Category Archives: - Civic Forum

Are we living on a Planet? What is the secret connection between Bulgaria, Namibia and Peru? Seminaire Discussion

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namibia-kolazhPublic discussion “Do we live on a planet? What connects Bulgaria, Namibia and Peru?”

within the framework of the project “Enabling students and citizens to realize their global environmental and social footprint” (CEE Bankwatch Network No 681/15).

 Public discussion “International communications and conflicts on our planet and the links between the First and Third World”

On December 20, 2016 SCA-Shtastlivetsa organised and held a discussion with the participation of students from the fields of Communication and Information, and Public Policies and Practices, at the University of Library Science and Information Technologies.

The public seminar was devoted to the problems of future development, “International communications and conflicts on our planet and the links between the First and Third World” – guest speaker Genadi Kondarev, an economist at the Environmental Association Za Zemyata/For the Earth.

An enhanced interest among students had prompted the video footage from the industrial pollution of Nigeria and Peru, which Mr Kondarev had made during his travels in those countries. His personal story as an eyewitness to the problems that extractive industries are causing in these countries excited the audience and provoked lively discussions.

DSCN8140Public discussion “Do we live on a planet? What connects Bulgaria, Namibia and Peru?”

On February 8, 2017, a team from the Shtastlivetsa Association organised and held a public discussion on the topic: “Do we live on a planet? What connects Bulgaria, Namibia and Peru?” with the participation of students from the Department of Communication and Information at the University of Library Science and Information Technologies (ULSIT) and the Department of Geology at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, with guest lecturer Gennady Kondarev, an economist from the Environmental Association Za Zemyata/For the Earth.

The moderator of the discussion, Dr. Petar Kanev PhD (from the Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, ULSIT and SCA-Shtastlivetsa), introduced to the students the problems caused by the planetary network which had provoked the today’s industrial pollution because of the connectivity of the production process of the extractive industries in different countries and continents.

The participants in the seminar learned about Mr. Kondarev’s activities and investigations in the city of Tsoumeb in Namibia, Krumovgrad in Bulgaria and in the high-mountain areas of Peru. The photo-cadres with terrible pollution around these mines and the data tables for the extreme health issues caused by the exploitation of highly poisonous levels of arsenic in the gold mines in Namibia, in Bulgaria and in Peru had caused many questions to the lecturer and a heated debate among the audience. Gennadi Kondarev projected to the students the documentary “Good Life” by the Canadian-Hungarian director Megan Horvath, filmed in Krumovgrad and Namibia. The guest lecturer also told the story behind the film shot. Students shared their own personal impressions of the mines in Chelopech, Krumovgrad and Bobov Dol in Bulgaria. The subsequent heated discussion raised important questions about the future development of the extractive industries both locally and globally.

Watch the entire video of the event here:  

The event was carried out with the financial support of the European Union.

The content of the debates, seminaires and public lections is entirely the responsibility of Shtatslivetsa Sofia Civic Association, Enironmental Association “Za Zemyata/For the Earth” and PLACE FOR FUTURE Educational Network and in no way can it be considered to reflect the positions of the European Union.

Emmanuel HUSSENET, Journalist & Adventurer: La COP21 à Paris pourrait-elle changer le monde ? Face à un enjeu universel, les limites du pouvoir politique ?

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Within the framework of the project “Enabling students and citizens to realize their global environmental and social footprint” (CEE Bankwatch Network (No 681/15), in May 2016, Shtastlivetsa Association invited the French polar explorer, journalist and writer Emmanuel Hussenet from the organisation “Robinsons of Ice” to Bulgaria.

Since his youth, Mr. Hussenet has been familiar with the polar ice sheet problems caused by climate change. In the past few years, Emmanuel Hussenet had embarked on an international political initiative to declare the disappearing island Hans in the northern polar circle as an international zone, a symbol of awareness of developmental impacts caused by the global climate change.

Those who are nicknamed the Robinsons on Ice or the voluntary shipwrecked men are in fact called Emmanuel HUSSENET (Expedition Leader, Journalist & Adventurer), Luc Dénoyer (Logistics, Photographer), Anne Quéméré (Scientific Reports) and Gauthier Mesnil-Blanc (illustrations).

Hussenet has just set up a programme that will proceed over five years. Its objective is to testify to the evolution of the polar icecap. The programme is articulated around three axes: sporting adventure, scientific study and environmental teaching.

On May 16, 2016, the project team organised and held a seminar with international participation “Can the climate conference in Paris change the world ?: Is the global political system able to cope with a planetary problem?” (Aka La COP21 à Paris pourrait-elle changer le monde? À à un enjeu universel, les limites du pouvoir politique?) at the French Cultural Institute in Sofia.

Emmanuel HUSSENET, French writer, journalist and researcher of the Far North, Georgi STEFANOV, Climate Coalition – Bulgaria and WWF-Bulgaria, Gennady Kondarev, Ecological Association “Za Zamyata/For the Earth”, participated in the discussion, led by Dr. Radosveta KRASTANOVA, New Bulgarian University and Educational Network PLACE OF FUTURE.

The problems that the melting of ice on the poles caused greatly impressed the participants in the discussion. The question of whether the decisions of the COP21 Climate Conference in Paris will lead to effective policies provokes a lively debate between the representatives of various academic and scientific institutions, civic initiatives and NGOs, students and lecturers from different universities (New Bulgarian University, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, University of Library and Information Technology, etc.), journalists, politicians and diplomats.

