Ecological Public Movement

Categories / Social Life/Social Organizations and Unions
ECOLOGICAL PUBLIC MOVEMENT is an independent movement for protection of the environment comprised of ecological public organizations. The Movement emerged from the former Soviet organizations for nature protection and informal youth movements by the end of the 1980s on the wave of increased civil activity of the population. Before 1985 the Ecological Public Movement had existed within the Leningrad Department of the All-Russian Society for Protection of Nature (LD ASPN, formed in 1924) later succeeded by Youth teams for nature protection (the first Green team was created in Leningrad State University in 1967), leaders of the independent ecological public movement and informal initiatives (Green hippies, The Green Union, the Green Party, etc.). By 1987, the Green hippie group was formed, headed by A. E. Lustberg. Large-scale ecological and ecological-cultural meetings and pickets organized by the Bureau for Ecological Development (headed by Y.S. Shevchuk) and by the society Ecology of Everyday Architecture (EEA) were held in Leningrad in March and April 1986. Delta Group (against the construction of the dam in the mouth of the Neva, headed by P.V. Kozhevnikov), and the Council for Ecology of Culture (M.G. Talalai) and other groups were formed in 1987. In 1989, Leningrad society for protection of animals headed by M.M. Chulaki and A.S. Sosnin was formed, and the first refuge for stray animals appeared in the country with the participation of the Veterinarian General of Leningrad N.P. Batsanov. In October of the same year, the Christian Ecological Council of Russia was created under the supervision of V.V. Savitsky. In March 1990, the first Green Party in the country was created within Moskovsky District Department of Leningrad Section of the All-Russian Society for Protection of Nature, headed by V.A. Guschin and I.P. Blokov. The present-day ecological association of St. Petersburg includes the following organizations: Children of the Baltic Area (1994, headed by O.N. Senova), Green Peace (1997, headed by O.V. Bodrov), St. Petersburg Department of Greenpeace of Russia Company(1997, headed by D.A. Artamonov and I.V. Babanin), several Green parties, the Club of City Gardening, a unique organization in terms of practical implementation of ecological programs (1994, headed by A.Y. Sokol), Green Cross (1993, headed by Y.S. Shevchuk), about 50 educational ecological centres for education of youth (Clean Waters of the Neva, Ecological Shield youth movement, the Association for Ecological Education at Vodokanal, etc.). A number of organizations specialize in scientific research in ecology, developing and introducing ecological technologies, and providing expert consultations. Some initiatives and projects are being developed in scientific societies: the Baltic Fund of Nature (R.A. Sagitov) and the programme of the Society of Naturalists, Ecological Estimation and Management (A.S. Karpov). From the second half of the 1990s, more stringent state control over ecological information and falsification of ecological trials by the Federal Security Service (the arrest of A.K. Nikitin who was accused of espionage) led to the development of remedial trend of the Ecological Public Movement: Bellona Ecological Remedial Centre (1998, headed by A.K. Nikitin), large-scale campaign in defence of G.M. Pasko, a reporter from the Far East. Court suits and appeals became the main instrument of the activists of Ecological Public Movement (in such cases as the case of Lindulovskaya Copse, the Ring Road, and construction of the commercial house in the territory of Academician Sakharov Memorial Park). These suits were prepared by lawyers specializing in representing the interests of Ecological Public Movement (Y. M. Schmidt, I. Y. Pavlov and A. Y. Pavlov et al.). Ecological mass media became an important part of ecological public movement. These include Open City ecological radio station (1991, headed by A.O. Mikhailov, the newspaper under the same name has been published since 1999), Ecological Chronicles Quarterly (from 1992, headed by E.K. Zelinskaya et. al.). In 1995, the Association of reporters ecologists was formed under the direction of V.E. Tereshkin, T.P. Artemova et. al., the discussion club at Posev Journal opened. Many organizations of ecological public movement have Internet sites, the informational ENWL Internet site has played the leading communicative role since1997 (Ecological Network of the North-West of Russia, headed by V.F. Levchenko), the Trans-Border Ecological Informational Agency (TEIA, headed by A.E. Shkrebets) supports the largest Internet ecological editions of St. Petersburg.

References: Негосударственные экологические организации Санкт-Петербурга: Справ. СПб., 1998; Болотова А., Тысячник М., Воробьев Д. Анализ и классификация экологических неправительственных организаций Санкт-Петербурга // Экологическое движение в России: Сб. науч. ст. СПб., 1999. С. 13-32. (Тр. / Центр независимых социол. исслед.; Вып. 6).

А. А. Bolotova, T. F. Kosinova. Artamonov Dmitry A.
Artemova Tatyana Pavlovna
Babanin Igor Valentinovich
Batsanov N.P.
Blokov Ivan P.
Bodrov Oleg V.
Chulaki Mikhail Mikhailovich
Gushchin V.A.
Karpov Alexander Semenovich
Kozhevnikov Peter Valerievich
Levchenko Gordey Ivanovich
Lustberg A.E.
Mikhaylov A.O.
Nikitin Alexander Konstantinovich
Pasko Grigory Mikhailovich
Pavlov Alexey Yurievich
Pavlov Ivan Yurievich
Sagitov R.A.
Sakharov Andrey Dmitrievich
Savitsky Vitaly Viktorovich
Schmidt Yu.M.
Senova O.N.
Shevchuk Yury Sergeevich
Shkrebets Alexander E.
Sokol A.Y.
Sosnin A.S.
Talalay Mikhail Grigorievich
Tereshkin Viktor Egorovich
Zelinskaya E.K.
Негосударственные экологические организации Санкт-Петербурга: Справ. СПб., 1998
Болотова А., Тысячник М., Воробьев Д. Анализ и классификация экологических неправительственных организаций Санкт-Петербурга // Экологическое движение в России: Сб. науч. ст. СПб., 1999