Wilderness Diary

Diary of Wilderness Volunteers
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Volunteering at European Wilderness Society

Hi! We are writing from Tamsweg, Austria, where the European Wilderness Society is based. While Rebecca was the first volunteer, who wrote the earlier blog posts, the rest of us volunteers have taken up her mantle to keep this blog going. Here we write about the personal aspects of volunteering life and the adventures we get up to. In the office we each have differing roles but as a team we are all focused in helping each other, in order to meet the mission of making Europe wild again. Here you’ll read about our adventures in the mountains alongside office work and trips further afield.

Our destinations

Four countries in seven days

1 week agoZiva Alif6 min readAdd comment

Last two weeks were vey busy for me, as I went to my graduation ceremony in Oxford, followed by a meeting in Eberswalde. Thus, before I started my trip, there was also a lot of work in the office in the preparation for the Youth Green Conference, Insect Respect and Respect Nature projects next week. So last Tuesday I took the train back to Ljubljana in order to catch a flight to Oxford on the following day. With my family we still had a lot to pack, which was hindered by my friend visiting to watch our dog. As a result (not very unexpected), quite a few of my things stayed in Ljubljana, but....

Kick-off Meeting and Workshop for Whispering of the trees

2 weeks agoHelena Hieke2 min read1 comment

On this late afternoon on the 5th of November 2019, the Kick-off Meeting for “Whispering of the trees” took place in the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development. “Whispering of the trees” is a Citizen Engagement Activity, supported from the Interreg Volunteer Youth Programme. With those so called CEAs one can implement own little projects to promote the EU Cohesion Policy. So we started the event with a cosy get together and tasty homemade chili con/sin carne. Together with cheese, tortilla chips and drinks we discussed the movie “The Meaning of....

My week at the EU

1 month agoJonas Sommer4 min readAdd comment

While the others showed kids how respects insects, I attended the “EU week of regions and cities” at the EU headquarters in Brussels. Even though Tamsweg is a lovely place, it´s always great to make a trip and this was a special one. As an IVY volunteer, I had the chance to attend this event with a group of nine other volunteers. I didn´t really know what to expect, but I was interested in experiencing such a big event and meeting volunteers from other places. And EWS also thought this could be a good opportunity for me to make my first baby steps in the field of....

All about Insects at Burg Finstergrün

1 month agoHelena Hieke3 min readAdd comment

On the 7th of October the week started very exciting and full of joy. On Sunday, 15 ukrainian kids arrived after a long bus drive in the beautiful castle in Ramingstein, Austria. 50 Austrian kids followed the next day. With so many children around, our team met the experts of tomorrow. The plan was to get them ready for Insect Repsect. All of that was feasable through Interreg Volunteer Youth and the possibility to implement own Citizen Engagement Activities. Holisitic experience about insects We started the day with a wide ranging program to give our young experts the knowledge they needed....

Insect Respect was a great success!

1 month agoZiva Alif2 min readAdd comment

This week I organised my own project named Insect Respect, funded by Eure Projekte, in Finstergrun castle. I did a great workshop as a special guest with over 50 children at big youth event that the European Wilderness Society organised. All the kids were excited to learn more about insects and build insect hotels. In the morning, there was a presentation on what insects are like, what their role in the ecosystem is and why they are threatened. It was great to see so many young people being interested in this topic, actively asking questions. Furthermore, they were keen to learn more on this....

Striking for climate and a hike for blisters

2 months agoHelena Hieke3 min readAdd comment

Last Friday, EWS participated in the global climate strike. For that we did a cycling strike with the whole team. Luckily, the weather was sunny and even tough it was chilly in the morning, it got warmer during the day. So, we cycled our way through the Lungau to Mauterndorf. There we bought regional and organic food for lunch and had a picnic in front of the Castle Moosham in the sun. Afterwards we went back to Tamsweg, all with some climate signs on us. During the weekend it was good weather, and it also was one of the last weekends where huts in the mountains are still open. Therefore....

  • 6 Volunteers so far
  • 7 Countries visited
  • 120 km Kilometres hiked
  • 30 + Diary entries