During and after the political changes in Poland various groups played a key role in the Polish environmental movement. Among these were radical organizations (such as 'Freedom and Peace', the Anarchist Federation, and the Movement for an Alternative Society, cultural and 'deep ecological' groups (such as Workshop for All Beings, the Green Federation, vegetarian communities, defenders of animal rights, and 'subcultures'), scouting organizations (such as the Scout Movement for Environmental Protection and the Saint Francis Scout Movement for Environmental Protection), and, finally, student based groups and the very popular movement 'I Prefer to Be'. [Glinski, 1994, p. 148] Besides the above mentioned relatively young groups the 'old' organizations PKE and Solidarity fought for ecological and political changes in Poland. [van der Schot, 1993, p. 11]
After 1989 the PKE stayed one of the most important environmental organizations in Poland, but of course a lot of other groups came into existence as well. A second phase of development in the environmental movement began in 1989, as Glinski mentions. [Glinski, 1994, p. 47] Changes in the movement's structure and in its methods of activity occurred; leading to a gradual maturation and professionalization. Throughout the now existing environmental movement in Poland we still find two general orientations; one traditional 'preservationist' approach, the other one a search for new cultural values and striving to change the civilization paradigm.
The participation of the 'green' movement in political life, during the free elections in Poland, was not very successful. A lot of green political parties suddenly appeared just before the first free national elections in 1991. [Glinski, 1994, p. 152] They did not have the support of the environmental movement and did not win a single parliamentary mandate.
Between 1989 and 1994 Polish NGOs were financially supported by various foreign entities, including: REC, Milieukontakt Oost-Europa, Environmental Partnership for Central Europe, WWF and PHARE. Some of these sources of funding will dry up in the coming years. This was 'bridging' money only, according to Czajkowski[1]. It is high time for NGOs to start tapping their own domestic resources with a well-devised strategy for acquiring funding on a national scale. [REC 5, 1994, p. 427]
For the future Glinski sees five possible scenario's of development of the Polish environmental movement. The first is the establishment of a (stronger) political wing of the 'green' movement. Now there are 17 green parties acting in Poland, but most of them are 'sofa parties', this means that they have so few active members that they can sit together on one sofa. The second possible scenario is a radicalisation, because the environmental NGOs are facing a political wall right now. The government is not at all interested in environmental issues, so maybe with radicalisation they try to break down this wall. A third possibility is an ongoing slow maturation of the whole movement. Together with an ongoing integration and a broader and stronger internal (=national) cooperation. The fourth scenario is the possible diminishing of the environmental movement in Poland. Because the Polish government is not interested in environmental issues and not in developing a Third Sector in the country. For this all hope is set on joining the European Union and the ongoing support from the western countries. But in the mean time there is a trend of shifting interest of the Western countries towards former Soviet Republics, instead of Poland. The fifth possibility for the future development of the Polish 'green' movement is dispersion; back to the local communities, with local, small scale projects. [interview Glinski, 1995, see side report]