5. Role play

Act as the mayor of the town you live in (the head of the village Rada). Address the people in your locality with a speech covering the ecological situation in the area. What are the main ecological problems in your locality? Do people always behave in an environment-safe way? Suggest some measures to change the situation.

6. Can you explain why the consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe which happened in 1986 remain a burning ecological issue for Ukrainian nation? Read the article below to find more arguments:

"Health Consequences of the Chernobyl and Other Radiological Accidents," a conference held in Geneva in November 1995 and attended by about 600 scientists, public health specialists, and policy makers from 59 countries, discussed studies of the health effects of the 1986 accident. These revealed three main areas of concern: the increase in psychological disorders, especially among workers dealing with the accident and people living in highly contaminated areas; thyroid cancer among children; and illnesses that were expected to emerge in the future, including leukemia, breast cancer, bladder cancer, and kidney diseases.

The accident had caused severe radiation sickness in 134 people and 30 deaths and had exposed about 5 million people to significant radiation. Dillwyn Williams, professor of histopathology at the University of Cambridge, warned that the 680 cases of thyroid cancer detected in children since 1986 in Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia might increase and that up to 40% of the children exposed to the highest levels of fallout when they were under a year old could develop thyroid cancer as adults. He said babies were 30 times more likely to contract the disease than children 10 years old at the time.

Most of the 680 thyroid cancer cases in children had been treated successfully, but figures presented at a meeting in Vienna on April 8 showed this illness increasing, especially among children, in areas of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia close to the reactor site. In 1995, 133 cases were reported in Belarus and Ukraine in children under 15, compared with 121 in 1994 and an average of 5 cases a year prior to the accident.

The medical consequences of the accident had been seriously underestimated; data gathered by scientists from the former Soviet Union showed biological alterations at many levels in exposed populations and an increase in many ailments. It was reported that genetic mutations had been detected in people and in species of vole exposed to radiation after the accident.

Look through newspapers to find materials on Chernobyl consequences which show how the situation has been developing since 1995.

7. Comment on article 16 of the Constitution of Ukraine:

• To ensure ecological safety and to maintain the ecological balance on the territory of Ukraine, to overcome the consequences of the Chornobyl catastrophe — a catastrophe of global scale, and to preserve the gene pool of the Ukrainian people, is the duty of the State.

How can you account for the necessity to include such article in the Constitution?

In your opinion, does the state cope with this task at present?

8. In groups, think of some practical proposals to Ukrainian government which, in your opinion,might guarantee better environment for future generations. Give your arguments.

9. What do you know about Greenpeace? Do you know any practical achievements of this organization?Have you ever witnessed its activity in Ukraine?

Read more about Greenpeace and its activity:

Greenpeace is an international organization dedicated to preserving endangered species of animals, preventing environmental abuses, and heightening environmental awareness through direct confrontations with polluting corporations and governmental authorities.

Greenpeace was founded in 1971 in British Columbia to oppose U.S. nuclear testing at Amchitka Island in Alaska. This organization quickly attracted support from ecologically minded individuals and began undertaking campaigns trying to protect endangered whales and seals from hunting, to stop the dumping of toxic chemical and radioactive wastes at sea and nuclear-weapons testing.

The primary tactic of Greenpeace has been such "direct, nonviolent actions" as steering small inflatable craft between the harpoon guns of whalers and their prey and the plugging of industrial pipes discharging toxic wastes into the oceans and the atmosphere. On the ice floes of Newfoundland, Greenpeace volunteers placed their bodies between the gaffs of the seal hunters and the helpless seal pups. In the North Atlantic, Greenpeace drove its inflatables underneath falling barrels of radioactive waste.

Such dangerous and dramatic actions brought Greenpeace wide media attention and helped mobilize public opinion against environmentally destructive practices. Greenpeace also actively sought support of national and international official bodies, sometimes with considerable success. The organization has a small staff and relies largely on voluntary staffing and funding. On July 10, 1985, the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, which was due to sail to Moruroa Atoll to protest French atmospheric nuclear-weapons tests there, was sunk by two bomb explosions while berthed in Auckland Harbour, N.Z. Subsequent revelations that French intelligence agents had planted the bombs caused a major international scandal and led to the resignation of France's minister of defense and the dismissal of the head of its intelligence service.

Do you know any other organizations which take care of environment?