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

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.

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