My Park. My Passion. My Story: This is the 2013 motto for the European Day of Parks! This commemorative event day was launched in 1999 by the EUROPARC Federation to celebrate protected areas throughout Europe, on and around May 24th.
My Park. My Passion. My Story – what comes to your mind? What was the most exciting or wonderful experience you had when spending time in a protected area? This year’s European Day of Parks invites everybody who loves to be out in nature to share her/his story.
We invite people who work in protected areas as well as those who visit them to reflect on the beauty of nature and share their passion, feelings and emotions in a story, a song, a picture, a film, any piece of art that expresses how you feel connected to your most favourite Protected Area.
Organizations can plan, promote and organize activities that allow people creatively express their experiences.
How? Well, here are a few ideas:
You can organize a silent walk and invite participants to exchange and paint what they felt afterwards; or make them play what they feel (can be a FastFood or conventional theatre);, provide material for drawing a picture or elaborating an artistic object; inspire participants to write a poem or story about My Park. My Passion. My Story; or compose a song and sing it with others; what about producing a film – even while hiking/biking/canoeing… or paragliding over the protected landscape? There are endless, easy ways to get people involved. And if you invite visitors and park rangers to spend time together, the outcome will be even more exciting!
The European Day of Parks aims at bringing people closer to nature and raising public awareness on the importance of the natural beauty preserved in protected areas and the importance of conservation and sustainable management of those places. EUROPARC Federation has a 40 year history of supporting protected areas staff to sustainably manage the landscape, fauna and flora.
We invite all our sections, members, and partners to join the European Day of Parks and make this day an unforgettable event!
More information at: http://europarc.org/whats-on/european-day-of-park
Source: The Heritage Council – European Day of Parks: 24th May 2013
