On October 22, 2013 in Lviv, at the Faculty of Journalism of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and in the bookstore “E”, two open lectures by Oleg Andros on “Modern environmentalism in the world and in Ukraine” were held.
Oleh emphasized the crucial role of young people’s self-organization in promoting the ideas of nature and cultural heritage protection. The guest from Kyiv spoke about terminological nuances – what is “ecology” and “ecology”, why we should not use language twists like “ecology of language” or “ecology of the soul”. Oleg also paid much attention to specific examples of interaction between the public and the media. For example, some topics become top news stories, while others are ignored by journalists despite their great social value. To bridge this gap and to find alternatives to anthropocentrism in the media, in 2008, Oleh and Anzhelika Komarova created a public initiative called the Union of Free Journalists “Nature Above All”. The founders call on all those who are not indifferent to join its activities..
During the lecture, Oleg also discussed the following topics:
– From theory to action. Interaction between leaderless movements and the modern state. Methods and tactics of movements. Is there a “mainstream” and an “underground” in the eco-movement?
– Ukrainian experience. Do Western and Eastern concepts, movements, and subcultures take root in Ukraine? What is the future of the environmentalist movement in Ukraine? The “Rainbow Guardians” of the 1990s, the events in Gorky Park in Kharkiv in 2010, “Save the Old Kyiv” in 2007-2009, and the Gostiny Dvor in Kyiv in 2012-2013 – what are the symptoms of what trends in society?
– programs and actions of Ukrainian political parties that call themselves environmentalists. Do the parties have a market price? (Oleg expressed some thoughts on this issue in the section on the environmental component of political parties’ programs in the Civic Assessment of Environmental Policy 2012).
Both reports were supplemented with examples from different countries of the world by the co-organizer of the meetings, PhD in Social Communications, Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Press and Information of the Faculty of Journalism of LNU, member of the NGO “Bureau of Environmental Investigations” Hanna Hopko. Hanna focused on global environmental issues, emphasizing the example of China, where the media is actively promoting “Green China,” a new ideology of everyone’s responsibility for environmental degradation as a consequence of economic growth. Perhaps the most touching example she gave was a story about the largest slum in Mumbai, India, where 2 million people live on an area of 2 square kilometers, and about a face-to-face meeting with children playing in a landfill there. The children turned out to be more sincere and generous than European children. “What is the happiness index of us and these people?“, ‘How to overcome the power of the ’golden billion”?”, ‘The role of everyone in the development of the country and the future of Ukraine?’ – these were the important questions asked by the speaker. Read more about the trip to India on the site of the Letters to Friends magazine.
After the inspiring meeting with Lviv students, the conversation about environmentalist movements and the important role of citizen self-organization continued at the Ye bookstore. There was an intense discussion about what an “ordinary person” can do to change the current social reality. Oleh Andros also mentioned the many years of experience of the Nature Conservation Brigades movement and other environmentalist movements that emerged in the USSR and the post-Soviet states.
Media activist Mykola Ryazanov made a video about this meeting:
Oleh Andros expresses his gratitude to Hanna Hopko, the head of the Department of Foreign Press and Information, Yosyp Los, and the Ye bookstore for organizing the meetings. Also, thanks to the International Charitable Organization “Ecology-Law-Human”, thanks to which Oleg came to Lviv, taking part, in addition to lectures, in the round table “Implementation of European Standards for Environmental Impact Assessment in Ukraine”.
About the lecturer. .
