«Almaty – our common home»: take care of our city!
According to the results of the environmental action “Almaty – bizdіn ortak uyimiz“ – “Almaty – our common home“ employees of JSC AlES only on 19 April collected twenty160 litre bags of rubbish. On this day, power engineers went to clean the Prokhodnaya river in the Alma-Arasan gorge.
– Holding such environmental events involving residents and guests of Almaty is aimed at caring for the environment, said Saltanat Zhanakhmetova, chief manager of the Environmental Protection Department. – But more importantly, such joint actions encourage many people to take a critical look at their own attitude to nature and the environment. They clearly show what the city’s neighbourhoods turn into after mass rest of citizens. When collecting rubbish on the river, we saw a depressing picture: a large amount of household rubbish by tourists. Going on holiday, they do not bother themselves with the question of where to dispose of the rubbish and just throw it directly in bags into the river. Such “tourists” think that, having paid the environmental fee in the National Parks, they are not obliged to clean up after themselves and have the right to leave rubbish outside the designated places.
As noted by Ainel Kurmanbayeva, chief specialist of the Environmental Protection Department of AlES JSC, 90% of the collected waste were plastic bags, spoons, plates, bottles of different sizes, broken glass and other household rubbish. All the things that tourists throw away.
– According to official UN data, plastic pollution is a global problem threatening climate change, loss of biodiversity and water pollution, she recalled.
– Therefore, the purpose of the action was not only to clean the river banks from rubbish, but also to attract public attention to environmental issues, – emphasises Zoya Arzyukova, Head of the Environmental Protection Department of AlES JSC. – Thus, during the action the holidaymakers paid attention to our group, asked what organisation we represent, why we participate in such action. I believe that we need to promote the environmental agenda to the masses more vigorously and visibly. Involve in general environmental events such as, for example, the action “Almaty – bizdіn ortak uyimiz”. Perhaps then, more people will realise that the environment may become completely unsuitable for future generations. And before it is too late, it is necessary to increase ecological literacy, educate ecological consciousness and responsibility. These are the first, but important steps – because everything starts with small!
Let us remind you that the campaign “Almaty – bizdіn ortak uyimiz” started in the southern capital on 8 April and will last for a month. It was launched by the Akim of the city Yerbolat Dossayev. The Akimat urged the citizens and businesses to participate in the campaign. “The main goal of the campaign is to form the values of careful attitude to the urban infrastructure, foster high civic responsibility and environmental culture among the population, support private environmental initiatives and create conditions for their implementation”, – this is how the city authorities outlined the goals and objectives of the campaign.
The environmental campaign is divided into four main stages:
• “Our city – our streets” (8-14 April). This week was set aside for cleaning and tidying up the city infrastructure: roads, elevated and underground pedestrian crossings, stop pavilions, traffic lights, lighting fixtures, signposts, tourist totems, public toilets;
• “Our city – our yard, our home” (15-21 April). It was dedicated to planting seedlings, yards and playgrounds were repaired and put in order;
• “Our city – our mountains, rivers and lakes” (22-28 April). This is a week of cleaning embankments and water bodies, parks, squares and foothills. Just within the framework of the third stage of the environmental campaign the ecologists of JSC AlES carried out a field action on cleaning of the river Prokhodnaya.
• “Our city – our pride” (29 April – 8 May) – a week of cleaning monuments and cultural objects.
– Globally, mankind needs to reconsider the design of plastic goods so that they can be recycled at the end of their life cycle, – concludes Aliya Zhilgildina, an environmental engineer at Energoremont PRC, but each of us can contribute to this endeavour even in our daily lives by observing simple environmental rules. That is why I am convinced that it is extremely important to involve citizens from childhood in solving this problem. Including through participation in such events as “Almaty – bizdin ortak uyimiz”, which lay down the right social habits and principles.