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Eco-Ethics Cleans Up in Sevastopol

On June 26, The Eco-Troops of the Sevastopol Local Chapter headed up to Cape Aya for the weekend. From its high altitude on the southern coast of Crimea near Balaclava, Cape Aya overlooks the Black Sea. It is a beautiful area which also contains a nature reserve. Permission to enter the reserve area was granted to the Sevastopol Troops by the administration of the nature reserve.

Upon arrival, the Troops reconnoitered the area, then gathered firewood and collected rubbish within their camp's perimeter. That evening around the campfire, the group discussed its goals and aims for the weekend. They intended to study the negative effect of Homo sapiens on the ecosystem and practice the ethical principles of virtue, altruism, mutual aid and self-limitation.

The Troops divided themselves into three groups:

Group 1 included Pirogova Evgenia, Soyusova Irina, Gvozdareva Elena, Makarov Alexander, Kovtun Victor, Samuelson Evgeniy, Marchukov Leonid, Vershinin Alex, Chernaya Nastia, Kotenko Anton, Polyakov Anton, Logvina Valeria, Kovaleva Olga, and Gvozdareva Tatyana. Group 2 included Burukina Marina, Butaev Nick, Gaydabuka Ludmila, Ganulich Pavel, and Belousov Viktor. Group 3 included Dovguniyak Alexandra, Agarkova Alena, Kluchnikov Andrey, and Novitskaya Vera.

The assignment of Group 1 was to count up the number of healthy, damaged and dead pines (Stankevich pine) on two hectares. The count was carried out 7 times and a mean total of 864 pines on 2 hectares was calculated. Of these 864 trees, 28.2% were healthy, 10.3% were damaged as a result of the activities of Homo sapiens (i.e. broken branches, bark removed, gouged trunks, branches removed, lean crowns), 34.2% were scorched or showed traces of fire damage (probably as a result of the carelessness of Homo sapiens), and 27.2% were dead. Samples were also taken from trees for ecocytogenetic investigation/analysis to be undertaken in Sevastopol.

Group 2 was responsible for collecting any rubbish found in the area and for making a map of the investigated region. This group collected a total of 10 large bags of trash. All rubbish was brought into Balaclava (a satellite town in the greater Sevastopol City region) at the end of the weekend and disposed of in appropriate containers.

The job of Group 3 was to locate any blocked or dried-up springs in the area and, if possible, locate the source or blockage and restore the function of the spring. It was discovered that in most cases landslides were the cause of blockage or dryness of springs. Group 3 successfully cleared the springs and their channels.

Because the troops were able to see first-hand the damage and destruction Homo sapiens is capable of inflicting on an ecosystem, they were further convinced of the necessity of observing Eco-Ethical principles, and all three of the groups shared the principles of Eco-Ethics with other tourists in the area.

After an exciting and educational weekend, the Sevastopol Eco-Troops returned to the city on the evening of June 28. On June 30, an article titled 'Let's spare the Stankevich pine tree!' was published in the city newspaper 'Slava Sevastopolya' (no. 147, p 3). The article described the ecological action taken by the Sevastopol Eco-Ethics Youth Group under the supervision of Teacher Ludmilla P. Marchukova on the beautiful shores of Cape Aya. On August 04, Troop members also appeared on Sevastopol TV to report on their activities at Cape Aya and to share the Eco-Ethics concept with viewers.

This page was last updated on 18 June 1999.