Annual report2017

Table of contents

1. Introduction page 3

Time for thinking

2. Projects page 4

a. Seneca Anticafe page 4

b. Seneca Publishing House page 5

c. Seneca EcoLogos page 7

d. Kultivă page 8

3. Other sponsorships page 9

4. Budget page 10

5. Plans for 2018 page 11

6. Acknowledgements page 12

\ 3

1. IntroductionTime for thinking

Time for the environment

In order to learn living in harmony with nature, reading a good book is helpful but not sufficient. That is why we created the EcoLogos environmental workshops, fit for anyone from toddlers to company CEOs.

Time for food

A lot of our impact on the planet is due to the food we eat. That is why, for those who want to grow their own healthy food, we created Kultivă, a community garden just outside Bucharest.

We cannot make time or slow it down; but we can cherish the time we have and we can give it meaning. The following pages show how 2017 has passed for us, with your help – guests, readers, participants to workshops and events, partners and sponsors – and what we have in mind for 2018.

The SNK Association was created to help people take responsibility for themselves, the others and the environment. As with all good things, it takes time to adopt such a mentality. “Only the time belongs to us”, Seneca would say. That is why each of the Association’s four projects offers Time:

Time for wisdom – first was the book

The SNK Association’s first project was the Seneca Publishing House. In 2013, we gave ourselves an assignment – bringing Stoic wisdom to the contemporary readers and “translating” it to their understanding. Since living in harmony with human nature requires living in harmony with Nature itself, shortly after we added a collection of environment and ecology books.

Time for yourself

The Publishing House needed a home – that is how Seneca Anticafewas born, the place where time is the most valuable resource. Our guests come here to invest it in that which matters most to them.

\ 4

2. Projects

Seneca Anticafe is a free space, where time is the most valuable asset and guests are encouraged to invest it into anything that makes them better: a talk with a friend, a sip of natural tea, working on a project, taking part in an interesting workshop or quietly reading their favourite book.

Starting in 2017, all the products we use to keep the Anticafe clean are environmentally friendly, and so are the water supply, lighting and heating systems. Waste is collected separately and recycled by our partners, Sigurec (in 2017, Sigurec took and recycled 2.5 tons of waste from the Anticafe). The buffet supplies (biscuits, tea, fruit, vegetables) have minimum packaging, and are sourced in Romania or as close as possible.

In 2017, 1,779 new titles were brought in the bookstore, adding up to a total of 7,846 titles available in Romanian, English and many other foreign languages.

Over 11 years in one – in 2017, subscribed members spent 1980 precious days in the Anticafe, and guests spent an additional 56,737 hours.

21 titles were launched in 2017 in the Seneca Anticafe amphitheater, among other events and workshops we host or organize several times a week.

a. Seneca Anticafe

\ 5\ 5

„When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind”

The Seneca Publishing House is the fi rst green publishing house in Romania – starting in 2016, all its titles have been printed on FSC certifi ed paper (and over 90% of them are printed on 100% recycled paper), using water based ink and non-toxic glue. We publish Stoic philosophy translated into modern language and the newest and best documented environment books, in order to help readers live in harmony with themselves and nature.

THREE ENVIRONMENTAL BOOK AUTHORS, IN ROMANIA

Three of the world-renowned environmentalist authors whose books we translated and published were invited to Romania by the Seneca Publishing House, to speak to live audiences about their fi elds of interest.

Serge Latouche arrived fi rst. His books, Farewell to Growth and Breakdown Guaranteed were published in Romanian in the NOI collection of the Seneca Publishing House. Mr. Latouche held three speeches in March – at the French Institute, for the business people interested in the durability of their companies; at the Ion Mincu University of Architecture, to the college students who will be making decisions regarding our future; and at Seneca Anticafe, upon the launch of the Romanian version of Breakdown Guaranteed.

b. The Seneca Publishing House In April, Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers and Atmosphere of Hope, was also invited to Bucharest – in the Aula Magna of the Central University Library, he addressed the business people: at the Ion Mincu University, he talked to the students; at the American International School of Bucharest he addressed both the students and their parents, he went to the Romanian Parliament and addressed the Environment Commission, and at Seneca Anticafe he talked to our guests. His topics revolved around the human impact on the environment and how technology might help us save our planet.

