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Report, June 2008 (from Chair Olga Osadchuk)

Report of Sevastopol Task Force "Green Planet" reports that the number of our members has increased, there are more than 250 members in our Task Force now. Here follows the information on the work we have done since January 2008:

• The program of teaching eco-ethics with basics of English has been created.
• Eco-ethics lessons are held on a constant basis.
• Taking care of veterans of World war 2, children from Children's Homes and
• Invalids has been our priority this year. We took part in searching for soldiers,
• lost during the war. All things that were found were placed in the museum Motherland or given to relatives of buried soldiers.
• Members of our Task Force did shopping for veterans, gave performances, issued postcards and leaflets for Victory day (Photos are attached)
• A lot of attention was paid to children without parents. We collected toys, books for them, bought all things that are necessary for school, gave performances(Photos are attached)
• Students of our school, supervised by "Green Planet" members cleaned the area where they live, made homes for birds, fed birds in winter(photos are attached).
• Earth Day on April 22 was a special day. Members of our Task Force took part in Eco Res Forum conference on-line "Exploring the Ethical, Political and Socio- Cultural Aspects of climate change"
• A chapter for a book of a Canadian scientist was written by Osadchuk O.A.
• The title of the chapter is: "Teaching eco-ethics: The major focus on the development of emotional intelligence and naturalistic abilities of children since early childhood"
• The book will be published in 2008.
• Contests of poems, compositions, pictures, postcards and fact-files were held.
• Anti-smoking campaign was carried out in our school and in the area.
• Lots of trees and flowers were planted on Earth Day.
• Our Task Force members are patrolling the area on a regular basis to check polluted places and to take measures to clean those.
• A school conference "Problems of noise and its influence on people's health was held.
• In our eco-ethics activities we have used multiple media and multiple expressive and interactive means
• Eco-ethical festival "The beauty of nature" was held.

Report, October 2007 (from Chair Olga Osadchuk)

"The history of the mankind teaches us that main historic events have always been the apparent results of invisible changes in people's minds."
-- G.Le Bon "The Psychology of Masses"

Bearing the above in mind we have to find the answer to the following question: How to promote the changes in people's minds and make them ecocentric instead of being anthropocentric? There are some answers to this question. The mankind needs a new system of values, new philosophy, new ways of life and programmes of practical activities on all levels (Bganba-Cerera B.P. Ecological ethics).

Promoting and teaching environmental awareness must be considered the main aim of coordinated efforts of parents, teachers, scientists, members of governmental and non-governmental organizations and all people on Earth. It's vitally important because having built a narrow and self-centered world many people do not accept responsibilities for their neighborhood, district, city, country and the planet they live on. Children live in environments formed by previous generations and their way of thinking reflects their cultural background. Having inherited wrong antropocentric ideas children continue to spoil nature as the previous generation had done.

What is to be done in such a situation? Firstly, we strongly believe that eco-ethical ideas will find the way to children's hearts only if they are taught along with family monitoring. Secondly, the family and teachers may contribute greatly to the development of naturalistic intelligence (Ronnie Durie "An interview with Howard Gardner"), emotional and social skills. Deficiencies in emotional intelligence may lead to disruptive behavior, aggressiveness and violence, depression and drug abuse. Setting down the essential emotional habits will help children govern their lives in future.(Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence).Thirdly, the key, which can bring about the necessary changes, is teaching eco-ethics since early childhood. The last but not the least is teaching eco-ethics through the integrated influence of word, color and music on children The development of the synthesis of both rational and irrational essentials in the process of teaching eco-ethics is very important.

Report, January 2007 (from Chair Olga Osadchuk)

EEIU Green Planet Task Force: New taboos key to overcoming aggression and destruction

Survival in our new world requires control of the beast in us. On the one hand humanity is developing new ways to make human beings more independent from the restrictions society imposes upon him/her. But on the other hand survival of mankind is impossible without restrictions or prohibitions. Human civilization itself wouldn't have survived without taboos.

What is "taboo"?

Wundt calls "taboo" the oldest unwritten code of law of humanity (1). According to Sigmund Freud (2), "Taboos are very ancient prohibitions which at one time were forced upon a generation of primitive people from without, that is they probably were forcibly impressed upon them by an earlier generation. The prohibitions maintained themselves from generation to generation, perhaps only as the result of a tradition set up by paternal and social authority."

