Working groups (Arbeitskreise, AK)
The work of the Leipzig regional group offers a wide range of fields of work. Therefore, we organize ourselves into different working groups (Translated into: Arbeitskreis AK in German), in which members with special interests and know-how for the respective topics can come together. This is where the positions of the BUND Leipzig are compiled. Here you will find information about each working group and the right person to contact in case you want to become active.
Environment protection
Official statements on large-scale projects, political programmes and municipal planning that have an environmental impact enable citizens and approved environmental associations to speak up for their interests, rights and living environment. The draft or expansion of a road, for example, might impair your quality of life and have negative effects on climate protection and the conservation of nature. But it’s possible for you to intervene!
You have the option to give a personal (written) statement if you’re affected directly. Another option is to take legal action together with an approved environmental association, such as the BUND. You do not have to be affected directly to do so; you can take action for the environment wherever you see a need. The association acts the part of ‘nature’s lawyer’, based on the Environmental Appeals Act and the Federal Nature Conservation Act.
The working group on environmental law prepares the official position statements of BUND Leipzig in response to public planning and legislation.
“More mobility and less traffic”—in accordance with this motto, we want to speak up for sustainable and environmentally-friendly transport policies.
Our main topics and projects are:
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Alteration of public space in the city: from transit lounge to living space for everyone
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Implementation of a car-free day
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Reduction of emissions
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Greater investment in the development of environmentally friendly transport options (e.g. sidewalks , local public transport, bike lanes)
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Organisation of events as part of the European Mobility Week, PARKing Day and the festival of pedestrian traffic, called Jane’s Walk
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Sustainable reorganisation of delivery traffic
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Safe and reliable bike lanes and walkways throughout the entire city
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Preservation and extension of urban (public) green space and recreation areas
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Implementation of the concept of city of short distances
Development and implementation of an environmentally-friendly and sustainable traffic concept for the city of Leipzig
In the working group on resources and recycling, we develop concepts for waste avoidance but also more effective use of resources.
Our main topics are:
- Waste avoidance and resource conservation within the city area of Leipzig
- Measures of environmental education about waste avoidance such as workshops, second hand markets, lectures, cinema shows, discussion forums
- Supporting the recycling2go project
- Stopping the unwanted delivery of printed circulars and junk mail in Leipzig
- Litter clean-up events in and around Leipzig
There’s growth everywhere we look. Consumption is the dictate of the moment. But where do all the resources necessary for today’s consumer world come from? Who are the winners and losers within this big global business? It’s difficult to keep track of our economic structures and not lose faith in it at the same time. However, there happen to be many alternatives and new ideas about the possiblities of further development, and a new orientation of our present economic system.
That’s where the concept of post growth comes in. Post growth is a broad topic. At its core, it takes the assumption that our economy in its present form cannot continue growing forever because natural resources and the waste absorption capacity of our planet are limited. Most people can recognize this as the situation. But the conclusions that we and policy makers draw from this, and how we should respond, is a hot debate: is some kind of "green economy" or green growth possible and sufficient, or does the economy need to shrink? And how might a shrinking economy and the society that lives in it work? What alternatives in politics and society are conceivable and desirable? We want to approach this complex debate collaboratively by separating it into specific sub-topics.. We’d love to have your ideas!
There is plenty of talk about climate protection. On the international stage, it even looks like the Federal Government of Germany is a pioneer of reducing CO2 emission. Germany’s large electric power companies arrange climate conferences and discuss climate protection in depth and at length.But mere talking and discussing is no longer enough! To prevent worst case scenarios we must act now. We need to make radical changes to our energy sources and switch to renewable energies. Let’s find out together what a sustainable and environmental-friendly energy future could look like and get active about it.
Our main topics summarized and in concrete terms:
- Energy transition from bottom up
- Leipzig 100% renewable
- Nuclear power phase-out
- Preventing coal-fired power plants
- Educational and informative task
These topics are the focus of our campaign work in informing and educating people, to help create change locally.