Overall, the 8 events featuring international authors gathered over 1,100 attendants, from managers interested in sustainability to college and secondary school students. The media also attended these meetings, and the authors’ visits were covered in the printed press, online and radio.

Our last international guest in 2017 was Daniele Pernigotti, who talked in June at Seneca Anticafe during the launch of his book, Con l’aqua alla golla (In water up to our neck), translated into Romanian.

\ 6

PHILOSOPHY Collection:

The Obstacle is the Way – Ryan Holiday

A Guide to the Good Life – William B. Irvine

Ethics – B. Spinoza

The NOI (environment) Collection:

Atmosphere of Hope – Tim Flannery

Breakdown Guaranteed – Serge Latouche

The Story of Stuff – Annie Leonard

The Masters of Food – Stefano Liberti

The Value of Nothing – Raj Patel

Con l’aqua alla Gola – Daniele Pernigotti

Scelte Alimentari non Autorizzate – Marco Pizzuti

Confronting Collapse – Michael Ruppert

La Pianeta Tossica – Giancarlo Sturloni

TITLES PUBLISHED IN 2017Aside from bookstore shelves across the country and Seneca Anticafe, our books traveled to other projects meant to help people and nature: they served as prizes at the marathon organized by the Pădurea Copiilor Association, references for the Uleiosu library in Iași, residents at CUIB (by the Mai Bine Association), or gifts from companies concerned with sutainability for their employees and partners.

THE TRAVELS OF THE SENECA BOOKS

RESOURCES SAVED IN 2017

Percentage saved

(compared to regular

virgin paper)

Quantity

saved

(kg)

1471 37%

6135 39%

136706

49%

19033 33%

9967 100%

CO2 emissions (kg)

Solid waste (kg)

Water (l)

Energy (kWh)

Wood mass (kg)

due to our using 100% recycled paper

\ 7\ 7

EcoLogos is a collection of interactive environment workshops suitable for anyone, from toddlers to top company managers. The workshops have a modular structure, which means that they can be adapted to the needs and level of each particular group. The subjects vary, but they all revolve around reducing your (or your company’s) impact on the environment.

We don’t do theory – we focus on learning by playing and practical experiences. After each workshop, we keep in touch with the participants so we can help them change the behaviors they want to change.

In 2017, we prepared 14 such workshops:

In May, we opened the workshop season with a treasure hunt – this time, the treasures were the locally sourced, natural ingredients for the perfect salad. The children learned about healthy eating which benefi ts both them and the environment and the benefi ts of locally-sourced vegetables.

For Plastic Free July, we had 4 workshops with grade school students in Bucharest, about the impact of plastic on the environment and how we can reduce our consumption.

c. EcoLogos workshops

In September, during Park(ing) Day – the day when part of the Old Town Bucharest becomes green, we talked to children and adults about the Ecological Footprint – the humans’ impact on the environment and how we can diminish it.

In October, at Tășuleasa, we had two workshops with teachers from the program led by the OvidiuRo Association. After learning what the humans’ impact on the planet is and how it can be measured, teachers worked on ways to pass this knowledge on to the children.

In November, we worked with graduate students from the Academy of Economics on the subject of the Ecological Footprint, then we held a workshop for highschool students on the impact our food has on the environment. Towards the end of the month, we organized an open workshop at Seneca Anticafe about saving money while saving resources and being environment-friendly.

In December, Seneca Anticafe hosted four workshops for secondary school students, about the ecological footprint and how we can diminish it while leading a comfortable life.

The teaching materials we use for the workshops have been devised by experts in ecology and are based on the most recent and complete information available.

\ 8\ 8

Kultivă started as a series of ecological agriculture classes dedicated to those who wanted to learn how to grow their own healthy food, held on a “practice ground” in Chitila, on the outskirts of Bucharest. In 2017 it turned into a community garden where 20 people had pieces of land between 10 and 50 square meters, where they grew vegetables, trees and aromatic plants without the aid of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The gardners would still be able to participate in the workshops which continued throughout 2017 and learn the tricks of the trade from experts.