Some scientists suggest that new taboos should be developed nowadays (3) but nobody knows how this should be done. Freud teaches us that taboo restrictions are different from religious or moral prohibitions, because they lack all justification. Primitive races impose taboos upon themselves without any apparent reason; they subject themselves to these restrictions as a matter of fact. According to Wundt, taboo is the expression and evolution of the belief of primitive races in demonic powers, and that later taboo has dissociated itself from this origin and has remained a power simply because it was by virtue of a kind of psychic persistence and in this manner it became the root of our customs and laws.

Freud explains that demons and taboos are only the products of the psychic powers of man. The inner world of a human being has always been a mixture of rational and irrational - intuition, instincts, envisages, unpredictable or illogical impulses. This irrational part influences the behaviour of a human being not less than reason. Sometimes a piece of music, a poem, a picture or a beautiful scenery can change something in our souls, make us cleaner and kinder, change even our outlook. Bearing this in mind human society should use these precious possibilities to make an impact, to bring up new generations capable of being more ecocentric, more empathetic.

The history of mankind teaches us that rules, laws and prohibitions of all kinds imposed upon people by authorities are always opposed by people. Speaking about developing new taboos we should bear in mind that only the demands of self-protection are capable of uniting people. The net of mutual feelings (4) towards nature and everything in the world should be formed by the majority of people and in this respect the activities organised by the EEIU, especially the online EcoRes Forum E-Conference (www.eco-res.org), are very important steps towards developing such a net. The more people become involved in these activities the more successful the result will be.

There's one more aspect of the problem. It's essential to unite the efforts of all scientists and eco-centric oriented people all over the world, but maybe not less important is to involve parents and teachers in local communities, because the future of mankind is laid by them in families, kindergartens, schools and social institutions of all kinds.

Survival

On the other hand children who are involved in eco-ethical activities often show adults how to behave towards nature, being more sensitive to its beauty, being more empathetic (examples are numerous). In our case they add much more to the bank of ideas about how to protect the Earth.

The most difficult problem that must be solved is how to overcome the passivity of people who, being egoistic, don't care for anything in the world but themselves. It is by their silent agreement that evil things happen in the world. Passing by children or adults destroying the environment they do not interfere, do not prevent them from doing so. The number of such people is unknown, but they do exist and without involving them in discussions and eco-ethical activities it would be very difficult to succeed in saving the world.

Olga Osadchuk

Eugene Nazarova

Sevastopol Task Force School 1142 Moscow

Conference proceedings excerpt, January 2007 (from Chair Olga Osadchuk)

How to overcome aggression

Anthropocentric thinking, which played a very important role in the antique world, has become one of the most dangerous things nowadays. The number of people who care for the world around us is much less than that of those who don't. More and more people become aggressive towards each other and everything around them. Vandalism in its worst forms can be found all over the world.

The latest computer research has shown that aggression is caused by both genetic deficiency and social factors. Research on the brains of teenage murderers in the USA revealed a lack of nerve cell activity in the frontal lobes of the brain which are responsible for the human intelligence. Can we conclude that the level of aggression is higher than ever because people are less intelligent? However, the amount of people graduating from colleges and universities is increasing every year.

To work with sophisticated equipment nowadays people must be much more intelligent than they used to be. But the number of those whose behaviour towards people and nature is barbaric is also increasing. According to Goleman D. (1) a "massive survey of parents and teachers shows a worldwide trend for the present generation of children to be more troubled emotionally than the last: more lonely and depressed, more angry and unruly, more impulsive and aggressive....The question is, how can we bring intelligence to our emotions and civility to our streets and caring to our communal life?"

While trying to find the answer to this question we should bear in mind that we have two minds, one that thinks and one that feels. It means that our emotions have a mind of their own which can function quite independently of our rational mind.

The lack of emotional intelligence in children can result in academic failure and aggression not because they are not intelligent, but because they lack control over their emotions and lack empathy. The root of caring for everything around us stems from the ability for empathy. Emotional learning begins in life's earliest moments and continues throughout childhood. Family and school either teach empathy or fail to do so.

