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News, April 2008.

The “Children Will Preserve Nature in Russia” Conference was held under the “We Are Responsible for the Future” Program of Alcoa Foundation

The “Children Will Preserve Nature in Russia” Conference was held under the “We Are Responsible for the Future” Program of Alcoa Foundation

This Conference, devoted to the 10th anniversary of the National Children’s Telecommunications Project “Environmental Commonwealth”, took place on March 26, 2008 at the Darwin Museum in Moscow.
The event was attended by nearly 100 participants, inlcuding 49 school students and 19 teachers and auxiliary education instructors from Samara, Belaya Kalitva, Lubuchany Settlement (Moscow Oblast), St.Petersburg, Moscow, Pushchino, Nekrasovskoye Settlement (Yaroslavl Oblast) and Poddubrovka Settlement (Lipetsk Oblast) and nearly 30 colleagues from environmental and public education organizations.

The children were welcomed by representatives of Alcoa Foundation and the following partner organizations: Belaya Kalitva Metallurgical Group, Fund for Sustainable Development, Institute of Environmental Soil Sciences at Moscow State University and a number of NGO (Bird Protection Union of Russia, Wildlife Protection Center, Zapovedniki Environmental Center, Darwin Museum and the Ecology and Life Journal).

Fourteen students, winners of the 2007 Telecommunications Conference (in which 62 environmental education organizations from 16 regions of Russia and Byelorussia participated), made reports at the Conference, where a total of  118 works by schoolchildren were presented devoted to the study and conservation of nature monuments and the results of monitoring the condition of water springs, small rivers and soil in school gardens.

The winners and their teachers received Letters of Award, books on conservation, manuals, reference books, and a collection of works created by the winners of the previous conference.

In 2008 and 2009, Alcoa Foundation’s   “We Are Responsible for the Future” Program will be continued. The participants in last year’s program will work with children from elementary schools and kindergartens and also with their peers with limited abilities to involve them into studying and preserving their native land and also into socially significant activities aimed at promoting local sustainable development.

G.Grigoryeva from Alcoa Foundation, the donor of the Program, welcomes the Conference attendees

Presentation of the work “Absolute Purity for Tsaryov Kurgan Nature Monument!” by Darya Glukhova from School # 150 in Samara who is assisted by Konstantin Guzanov from School # 162 in Samara

Presentation of the work “How to Help a Water Spring and a River” by Denis Rubanov who is assisted by A.Borisova, chemistry teacher, from the middle school in Lubuchany

Students from three regions, participants in the “We Are Responsible for the Future” Program (Samara, Belaya Kalitva and Lubuchany Settlement in Moscow Region), made successful presentations in the following three areas:

1. HYDROBIOLOGY AND WATER SYSTEMS MONITORING:

FIRST PRIZE was given to a team of students from School # 162 in Samara  
Work: “Monitoring Small Rivers - Volga River Tributaries”
Authors: Dmitry Andriyanov, 14 years old, 8th grade; Konstantin Guzanov, 14 years old, 9th grade; Mikhail Yelizarov, 16 years old, 11th grade; Maria Zgonnikova, 16 years old, 11th grade; and Ekaterina Naumova, 14 years old, 9th grade.
Instructors: I.Konstantinova, biology teacher, and N.Birukova, computer science teacher, from School # 162 in Samara

SPECIAL PRIZE “For a work aimed at preserving the nature of the native land” was given to Denis Rubanov, 11th grade, from the middle school in Lubuchany, Chekhovsky Raion, Moscow Oblast
Work: “How to Help a Water Spring and a River”
Instructor: A.Borisova, middle school in Lubuchany, School Scientific Environmental Society

2. ENVIRONMENTAL SOIL SCIENCES:

FIRST PRIZES were given to two works by students from School # 9 in Belaya Kalitva:
Work:  “Influence of Watering on the Chemical Composition of the Soil”
Author: Irina Shiltsova, 16 years old, 10th grade of School # 9, Vostochno-Gornyatsky Settlement, Belaya Kalitva, Rostov Oblast
Instructor: N.Shilsova, biology teachers, School # 9
Work: “Monitoring the Soil in the Schoolyard”
Author: Alina Yurchenko, 14 years old, 9th grade of School # 9,  Vostochno-Gornyatsky Settlement, Belaya Kalitva, Rostov Oblast
Instructor: N.Shilsova, biology teachers, School # 9

3. SPECIALLY PROTECTED NATURE AREAS:

One of the FIRST PRIZES was given to a research work by students from School # 133 in Samara:
Work: “Blue Lake – Revival of Rational Nature Use Traditions”
Author: Tatiana Kornilova, 16 years old, 11th grade of School # 133 in Samara
Instructor: V.Malinovskaya, Geliopolis NGO

SPECIAL PRIZE “For a Creative Approach to One’s Work”
Author: Darya Glukhova, 13 years old, 8th grade of School # 150 in Samara
Work: “Absolute Purity for Tsaryov Kurgan Nature Monument!”
Instructors: G.Salimova and I.Zubkova, Ecology and Life Safety Center

On March 26, 2008, these works were presented by their authors at a conference organized in Darwin Museum.