The working group on chemistry and the environment locally implements BUND's Germany-wide campaigns on dangerous and environmentally damaging chemicals in everyday objects, e.g. toys or cosmetics,. The global production of chemicals increased from one million tons in 1930 to 400 million tons today. There are currently around 100,000 chemicals on the European market, of which only about four percent have been previously certified to be safe for people and the environment . We want to change that!
We are mainly concerned with:
- Chemicals in kindergartens
- Chemicals in drinking water
- Chemicals in food
- Chemicals in cosmetics
- Nanotechnologies
- Pesticide-free communities
These are the topics around which we organize events, such as lectures, panel discussions, pub quizzes, etc.
Nature protection
VAGaBUND (‘various-species-garden’ of BUND, in German: Viele-Arten-Garten) was a community garden project located on a former brownfield area in the neighbourhood of Connewitz at the corner of Wolfgang-Heinze-Straße and Basedowstraße. There, on an area of more than 1,400 sqm, our ‘various species garden’ was built. It served as a meeting point for nature-loving people who enjoyed turning an old building ground into a multifaceted garden. When an investor made us move away in the autumn of 2018, we had to say good bye to our garden with a heavy heart.
If you feel spoken to by our former project VAGaBUND Connewitz, or if you can think of an alternative location, please contact us! We are grateful for all ideas that help us to continue this project somewhere new in the south of Leipzig.
BUND Leipzig also cares for two more community gardens that are currently in different stages of development. In western Leipzig, our young project of the community garden VAGaBUND Grünau has been growing emerging since 2018. In eastern Leipzig in the Lene-Voigt-Park you can find the ‘various species garden’ VAGaBUND Lene.
We have two children’s groups: “Leipziger BUNDspechte” (great woodpeckers of Leipzig) and “Auwald für alle” (alluvial forest for everyone). The working group on environmental education offers monthly events for these groups, for which we prepare fascinating content, conceptualize projects, search for excursion destinations, make up games, create flyers and supervise events.
We impart knowledge about nature and environment to children in a playful way, following the motto: experience and perceive nature with all senses. That way, while building nesting boxes they learn a lot about the active protection of different species of bird and their modes of life.
We are a team of qualified sociologists, art educators, biologists, ethnologists, geographers, and graphic artists who bring our young environmentalists eventful afternoons combined with creativity, education, and active species protection.
We know how to make the world a playground!
Our meadow orchard in Leipzig Wahren is one of BUND Leipzig‘s showpieces! Through the years, an ecologically highly valuable habitat for many endangered animal and plant species has emerged and needs to be cared for attentively. That’s why our working group was initiated. Together, we are concerned with the organization and the biotope maintenance of the meadow, which includes tasks such as professional mowing, apple picking and juice production every autumn.
We’d be happy to teach you about the maintenance of meadow orchards, about biodiversity and species conservation. Moreover, we can provide helpful hints about what to bear in mind when mowing, pruning fruit trees and interplanting of fruit trees. We also offer fascinating and informative tours of our meadow orchard – for groups as well as individuals.
Our working group is dedicated to the protection of flora and fauna in the urban area of the city of Leipzig. In order to spread awareness of different issues and problems to the wider population, we arrange various information sessions and excursions. Moreover, we work and support the implementation of conservation measures within the area of the city of Leipzig.
Our main topics at a glance:
- critical watching of urban and building planning projects in Leipzig
- Protection of bird and insect
- overseeing the health of streams through the sponsorship agreement with the city of Leipzig
- Protection of biodiverse urban nature, such as the protection of trees in the city and brownfield land and urban greening.
We would also like to devote more time to the topics of Protection of amphibians, bats and Invasive species/non-native plants in the future and are looking for interested volunteers for this.
In order to bring agricultural-related topics to the attention of the general public, our working group organises lectures, excursions, workshops, film screenings or cooking classes. One of the highlights is the Ernte-Dank-Woche (Harvest-Fest-Week) organised once a year during October.
What do we support?
