Blogentry

The Duma has no ecology committee - the only war we are fighting is against ourselves

MOSCOW - In 2000 the Russian state organ for dealing with the environment was abolished, and late last month, the Ecological Committee of the Duma was scratched. They actually waited some time before closing the doors. Vladimir Slivyak, 14/01-2008 The Russian State Duma, true to its new calling, saw fit to unite the previous Committee for Nature Use and Natural Resources and the Ecological committee in one body. In this way, parliamentarians declined to have an independent organ for the defence of the natural wealth of the country, and substituted “ecological” priorities for ones of “Nature Use.”

Russia has the world’s longest tradition of “narure use.” It’s brightest examples include Dzerzhinsk and Norilsk, which both count themselves among the Blacksmith Institute list of the world’s most polluted places. The institute also includes the Chelyabinsk Region, where people have lived on radioactively contaminated territory since 1957, also is included in the list. So all is going according to plan. It’s well known whose.

The Duma’s decision is just a reflection of the government’s course, which has excluded any priorities relative to the environment or the health of the population. In 2007 the notion of environmental impact studies was abolished by the government announcement to its citizens that it was little interested in the effect of heavy industry on nature and the health of the people, and was far more interested in profit.

Can you by nature and health for money? The answer is apparent. Nevertheless the past few years have seen several reductions in the state budget for spending on ecological needs. The last independent organ for nature conservation was abolished in 2000.

It’s apparent that the worse off the environment, the worse is the health of the country’s population, and the bigger the investment in mortality made by the misfortune of the ecological situation. The abolition of the Duma’s independent committee on ecology illustrated wonderfully the course of the Russian State: nature, health and the well-being of future generation is a third class interest. And how true that is for today’s Russia – somebody got their hands on some money and is anxious about his business, capital, pay, apartment (and what nature is there?), and somebody, especially outside the capital, is just making ends meets (Clean air? Go to hell - I have to earn a piece of bread). Of course every one needs a clean environment, just as they won’t refuse good health. But no one has time to do anything to achieve this, and they really don’t want to (and what can we do, and if we could do anything, than our concern is enough, and if our concern is not sufficient, then nothing in the ends depends on us anyway!) The people have been schooled by the current authorities best of all in this: nothing depends on us, and we have enough to do anyway. Actually, so much depends on us. And not in terms of just refraining from tossing trash in the street – thought that helps – but in terms of demanding from these same authorities an accounting of OUR interests, preservation and not destruction of OUR environment, ceasing to sabotage in the form of dangerous emissions, which we get to breath and which affects OUR health.

For those who don’t have the time, I sincerely wish that their hard earned money holds for health care – their own as well as their children’s.

We live literally in a time of war – the defence budget continues to grow, the defence agencies more and more money and authority, and social and ecological expenditures continually shrink. And if it is war-time, no one has time for ecology. The only unclear thing is what the war is over, and with whom we are fighting - forgetting health and nature, which are the most important things for the coming generations. It’s unclear why we constantly fire off billion rouble rockets from submarines for millions of roubles if we don’t have a kopek to spare on education, health and the environment. Shouldn’t it really be the other way around? Or is this Putin’s plan – no money for the people but billions on state defence?

I can’t help but think that we are fighting against ourselves.

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