Hnutí Brontosaurus is a large nature conservation group

Environmental movement

The environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues....

 in the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 concentrated on the youth. Brontosaurus was founded in 1974, being the first such an organization in Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

. It was named after Brontosaurus

Apatosaurus

Apatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...

, name which was at the time widely and incorrectly used as the synonym for dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

 among the Czechs. The chosen name was to remind the fate of dinosaurs, which died out during the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event.

The founders were several young enthusiasts from the Institute of Landscape Ecology of Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences

Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences

The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences was established in 1953 to be the scientific center for Czechoslovakia. It was succeeded by the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in 1992.-History:...

. Their preparations had started in 1972. The plan was covered in a popular journal for the youth, Mladý Svět

Mladý Svet

Mladý Svět was a magazine published in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. It contained editorials, comics and other works...

, whose illustrator Vladimír Jiránek

Vladimír Jiránek

Vladimír Jiránek is a Czech illustrator, film director and cartoonist.In 1962 he graduated from Philosophical faculty of Charles University in Prague, where he studied journalism. He closely cooperated with magazines . After the Velvet revolution he joined Lidové noviny...

 sketched the logo. In January 1974 "Akce Brontosaurus" (Action Brontosaurus) started as a batch of ten tasks concentrated on environment education and to be finished within one year. Unexpected success led to an indefinite extension of the programme and appearance of regional branches. Since 1978 Mladý Svět

Mladý Svet

Mladý Svět was a magazine published in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. It contained editorials, comics and other works...

 adopted it under name "Holidays with Brontosaurus" (Prázdniny s Brontosaurem), massively adding to its popularity. In the same year Brontosaurus had to became a collective member of Socialist Union of Youth, a pro-regime political organization aiming to completely cater the youth population. Brontosaurus had organized numerous festivals, propagation tours and competitions and has managed to increase awareness about the numerous ecological problems.

After the fall of communist party from power

Velvet Revolution

The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...

 in 1989 Brontosaurus became independent organization and restructured internally. The organization decided to concentrate on free time activities and education and avoid involvement in politics so popular among the other environmental groups in the Czech Republic. In 1992 a group of members left and set up independent "Asociace Brontosaura" (Association Brontosaurus). In 1996 a conflict between two groups within Brontosaurus almost broke it down; discovery of embezzlement further worsened the situation. The conflict got largely resolved during Autumn 1999 - 2000 but the organization was financially ruined (another embezzlement by a former leader was discovered). The government stepped in providing over 80% of its budget in 2001.

As of 2007 Hnutí Brontosaurus has around 1,000 members structured into 30 local groups. Concentrating on children and the youth, they organize weekend trips, summer camps, illustrated humour competition "Ekofór", education tour and courses and also ecological consultations. Budget in 2005 was around 1.6 million of CZK

Czech koruna

The Czech koruna or Czech crown has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 8 February 1993 when, together with its Slovak counterpart, it replaced the Czechoslovak koruna at par....

. About two thirds of the income came as grants by the government and municipalities, about one third was profit from business activities.

External links

• Hnutí Brontosaurus website (in Czech)
• Study with the history of Brontosaurus until 2001 (RTF
  Rich Text Format
  The Rich Text Format is a proprietary document file format with published specification developed by Microsoft Corporation since 1987 for Microsoft products and for cross-platform document interchange....
  
  , in Czech)