Also in 2017, Kultivă expanded to Bucharest – we organized an urban itinerant garden next to the EFdeN house. We grew fresh vegetables in the middle of Bucharest, on the asphalt, in wooden boxes fi lled with soil.

d. Kultivă

\ 9

3. Other sponsorships

The SNK Association supported the EFdeN team in a project meant to educate the public about sustainability, especially regarding energy efficiency for buildings. The online platform, called “Sustainability consultant”, offers two classes on the EFdeN website.

In 2017, we continued our collaboration with the Think Outside the Box platform for the Think Green series of articles, about Romania’s transition towards green energy.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

EFdeN

Photo: Think Outside the Box

\ 10

4. BudgetJanuary-December 2017

(Romanian LEI)

EXPENSES

INCOME

SalariesAnticafeSeneca Publishing HouseSponsorships offeredKultivăExpense with disposed assetsTOTAL EXPENSES

TimeMerchandiseSeneca Publishing House booksKultivă classesSponsorships receivedProceeds from the sale of assetsTOTAL INCOME

636.911,00 714.762,00 352.555,14

55.526,00 32.552,00

1.138.350,78 2.930.656,92

471.942,42 445.237,58

15.342,46 2.126,16

513.662,64 760.352,76

2.208.664,02

The SNK Association account balance on December 31st 2016: 1.788.404,07 LEI

SPONSORSHIPS RECEIVED

ROMSTAL IMEX 278.368,66 CENTRAL SERVICE INSTAL 115.000,00 Belform Prod 46.000,00IOS SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS SRL 31.000,00Perini Lang Holding 31.000,00ANTALIS 11.375,002% of income tax* 918,98TOTAL 513.662,64

_____________________* In Romania, taxpayers are allowed to redirect 2% of their annual income tax, which would otherwise go to the Romanian State, towards an NGO.

\ 11

5. Plans for 2018

a. Seneca AnticafeIn 2018, Seneca Anticafe will keep on searching for new and interesting books for our guests. Aside from the products we use to clean the space, we want to source as many products in the Anticafe as possible responsibly – from the copy paper which has always been 100% recycled, to the hand soap and coasters made out of recycled street banners.

b. The Seneca Publishing House In 2018, the Seneca Publishing House plans to publish the following titles:

The Philosophy Collection:

Mini Stoicism Guide – The Seneca Publishing HouseDiatribes – EpictetusOn Death – SenecaOn Freedom – SenecaOn Friendship – Seneca On Knowledge – Seneca On Time – SenecaTragedies I – Seneca Good Night, Mr. Lenin – Tiziano TerzaniLetters against the War – Tiziano TerzaniSecret Door – Tiziano TerzaniThe End is my Beginning – Tiziano TerzaniStoicism Today – Patrick Ussher

The NOI (Environment) Collection:

The End of Growth – Richard HeinbergTransition Handbook – Rob HopkinsStuffed and Starved – Raj Patel2038: Atlas of the Futures of the World – Virginie Raisson2052: A Global Forecast – JØrgen RandersCookbook for Kids – Ruby RothWhat Animals Think and Feel – Carl Safi na

c. EcoLogosIn 2018, we will be adding a new dimension to the EcoLogos workshops. Since, in a consumption-oriented world, companies are hugely infl uential, the decisions they make weigh a lot. That is why we will try to also direct our workshops towards this kind of audience – the managers and employees of interested companies will be able to cut down on running costs while also signifi cantly reducing their impact on the environment.

d. KultivăIn 2018, we will start a vegetable greenhouse in Cernavodă, which will provide ecological food for the canteens of companies interested in sustainability.

Acknowledgements6.

Supporters:

NGO Partners: Media Partners:

The existence of the SNK Association was possible because people believed in the idea of doing good − from the founding members to the team, sponsors, readers, guests and workshop participants.

Thank you and stay with us!