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News, May 2010.

Saving resources for our common home

Attendees of the master class in Samara in the computer classroom of School # 150

At the beginning of the master class	Marina Lapshina provides comments	Farewell!

Computer classroom of School # 6 in Belaya Kalitva

Luda Suprunova provides comments	Students from Belaya Kalitva pose questions
Master class attendees in Belaya Kalitva answer the question “How much water can 6 young conservationists save if each uses a glass of water for brushing teeth instead of running tap water?”	Response to moderator Layndsberg’s question “Who would like to answer?”

On May 13, 2010 at 2:30 pm (Moscow time), the telecommunication master class Resoruce and Energy Saving was held under the Alcoa Foundation Program “We Are in Charge of the Future”. This event brought together audienes of shcool students, teachers and environmental specialists in four cities: Samara – Belaya Kaltiva – St.Petersburg – Moscow.

This master class was devoted to the most important issues of our time - sparing attitudes to natural resources and energy and, in particular, to the most critical problem of preserving drinking water reserves. Today, resource and energy saving is being broadly discussed, which is quite understandable, since vast amounts of government funds will be saved if this problem is solved. This concerns not only individual countries and the world, but, which is most important, families and schools. Even the broadest possible advertising of energy-efficiency will fail, if people do not save resources where they live.

The master class was attended by schoolchildren, teachers and additional education instructors from ten middle schools (Schools ##72, 96, 147, 150, 162 in Kirovsky District of Samara and Schools ## 2, 4, 5, 6, 9 in Belaya Kalitva), the Matvei Platov Cadet Corps, House of Children’s Creativity and Children’s Creativity Center from Belaya Kalitva; and Ecology and Life Safety Training Center from Samara.

 The audience in Belaya Kalitva was made up of 21 students of 7-11 grades, 11 teachers, and Alcoa Metallurg Rus representatives N.Borodavko, leading specialist of the Corporate Relations Department, and A. Kozlov, IT manager. The master class in Samara was attended by 19 students of 5-11 grades, 6 teachers, two staff members of the Ecology and Life Safety Training Center, and the head of the SMZ Social Responsibility Programs M.Fyodorova.

The master class was moderated by Arthur Lyandsberg, FSD consultant and director of Krestovsky Ostrov Ecology and Biology Center at St.Petersburg City Youth Creativity Center. The students participating in the “We Are in Charge of the Future” Program often met with Mr.Lyandsberg during site visits of FSD staff to Samara and Belaya Kalitva. In Moscow, the master class was led by FSD projects manager E.Bondarchuk, PhD, and the head of the National Telecommunication Project Environmental Commonwealth (Lomonosov Moscow State University) M.Rykhlikova. Technical support was provided by B.Chigarev, PhD, FSD IT specialist (Moscow), A.Burov, head of  IT  laboratory at EBC (St.Petersburg), A.Kozlov, IT manager (Alcoa Metallurg Rus, Belaya Kalitva) and computer science teachers S.Zakhartseva (School # 6, Belaya Kalitva) and A.Sidneva (School # 150, Samara).

Arthur Lyandsberg opened the master class with the following words: “Our communication now resembles a space telecommunication session, the more so that right now I am at the Space Exploration Class of our Center. And the issues that we will now discuss are as important as outer space exploration. Let’s try to find some solutions together.”  The presentation that was offered to the audience not only contained important information, but with the help of easy to understand examples from real life demonstrated sparing approaches to natural resources and the need to develop and utilize energy and resource saving techniques. The students and teachers were able to broaden their range of knowledge in this field and in the process of the video conference receive answers to their questions. These were important questions, such as how to dispose of energy-saving lamps? How dangerous is the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Will our successors have enough natural resources to operate heat and power stations? How big is the risk of operating nuclear power stations? Is underground water a mineral resource? Can it satisfy humankind’s needs and replenish lost resources?

Students from Belaya Kalitva and Samara displayed a remarkable knowledge of the subject and a keen interest in the presented practices. They expressed their desire to take part in other similar meetings and gladly accepted the proposal to conduct a telebridge in the autumn, at which they would present their own projects involving the promotion of prudent attitudes toward natural resources and their preservation. For starters – in their homes and at school.

At the end of the telecommunication master class, the attendees thanked Alcoa Foundation and its industrial plants in Belaya Kalitva and Samara and also all the Program’s partners for the chance to take part in one of the most prestigious and advanced modes of communication – a teleconference.

The students were glad to share their impressions:

Kirill Morozov, School # 5

- I have become interested in conservation when I was in elementary school. At first, it was just fascinating and afterwards I realized how important it was. It deals with the most critical problems facing humankind. I will tell my parents all about this conference and will offer them new ways of saving resources.

Alina Boyalskaya and Irina Borodina, Cossack Cadet Corps:

- We are overfilled with emotion! We were lucky to take part in this event, during which four audiences in different parts of our country held a discussion. We are novices at the “We Are in Charge of the Future” Program, but were able to understand its significance and level. We are very much looking forward to meetings at the environmental camp.

Artyom  Dupik, School # 5

- I am grateful to my teacher Vera Loiko for involving me into environmental work. Arthur Lyandsberg is a real professional. His lessons are always interesting. Today’s master class was very useful from the practical point of view. Curiously, US residents consume 33 times more energy than those in India, 13 times more than those in China and 2 times more than those in Russia. But this is a weak consolation and I am ready for action!

Lyudmila Suprunova, School # 2

- I consider it an honor to become a participant in such a telecommunication conference that connected four regions at the same time. Of course, I communicate with my friends through Skype and this is not an overly surprising thing, but master classes in such a captivating form are unusual. I am very interested in environmental sciences and want to become a microbiologist.

Victoria Geroyeva, School # 5

- I would like to thank all the organizers of this wonderful event. It was very interesting. Very cool. And although I have been studying ecology for some time, I have learned many new things at this master class. In France, for example, nuclear power stations account for 76% of the country’s power consumption, which means that this country is saving resources.

Marina Konyashkina, DDT:

- This is the first time I took part in a meeting of such an unusual format. I have lots of impressions. I am grateful to the “We Are in Charge of the Future” Program for giving us a chance to speak to professionals of such a level.

Svetlana Zakhartseva, computer sciences teacher at Schhol # 6

- Of  course I was aware that “We Are in Charge of the Future” Program of Alcoa Foundation was successfully working in our city, with our school being one of its participants. However, the request to provide technical support for a telecommunication conference was quite unexpected. When I plunged into preparations, I realized that my newly acquired knowledge would be quite useful in my work at school. I also become acquainted with remarkable environmental scientists and IT specialists from Moscow, St.Petersburg, Samara and Belaya Kalitva.

The computer sciences class in our school has modern equipment, but we have not had any previous practice of such conferences. There has been no need for that. It was as if our good equipment was waiting for its chance. We were assisted by A.Kozlov, IT manager from Alcoa Metallurg Rus, who hooked up the web camera, audio equipment and set everything up. He also helped with training and establishing contact with all the participants on the day of the conference. We would like to thank him for his technical and moral support.

The telecommunication conference went smoothly, the equipment worked properly, the children confidently replied to and posed questions. We will definitely be using our new experience, since with the help of our network and Skype we can connect all the school’s classes, while the Internet will make it possible to communicate with our colleagues in any corner of the country.