Wydawnictwo Zielone Brygady - dobre z natury

Vancouver, October 11, 1998

Szanowna Pani Justyna Lewandowska
Dzial Wspolpracy Technicznej
Ambasada Kanady
ul. Matejki 1/5
00-481 Warszawa
Faks 011 48 22 622 9804

Asked by Andrzej Zwawa, I am supporting without hesitation the application of Zielone Brygady Publishing House for a grant from the Canadian Embassy in Warsaw.

A few months ago, I was pleasantly surprised to discover this publisher on the Internet along with their bi-weekly in Polish, the quarterly Green Brigades, Biblioteka Zielone Brygady, and a multi-lingual publishing programme. My surprise was even greater on discovery that the agenda is expanding on a shoestring budget. Immediately I became one of numerous volunteer contributors to their publications. The programme is ambitious for an organization with little resources. I am impressed by the meritorial and linguistic profesionalism the publisher is maintaining. Alternative points of view are presented in debates of environmental, social and broad sustainability values and issues. The publications are open to the West and East, truly providing a most (bridge) for those seeking information and contacts between the different cultures in their particular areas of interest.

As a Polish Canadian and a professional engineer I consider Zielone Brygady to be an extremely useful tool for disseminating information--about Canadian technologies, conservation, sustainability programmes and lessons learned--to the Central and Eastern European community of green activists and decision makers. In my opinion the readers are the avangarde of the change which is vigorously taking place in Poland towards sustainable society and development. I have corresponded with some of those people via e-mail and find that most of them are unavailable at the moment, because they are running in the current elections to local government bodies. Because the Polish change is highly dynamic and driven by genuine desire to excell, I also believe that soon Canadians will be learning from that part of the world. I trust that the growth in Poland of Canadian technologies such as solar aquatic wastewater treatment will dwarf anything that happens in Canada on the subject in the same period.

The latent hunger for information and improvements to the material and social infrastructure is witnessed by the readiness of Zielone Brygady to publish articles popularizing and discussing,

• Canadian conservation efforts to preserve Pacific and Atlantic fish and wildlife,
• sustainable development education initiatives, such as EcoCafe in Vancouver BC,
• latest Canadian findings in global atmospheric change,
• the Ballard fuel cell, solar aquatic, open-pit mine wastes and rehabilitation, tidal and slow-revolution turbine, energy-efficient housing, and many other technologies either being developed or successfully applied in Canada,
• saving Canada's endangered spaces,
• sustainable forestry management, and
• sustainable transportation planning experience from major Canadian urban centres.

The first three topics and the solar aquatic technology have already been published on the pages of Zielone Brygady, or are in press.

I am setting off for a month of meetings and forums in Poland, which is greatly facilitated by the publications and the Internet network managed by Zielone Brygady. For scarcity of government support of some Canadian industry initiatives in that rapidly expanding region of Europe, local publishers offer the most cost-effective substitute.

The amount of grant sought is a token contribtion to the role the Publishing House intends to play on the Polish change scene. It is also symbolic compared to the benefits of furthering Canadian know-how and experience in environmentally-friendly technologies, nature conservation, sustainable development and positive social change.

Dr. Piotr Bein, PEng
3955 West 14th Avenue
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6R 2X2
telephone/fax: 001 604 228 9437
e-mail: piotr.bein@imag.net

Credentials:
Manager, European Market Development, Eco-Tek Wastewater Treatments Inc., Vancouver BC.
Transportation Planning Economist, British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Highways.
Four years of Politechnika Szczecinska, M.A.Sc. Technical University of Denmark, Ph. D. University of British Columbia.
Professional Engineer registered in British Columbia and member of University of Waterloo Institute for Risk Research.
Author of an internationally acclaimed report on environmental impacts and monetary costs of damage from transportation and roads.
Popularizer and contributor to international forums (including Polish) on: solar aquatic systems, sustainable transportation planning, valuation of global atmospheric change and biodiversity, nature conservation and other topics of current concern.