T R A I N I N G
Environmental education and access to information are considered powerful factors to improve people's attitudes toward nature and the process of transition to sustainability in the Ukraine.
The aim of environmental education can be formulated in the following way: all people should recognize the priority of nature and its values, as well as the value of any living creature, and they should feel some responsibility. It is therefore necessary to create an adequate understanding of nature for people of all ages, social status and professional groups. It is equally important to develop both moral and sociological responsibility for nature and the technological process. But how can one change human attitudes toward nature and natural nonrenewable resources?
Under totalitarianism, the state considered itself "the master of nature." The Ukrainian economy was formed with little regard for people's objective demands and without proper evaluation of the ecological capabilities of certain regions.
It is now necessary to restore the high value of nature in the Ukrainian mentality. This could be achieved by developing a continuous system of environmental education in order to increase public awareness and understanding of the value of nature and its resources.
In the Ukraine there are many environmental NGOs working to educate people about the environment. Their main aims are to develop and coordinate environmental education programs at different levels.
One of the most effective methods of environmental education is the "Education in Nature" program under the slogan "Nature is the best teacher." This method includes ecological trips, camping, games and many other outdoor activities. The ecological family trips organized by NGOs are the most popular type of activities. They make it possible for people of all ages to get involved, enhancing educational communication among them.
While taking part in environmental education summer camps, schoolchildren are gaining knowledge of the harmful impact of human industry and industrial activities. As we are now in the most unsustainable period of the Ukrainian environmental history, it is of the upmost importance that we establish effective information-exchange links among environmental NGOs in order to formulate an alternative and informal approach to the problems of environmental education. Finally, it is essential to teach the local population how to live in harmony with nature and the people around them.
Several NGOs in the Crimea and the Ukraine have taken on successful projects to promote awareness of the environment.
"We have carried out surveys among schoolchildren from the Sebastopol region who took part in our educational trips. Ninety-eight percent of them said that it was a great and very useful experience," trainer and scientist N.V. Shadrin said. "They now feel that they have a better understanding of environmental problems. 70 percent would like to participate more often in such events."
This NGO also organizes various summer environmental expeditions. Among these, one expedition to the Cape Lykul in 1995 and another to the Cape Tarhankut in the Crimea in 1996 focused on the human impact on landscapes and on diversity of the vegetation world. Up to 150 schoolchildren are participating in these projects, and the growth of children's interest in environmental problems is remarkable. Most importantly, schoolchildren are expressing a strong commitment to the pursuit of environmental education, and this best reflects the practical effects of the environmental education events.
YEO Gaia is also active in directing environmental education. The group organizes the annual international mobile environmental camp "Baydarskiy." The main purpose of this activity is to educate schoolchildren and students in the field of environmental issues. Various practical activities take place in the framework of this event. For example, "Clean activity of the Black Sea coast," "Storage of firewood for the orphanages," etc. About a dozen environmental NGOs are involved in this action. Also, they organized environmental lectures in which a group of lecturers visited local schools and universities. Such lectures took place during Earth Day and Black Sea Day.
In October 1996, YEO Gaia conducted a practical environmental education workshop on the topic of field ecology, the first event of its kind in the whole NIS. The main aim of this workshop was to summarize the experiences of various NGOs in this topic. Earlier that month, YEO Gaia was the organizer of the workshop devoted to the problems of environmental education within the framework of the network of the Ukrainian environmental NGOs "Ecomission." During the workshop, participants discussed the problems of environmental education for schoolchildren, together with issues of out-of-school environmental activities. The environmental educational video collection put together by YEO Gaia is also popular among students.
"The main advantage of these methods (which makes them difficult to create) is the fact that they are both simple to apply and accessible to nonformal ecologists," said Stas Kostyk, a trainer at the camp. "It should be stressed that 'nonformal ecologists' refers to people who are not necessarily specialists in chemistry. However, they are interested in having access to not only qualitative but also numerical information on the content of any polluting natural elements."
Through the lectures and practical studies, schoolchildren learned not only about speciality but also about Agenda 21 and the local Agenda 21. This camp also offered the opportunity to do landscape research, including activities such as collecting field samples. Pupils also helped remove wastes from nature-protected mountainous regions. The YEL hopes to continue organize the camp again this year.
Tatyana Lysak is a fourth-year student at the Crimean Institute of Environment Protection and Resort Building. Her major is Landscape architecture. Her major fields of interests are: environmental education, environment protection of landscapes, public participation and organizational management, and environmental journalism. She has written articles on environmental problems in the Crimea, prospects of sustainable development of the Crimean region, and environmental education. She is a member of the Board of the environmental NGO Crimean Republican Association "Ecology and Peace," Simferopol, Crimea, The Ukraine