Generally, glass wool is a useful building material. Yet, after the deconstruction of buildings, any remains of it must be eliminated thoroughly otherwise, it will become a poisonous danger for public health. Glass wool garbage that is not specially stored but is lying open exposed to the wind is a serious environmental pollution. The wind tears bits and pieces from the wool and spreads them throughout the area.
Starting on March 31st in the Gyumri region, the volunteers of SunChild First Regional Environmental Festival have begun the cleaning up of glass wool garbage. Glass wool, which was once used as a building material in temporary housings for victims of the 1988 earthquake, is a very health-threatening product. Exposed to wind, bits and pieces of the poisonous material have gradually polluted many areas of the city.
Currently, the SunChild volunteers have succeeded in cleaning two out of the four areas that are on the agenda. Very encouraging is the growing interest of different media sources for the SunChild Festival and in particular for this glass wool garbage cleanup action. With each report that is conducted in regards to the glass wool problem in Gyumri a very important question is raised, why is there a need for young volunteers to take over a task that is actually the responsibility of the city government to solve?
It is a fact that the glass wool garbage in Gyumri causes serious health problems for the citizens of the area; however, the ruling party in town hall is ignoring the situation.
The city government has the key for the solution to solving the problem in its hands. It is as simple as adding a small paragraph in the contract agreements between the city and the private companies that buy the barracks. Currently the private companies take away all valuable building materials after deconstruction - except the glass wool garbage, which remains. The city could easily enforce the private companies, by contract, to properly dispose of the glass wool garbage. "But until now the city government refused to take any action"Â, as Anna Yeghoyan, a citizen of Gyumri and Executive director of the Gyumri based NGO "Youth for peace & development"Â (YFPD) explains. More than six months the YFPD has struggled with the town hall's ignorance of this very problem.
In fact, YFPD is not an organization that concentrates on environmental issues; they are mainly dedicated to democracy building and the support of advocacy campaigns. From their perspective, the glass wool pollution in some areas of Gyumri is clearly a political problem, which must be solved by means of lobbying. In this case, Anna Yeghoyan believes that SunChild First Regional Environmental festival offers the chance that YFPD has been looking for.
The framework of an environmental festival, such as SunChild, can be used as an excellent platform to put the Gyumri glass-wool garbage problem on the public in order to raise the awareness of citizens and the media. So when some months ago Anna Yeghoyan came into touch with the organizers of SunChild First Regional Environmental Festival, she informed them about the glass wool problem and suggested cooperation in Gyumri.
The environmental experts of the SunChild organization team examined the city and selected the areas where removing of the glass wool garbage was most urgent. Although there are many locations that need removal of the poisonous agent, the experts focused on the areas that had the highest chance of children coming in contact with the glass wool.
In December of 2006, YFPD and SunChild organizers informed the city government about their project. The first contacts seemed to be promising: The representatives of city government assured the organizers that they were ready to support the glass wool cleaning activities with everything needed. But after several months of negotiations, the organizers of SunChild Festival and YFPD realized that the promises made by the Gyumri town hall were more or less worthless. From all the equipment and support promised in the beginning, only one dustcart remained. On the cleaning days the SunChild team is allowed to call the car when the bags with the glass wool garbage are ready to be removed.
Finally, the whole equipment that is necessary to do the cleaning, such as; protective masks, gloves, shovels and bags for the garbage, as well as buses which are used to transport the volunteers to their working places is provided by the SunChild Environmental Festival.
So in spite of the fact that the work of the festival's volunteers will clearly improve the living quality in Gyumri, the city government still seems to be reluctant to take any steps towards a solution.
But YFPD and the SunChild team certainly won't give up. Now that they have united their efforts, they are sure: Their joint pressure, as well as, the growing support of media and conscious citizens will finally force the government to give up its resistance and work towards a solution. Hopefully, in the future, no more young volunteers will have to take over the responsibility for the disposal of poisonous material in Gyumri and this work will be done professionally by properly equipped companies.
SunChild Festival event Garni, April 4th and 5th
Garni gorge is one of the miracles of Armenian nature, also located within the gorge is the Garni pagan temple which is visited daily by tourists from all around the world. But if the visitors take a look around, they can not avoid forming the impression that Armenians obviously don't respect the amazing natural and cultural heritage of their mother country. The whole Garni gorge is covered by piles of garbage and each day it becomes bigger and bigger, threatening to destroy the picturesque view of the place.
The organizers of SunChild Festival decided that this eyesore should be eliminated with the help of the festival's volunteers. On April 4th and 5th, local schoolchildren together with University students will clean the Garni gorge from garbage and put signs advocating to keep the area clean. Nearly 100 volunteers will be involved in this activity.
Besides the big difference this event will cause in Garni gorge, there is a second effect: The schoolchildren, who are volunteering on the 4th and 5th of April, are participants of FPWC Environmental Educational Program which was implemented in Garni schools No.1 and No. 2 since autumn of 2006.
This program aims not only on raising children's theoretical awareness for the environmental problems in their surroundings but also offers them practical ways towards a solution. Thus, the cleaning of Garni gorge will become an integral part in the FPWC Educational Program.
The local schoolchildren will feel connected to the area they have worked so hard to clean and in the future they will make sure that nobody mutilates the beauty of Garni gorge with garbage again!
SunChild Festival Environmental Activity in Gyumri
Generally, glass wool is a useful building material. Yet, after the deconstruction of buildings, any remains of it must be eliminated thoroughly otherwise, it will become a poisonous danger for public health. Glass wool garbage that is not specially stored but is lying open exposed to the wind is a serious environmental pollution. The wind tears bits and pieces from the wool and spreads them throughout the area.
This problem was identified in Gyumri by the environmental experts of the SunChild organization team. After the deconstruction of barracks, that temporarily sheltered those who lost their homes during the devastating earthquake in 1988, the remains of glass wool are polluting a housing area in the city. Most troublesome is that there are two kindergartens located in this area. Children are especially very vulnerable to this kind of environmental pollution. Therefore, the SunChild organization team decided to clean the neighborhood of the kindergartens from any glass wool garbage. This will be done with the help of nearly 100 local schoolchildren, scouts, the Pyunik NGO and the YFPD (Youth for Peace and Development) NGO. Protected from the poisonous material by gloves and masks, the volunteers will collect the glass wool, which afterwards will be properly disposed. The event will require three days - the first part of the cleaning will be done from the 31st of March until the 1st of April, the second part on the 5th of April.
With this activity, the SunChild Environmental Festival fulfills not only an environmental mission but also exposes its vision: We will finally start to free Gyumri, and our country, from the traces of the earthquake.
Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.