Models of aggressiveness and violence are passed from generation to generation. Physical or emotional abuse at home or at school leads to the aggressive and violent behaviour of children. Such children are more likely to have difficulties in learning, more likely to be aggressive and unpopular with their peers. Adults, critical, threatening and harsh in punishments, bring up a more extreme version of themselves.

On the other hand many parents are too permissive and overprotective and their children often lack empathy, and are selfish and aggressive. How can one tame aggressiveness in children? How can one make them more caring towards people and nature? Some psychologists have training sessions in anger control through dramatising scenes, others offer discussions on topics of importance for teenagers. We teach eco-ethics for forty minutes twice a week. The topics taught include managing emotions, understanding others' feelings, respecting nature, and taking care of it.

Report, December 2006 (from Chair Olga Osadchuk)

Sevastopol Task Force Activities in Moscow

Our December conference on environmental ethics was a great success: about 200 students and teachers took part in it. Some of them delivered speeches at the conference, while others submitted reports. The main topics discussed at the conference and their presenters were:

1. Psychological aspects of ecocentric thinking (presented by Osadchuk O. A.)
2. How to overcome aggression on Earth: the system of taboos (Nazarova Eugenia)
3. Eco-ethics lessons: the way to the development of an eco-ethical culture (Baskova Julia)
4. Biological diversity on Earth (Paleny Andrew)
5. Water resources: global perspectives (Repina Helen)
6. People and animals: we are in the same boat (Dulder Zina)
7. Fundamentals of nature saving strategy (Kurguzkina V. I.)
8. Ecology of Moscow (Voronina T. G.)
9. Zootherapy (Yanke Oleg)
10. The role of school in the environmental education of people in the local community (Kalinin Alexei)

Enthusiasm was high among the conference participants, who started the event with their official song:

There is just one moon and one golden sun
And a smile means friendship to everyone.
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It's a small world after all!

Photos will be available at a later date. Many posters were presented for viewing, and before closing the most active members of the Task Force were awarded with books about nature.

Report, June 2006 (from Chair Olga Osadchuk)

We have had sad events in our school. Our headmaster died and we still cannot believe it.

As for the activities of our Task Force, we are staying busy. Five minutes at every lesson in 1-8 forms are devoted to eco-ethics.

There was a city conference in our school devoted to disabled students and students with emotional disturbances. My class (8B) gave a lesson on eco-ethics in English and it was a success. I am happy that my students have become more disciplined and aware of eco-ethics problems. They really try to do their best in taking care of the school area and the Maryino area where they live.

I am still working primarily in the Moscow area. In summer I take students from Moscow to an ecological camp in Sevastopol and we work together with the students from school NIS.

Eco-ethics behavior modification techniques

The behavior of students classified as having emotional disturbances worries parents and teachers all over the world. The causes of emotional disturbance are numerous and may differ from culture to culture, from one age to another and from one environment to another. Scientists attribute emotional disturbances to biological, psychodynamic, family-systems, environmental or social learning causes. The most striking behavior of students with emotional disturbances is aggression. Our Task Force conducted a research on the influence of eco-ethics activities on aggressive students.

The analysis of data obtained at the beginning of the research showed that verbal aggression and indirect aggression prevailed among girls (50%). Forceful aggression (60%) and irritation (59%) were typical for boys. Teenagers from families with both parents showed higher levels of forceful aggression whereas teenagers from one-parent families were inclined towards verbal aggression.

37.5% of teens in the research had an adequate self-concept, 33.5% off teenagers had an inadequately high level of self-concept and 29% of teens were characterized with a low level of self-concept.

The teenagers with disruptive behavior who demonstrated a higher level of self-concept had inappropriate images of what is good and fair. They misunderstood the values of bravery and courage and tended to be more aggressive.

Analyzing the data obtained, we decided to teach appropriate social skills by having students take part in eco-ethics activities (lessons, working in the area, taking care of younger children, elderly people and war veterans, role-playing, dramatizing, project drawing and practicing behaviors such as turn-taking, sharing, asking politely, etc).

Students for such activities were grouped by complimentary skills and abilities so that they could learn from one another.