Ce n’est qu’une partie des questions auxquelles Emmanuel HUSSENET,

explorateur français du Grand Nord, écrivain et journaliste,

Le débat est organisé par l’Institut français de Bulgarie, en partenariat avec la

le Réseau éducationnel PLACE FOR FUTURE, WWF-Bulgarie,

et sera modéré par Radosveta KRASTANOVA

(Nouvelle université bulgare et Réseau éducationnel PLACE FOR FUTURE).

La COP21 à Paris pourrait-elle changer le monde ?

Face à un enjeu universel, les limites du pouvoir politique ?

Emmanuel HUSSENET, French writer, journalist and researcher of the Far North, Georgi STEFANOV, Climate Coalition – Bulgaria and WWF-Bulgaria, Gennady Kondarev, Ecological Association “Za Zamyata/For the Earth”, participated in the discussion, led by Dr. Radosveta KRASTANOVA, New Bulgarian University and Educational Network PLACE OF FUTURE. The problems that the melting of ice on the poles caused greatly impressed the participants in the discussion. The question of whether the decisions of the COP21 Climate Conference in Paris will lead to effective policies provokes a lively debate. Representatives of various academic and scientific institutions, civic initiatives and NGOs, students and lecturers from different universities (New Bulgarian University, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, University of Library and Information Technology, etc.), journalists, Politicians and diplomats.

plakat

The Climate Problems and our Common Future:

On 17 May 2016 the team of SCA-Shtastlivetsa organised a discussion with the French polar researcher Emmanuel Hussenet in the Alma Mater of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski “.

Co-organizers and participants in the discussion were Ecoclub “UNECO” at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski “,” S.K.O.R.E.T.S. Club” at Sofia University” St. Kliment Ohridski “, Environmental Association” For the Earth “, Educational Network” PLACE OF FUTURE “.

The melting of the glaciers, as well as the problems they led, excited the participants in the seminar. The students were most impressed by Mr. Hussenet’s initiative to make the polar island Hans an international area, and that provoked many questions and a lively discussion.

Watch the entire video of the event here:

The two debates are carried out with the financial support of the European Union.

The content of the debates is entirely the responsibility of Shtatslivetsa Sofia Civic Association, Enironmental Association “Za Zemyata/For the Earth” and PLACE FOR FUTURE Educational Network and in no way can it be considered to reflect the positions of the European Union.

Toma Belev and Zornitsa Stratieva – Discusion about the Bulgarian Forest and Tourism in Botevgrad – video

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Etienne CIAPIN – Anti-TAFTA Mobilisation as one of new kind of trans-national European mobilisations

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New social movements in New Europe: students and civic movements and defense of public values’:  Anti-TAFTA Mobilisation as one of new kind of trans-national European mobilisations - Etienne CIAPIN (Ph.D Student, Université Pierre Mendès France – Grenoble II)

Seminar at the International Spring University Europe on the Go — Cityzen’s Enpowerment and Sustainable Development in Chiprovtsi 2014 May, organized by Shtastlivetsa Civic Assotiacion and Place for Future Interdisciplinary Education Network with support of Friedrich Ebert Foundation Sofia and French Institute Bulgaria.

Etienne CIAPINE is a phd student at ‘Pierre Mendes France’ University, Grenoble, France

Vera PETKANCHIN and dr. Desislava ALEKSOVA – The Civic Green Movement in Bulgaria from 2005 until 2014: Successes, Problems and Perspectives for Citizens’ Empowerment’

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Seminar at the International Spring University Europe on the Go — Cityzen’s Enpowerment and Sustainable Development in Chiprovtsi 2014 May, organized by Shtastlivetsa Civic Assotiacion and Place for Future Interdisciplinary Education Network with support of Friedrich Ebert Foundation Sofia and French Institute Bulgaria.

Desislava ALEKSOVA, International Business School Botevgrad, Bulgarian Chamber of Tourism and ‘Shtatlivetsa’ Civic Association 

Vera PETKANCHIN, Coalition ” For the Nature in Bulgaria” and ‘Shtatlivetsa’ Civic Association 

For eight years now, Shtastlivetsa Sofia Civic Association has organized interdisciplinary events, lectures, seminars, student practices and internships, film screenings, debates, artistic happenings—all dedicated to the new paradigm of sustainable development, eco-humanism, new science, alternative culture and education, innovative forms of democracy and civic participation, ecology and creating a quality environment for everyone. Thus, as the years roll by, we have been weaving, like a Chiprovtsi carpet, the Place for Future education network, a community drawing its inspiration and invigoration from a young tradition: the international travelling universities in the Municipality of Chiprovtsi and the region of Western Stara Planina.

The Chiprovtsi 2014 European interdisciplinary university focuses on these problems, since we can no longer hide from them. They flood us from all directions: they cry from Gezy Park, from downtown Madrid, Athens, Paris and London, from every part of Germany, Poland and Hungary, from Rosia Montana in Romania and Eagles’ Bridge in Sofia, from the everyday concerns of people in cities such as Dijon, Grenoble, Banská Bystrica, Krakow and Chiprovtsi, from across the EU.