- The elimination of factory farming
- The expansion of a regionalized and environmentally-friendly agrarian economy
- Turning away from the policy of growth towards a policy of sustainability
- A resolute reformation of the Animal Protection Act and the Pharmaceutical Products Act
- The reduction of risks to human health that are associated with factory farming
We’re thrilled every time new people want to join us and support our working group in organizing events and projects. That includes you!
The alluvial forest (Auwald in German) of Leipzig is one of the largest preserved areas of this kind in Central Europe. In 2016, BUND Saxony even provided evidence of a small population of wild cats in this natural environment in the City of Leipzig. Despite this, the forest is constantly threatened due to plans to build for water tourism infrastructure, logging on a large scale and the presence of invasive plant species. It is of great urgency to get involved and act for the protection and preservation of the Auwald in Leipzig and its inhabitants. That’s what our working group is doing! Join us!
Operations
We maintain the regional group’s web presence, makes decisions on our website content and design and keeps it up to date. We work with Typo 3, but a previous knowledge is not required. Anyone with interest on web design, can join and learn with us!
To advertise the activities and topics the BUND regional group in Leipzig is working on, we create suitable communication concepts targeting many different audiences. Young people prefer to be addressed differently than politicians. Some people still prefer to read printed media, some others consume more digital platforms. . What medium and format is best for which target group? Where can we place our information? We answer these and other questions within our working group.
We focus on making the regional group’s latest activities to be presentlocal printed and online press, and the development of an information booklet about our regional group.
Are you creative and enjoy design-related activities? Then this working group is just right for you! We deal with the conception and design of information and advertising materials such as flyers, posters and brochures.
The working group on photo and film is concerned with the documentation of our activities, demonstrations and events. These media are published on our website and our social media channels. That way interested people gain a direkt insight into our work.
Are you interested on photography? Do you like to create environmental-related content for social media?
In the working group Finances our main tasks are:
- Fundraising
- Acquisition of fundings and/grants
- Acquisition of donations
- Membership recruitmentProject Accounting
We support the other working groups looking for fundig options for their activites and projects. If you are keen to these topics and want to put your knowledge on the protection of nature and the environment in Leipzig, get in touch!
Local-Group East
Jana Burmeister
(Foto: Jana Burmeister)
The local group East (Ortsgruppe Ost) is active in the neighbourhoods of Neustadt-Neuschönefeld, Volkmarsdorf, Reudnitz, Anger-Crottendorf and Stötteritz. Its purpose is to bring environmental education and sustainability into everyday life and to network with associations and institutions in these neighborhoods. Under the heading "Edible East, Clean East, Wild East", we regularly organize events such as seed ball workshops, hikes and guided herbal tours, litter clean-up events and insect hotel workshops. Moreover, we cultivate a community garden in the East of Leipzig.
We are committed to creating places and occasions for people to get meet-up, connect, and to promote a collaborative togetherness in our city.
If you wish to get involved in our community garden, VAGaBUND Lene in the Lene-Voigt-Park, or to get to know more about our activities, don‘t hesitate to contact us!
Contact
Victor Weiler, Guy Pe'er, Alina Klein, Christoph Hartmann and Oliver Wieth
Board of the local-group East
vorstand-og-ost(at)bund-leipzig.de
Contact them by e-mail!
BUNDjugend
We believe in and fight for a positive future that we want to help shape through our efforts and commitment. The world is changing, but we can take part in setting the direction. BUNDjugend (BUNDyouth) offers a space for opinions and creative ideas. With us, young people take responsibility and help decide what we do.
You are welcome to join us, to bring in your topics and to actively shape the group! We are looking for young committed people – pupils, trainees, students up to 27 years – who want to meet nice new people and work with them for Leipzig's environment, a sustainable urban development and a better future for all of us.
Here you can learn more about what the BUNDjugend Leipzig does.
Contact form
If you would like to get active in one of our working groups or found a new one, please contact us! You will then can be included into our internal mailing list, which will inform you about dates and actions of the respective working group.