We can control many aspects of students behavior by applying behavior modification techniques. One of the main aspects of such techniques is positive reinforcement. Examples of positive reinforcement are numerous:

1. Taking picture of students for school newspaper.

2. Giving students stickers or stars for good work.

3. Complimenting students on quick and effective activities.

4. Allowing students who work cooperatively to earn points that they can "cash in" for time in amusement parks.

Report, Spring 2006 (from Chair Olga Osadchuk)

Our Task Force is continuing to enlarge the network for environmentally concerned individuals. We see our primary aim as teaching the main principles of eco-ethics, in participating in all eco-ethics projects in the area, and in the formation of new models of interaction including "people-people", "individual and society", and "individual and nature".

We are aware that the formation of an eco-ethics culture is impossible without systematically connected components. The system includes:

1. Teaching eco-ethics to all students through eco-ethics lessons (20 lessons on different topics are given) and eco-ethics code
2. Teaching children with disruptive behavior and/or emotional disturbances through special training lessons; involving those students in eco-ethics actions in the area (cleaning; helping animals and birds; issuing newspapers, proclamations and leaflets)
3. More than 50 fact-files were made by the students and are used during eco-ethics lessons.
4. An anti-smoking campaign was held locally, involving citizens living in the area
5. Ozone Layer Day and Animal Protection Day were celebrated by sending letters to local authorities in order to warn them against polluting the air with smoke from factories
6. During the above event, elderly people and war veterans were visited and our group helped them to solve some problems
7. Our group members are patrolling the area on a regular basis to check polluted places and to take measures to clean those
8. In September trees were planted in the school area
9. Our ecological project "City markets - as one of the ecological problems in the area" was completed and the results were sent to city authorities
10. Poem, composition, picture, photo and placard contests featuring the theme "It's a small world after all" were held
11. A conference on the theme "What is empathy and how to teach it" was held

We consider that "information metabolism", i.e. organized and supervised exchange of information on eco-ethics problems in all kinds of activities, is of vital importance. Results achieved included a lower level of aggression among children with disruptive behavior (an article on this issue will be sent at a later date).

Report, 21 March 2005 (From Chair Olga Osadchuk)

Report from Sevastopol Task Force

• Conduct contests of poems and placards.
• Feed birds in parks and squares.
• Visit hospitals and a home for elderly people to perform concerts and give some presents.
• Visit veterans of World War II to provide any necessary help

Report from Sevastopol Task Force

1. Adoption of some animals and some areas in Moscow and Sevastopol in order to help them in any possible way, to keep them clean and safe
2. Teaching children eco-ethical principles through eco-ethical lessons
3. Creation of a program for teaching children with disruptive behavior (emotional disturbances), based on eco-ethics principles (see below text)
4. Anti-smoking campaign in Maryino area (Moscow) in the framework of the movement "For a Healthy Way Of Life"
5. Development of projects and fact files: "The Three Rs of Trash", "Save Our Planet", and "Ecology Of Communication"
6. Cleaning activities in our school yard and in the Maryino area
7. Contests of poems, compositions, pictures, photos and placards "Our Beautiful World"
8. Ecological conference "Water supplies on our Earth: how to keep them clean"
9. Ecological games: "Find Treasure", "Map Game", "Colorful World"
10. Interviewing students and people in the streets

In the conditions of conflict between humanity and the biosphere the introduction of the young generation to their responsibilities to the world around them, as well as improvement in their social behavior, is of vital importance.

Behavior modification techniques include modeling and role-playing of social situations while discussing and practicing behaviors. Counseling techniques are also used, with the main aim to encourage students to overcome conflicts by recognizing and analyzing their feelings and the feelings of other people. In addition, dramatizing fables is one of the ways to teach children with disruptive behavior to adapt and become self-directed.

Moreover, community-oriented activities concentrated on eco-ethics problems help children with emotional disturbances learn how to cooperate and be useful. Such activities help children cope with social and emotional problems.

Finally, placing children in an eco-ethics oriented environment while increasing attention to their needs and achievements stimulates the growth of their self-esteem. Bearing this in mind, we divided our Task Force into units or groups which include cooperative responsible children who are aware of eco-ethics problems and children with hyperactivity disorder, who have problems with academic tasks and difficulties in making friends due to poor social skills and impulsive tendencies. All groups involved in community or school-oriented activities not only receive instructions on how to solve the given tasks, but also have the opportunity to take their own steps or activities.

