmental burdens. Industry in the doldrums. And tourism? Great but untapped potential.

We were faced with the question: how will the residents of this troubled region accept our call to engage in research, information, education and dialogue on this topic? And what was the public reaction? We were very pleasantly surprised and – yes, this is also a topic that they perceive in their surroundings, and they welcomed with interest the opportunity to interpret their observations, get information and look for solutions. This was a very important finding for us, because we enjoy the fact that our work has meaning.

The project was launched in November 2020 by the international conference on climate change in Gemeri, which we organized together with our Norwegian partner Phronesis SA. By the way, it is very interesting and stimulating to listen to their experiences, practical steps and approaches to solving this situation. We’ve had dozens of hours of conversations, we’ve exchanged a lot of emails. If it weren’t for the worsened situation with the coronavirus pandemic, we would have already had more personal meetings.

We had the highest expectations of how and with what result we would be able to carry out a questionnaire survey among the residents of these districts. We were interested in the opinion of not only young people, but especially older people, who can compare changes over a longer time line. We are convinced that we have obtained a rare database not only of answers to specific questions, but also of observations and suggestions, which we greatly appreciate. 350 residents from all three districts of the Gemer region took part in the survey, which creates a sufficiently representative sample. The project also includes information seminars on the issue of sustainable energy in the region, solving problems with water retention measures and issues of air cooling by introducing green buildings, roofs, oases. You can also view them on our website.