We are trying to combine the efforts of all teachers, parents, and professionals involved in the process of modification of the children's behavior.

New Sevastopol Community Centre opened on Earth Day

In our work with children we pay a lot of attention to younger children (7-9 years old) whose habits are not yet fixed, and they are very active and anxious to do well.

Youngsters are very concerned with right and wrong, their ethical sense is growing. What is more, they also seek the approval of adults in everything they do. They like to play together in group games.

Bearing all this in mind our Task Force is constantly searching for new ways to involve younger children in eco-ethical activities. Following the initiative of our headmaster Shevtsova N. I. (School 15), a new centre for children, their parents and all people living in the community around School 15 has been created. The goal of the centre is to fulfil a number of tasks:

• encourage the development of children both mentally and physically, involving them and their parents in sports and eco-ethical activities and activating their efforts to lead a healthy way of life
• promote social development of children, based on the idea of high civic awareness, social partnership and responsibilities
• create a specific atmosphere of a community where all members are deeply interested in making the place they live the safest and the most beautiful area
• encourage the development of children's creative abilities, etc.

The main idea of the centre is to combine the efforts of parents, teachers and all other people involved in order to develop the physical and mental strengths of children, to teach social cooperation based on the idea of social responsibilities.

Before the new centre was opened a lot of work had been done by children and adults to clean the area around the school and neighbourhood. Members of our Task Force issued leaflets which were spread among the citizens of our district. In those leaflets we invited everybody to take part in the activities of our new centre and to clean the areas around their blocks of flats. It was exciting to see how creative, inventive and enthusiastic lots of people were, gathered together in our school yard on the 16th of March, when the centre was opened. All these actions were devoted to Earth Day (21st of March).

There were sports competitions, lots of singing and dancing, football, basketball and vollyball matches among adults and children. Younger children searched for "treasures" and drew pictures in the school yard while teenagers played different games. Music and laughter were heard in the school yard till evening. Members of our Task Force took part in a concert with a special programme devoted to eco-ethical ideas.

The new centre was presented with sporting facilities (for table-tennis, balls, skateboards, etc.)

We hope that our activities in this centre will promote spiritual and physical growth of both children and adults.

A message from Olga Osadchuk

Members of Sevastopol Task Force, School number 15, visited a nuclear energy research and industrial plant. They got acquainted with individual devices of radiation control and checking devices for environmental monitoring, as well as the means of radiation defence and nuclear safety. With the help of appliances designed to check radiation levels, measurements were taken, which confirmed the absence of radioactive contamination. The level of radiation corresponded to standards and norms. Members of the Task Force are going to visit the institute in the future in order to gain more knowledge in the area of nuclear energy.

Update from Sevastopol Task Force

Dear Nicola!

Our Sevastopol Task Force "Green Planet" is eager to report that the number of EEIU members in our school is constantly growing, there are more than 100 members in our Task Force now.

Here follows the information on the work we have done since September 2001:

1. The programme of teaching eco-ethics to children has been created.
2. Eco-ethical lessons are held on a constant basis. On the 27^th of December a lesson on eco-ethics was given for teachers from different schools of Sevastopol.
3. A meeting with authorities (the Chairman of City Council) was held. The main problems discussed and ideas offered by the members of our Task Force are as follows:
1. To take under control "nobody’s" areas in Sevastopol, which are very polluted.
2. To find ways how to distribute all areas in Sevastopol among organizations, schools, offices, military units in order to clean Sevastopol and make it the cleanest place in our country as it used to be.
3. To plant as many plants and trees as possible in the areas that need them. Our Task Force is ready to plant trees in the Omega area.
4. To put more trash bins near shops, cafes, and in crowded places.
5. To support the activities of EEIU members in Sevastopol and to organize meetings of those with authorities on a city level to share the ideas and to cooperate efforts.

4. Cleaning operations are constantly held in our school area and in the Omega area under the supervision of our Task Force members.
5. Students of our school, supervised by "Green Planet" Task Force take care of swans and birds in Omega. Every day students on duty from different classes feed them. Every week they clean the beach from plastic bags and trash in the places where swans are present.
6. Problems of eco-ethics have been discussed during Science week on the Ecological conference, in eco-ethics lessons.
7. Contests of poems, compositions, pictures and posters were held. The best ones are placed on our "Green Planet" stand. Pshenichnaya Vica and Girba Ann (form 6B) are recognized as the most active and creative members of our Task Force for their poems and compositions written in English and for their taking part in all activities.

Here follows a poem written by Pshenichnaya Vica:

Boltachova Olga, an active member of our "Green Planet" Task Force and member of Malaya Academia of Sciences supervised by the Institute of Southern Seas, is doing research on Unio stevenianius (krenicki). The most active adult members of our Task Force are: Bova Nina Georgiyevna (geography teacher), Lisenko Irina Pavlovna (biology teacher), Yevdokimova Irina (librarian), Melnikova Angela (representative of the parents' council; she also provides us with access to Internet and helps with lessons on eco-ethics as a musician), and Pshenichnaya Marina (economist and translator).

As far as my role as a Chair is concerned, I have been the initiator and coordinator of joint efforts of adults and students. I am trying to do my best to involve as many people as possible into eco-ethical activities.

I am grateful to you for the opportunity to share the ideas and to promote and teach environmental awareness and human responsibilities.

Sincerely yours,

Osadchuk Olga

Once we went hiking to the mountains. Of course we took everything that we needed:

tents, sleeping bags, matches, food, some water, warm clothes and some tools such as a hammer, a knife, a saw and a flash light. It was a long way to the mountains. First we went by bus and then walked about 5km. We were pretty tired when we got to the place. The girls gathered the firewood and the boys put up the tents and made a fire.

We were sitting around the fire, singing songs, joking, looking at stars and we felt ourselves very important and unique in the universe.

At the first sight it seemed that animals and plants were leading a quiet careless life and that nature was sleeping. Suddenly we heard an animal cry as if it was struggling with a fierce enemy. Then it stopped crying and we thought it was the end of the animal. We were frightened but our teacher tried to calm us down. She reminded of the task we were given at school: to find the proof of competition and cooperation in nature.

She explained that cooperation takes place when one organism is helpful in some way to another one. There are many examples of cooperation in nature. We remembered how dolphins helped each other, they even helped drowning people. One boy said that a certain type of bird lived on the back of a rhinoceros. The bird gets food by eating insects from rhino’s back and the rhino gets a cleaning.

Then the teacher asked us to give examples of competition in nature.

She explained that there were many organisms in an ecosystem and those organisms were in competition for what they needed to stay alive. Most often they compete for food. Everybody was excited to give answers to the teacher’s questions. Our answers were: Animals often eat other animals to survive. Frogs eat insects, wolves eat deer, eagles and hawks eat mice and so on.

The teacher was pleased by our answers. We kept silent for some time because we were tired. Soon we fell asleep. In the morning I woke up because it was cold and I was shaking. All my friends woke up for the same reason. There was nothing around us: no tents, no sleeping bags, no tools, no food. We had only T-shirts and shorts on. The teacher also had such clothes on. We were hungry and wanted to find some food. The girls went to gather some berries or mushrooms in the forest. The boys were trying to catch a fish in the stream.

When the time for lunch came, we were starving because we had some mushrooms and berries and two fish but we didn’t have matches to make a fire and to cook our lunch. We tried to get fire rubbing a stick on a stone but failed.

Suddenly we saw smoke not far from us. The boys ran there and saw a burning tree.

The lightning struck it in the morning. So the boys brought a piece of burning tree and made a fire. At last we had our meal and life seemed much better. The teacher told us to make some shelter from dry branches of trees. So we did. When the evening came we were sitting around the fire and were listening to the sounds around us. We were talking about ancient people and their hard life. The night was cold and we slept under the shelter, pressed tightly to our teacher because we were afraid of the animals. Early in the morning the boys caught fish and we had a tasty breakfast. Then we looked around and saw that there were a lot of paper packages, glass and plastic bottles around us. We were the members of "Green Planet" organization and we considered ourselves a part of nature. We knew that if we didn’t help nature our Earth would change into a big desert. We cleaned the area we were staying at. When we finished the work we were very tired but happy. Suddenly a school bus appeared on the road. We couldn’t believe our eyes. All our things were in the bus. It appeared that our teacher wanted us to survive in an extreme situation. We were not angry with her. We learnt a lot about nature and our friendship became stronger.

This page was last updated on 18 June 2008.