In January 2013 a new project “Smart Water for Green Schools" under coordination of Green Cross International was launched in Nevgody village, Ovruch region, Zhytomyr oblast to provide the residents of Nevgody village with the access to safe water and sanitation and increase environmental awareness of the local communities.
There are 157 households in Nevgody village inhabited by 403 people, including 71 children aged to 17, and 8 large families. The distinctive feature of the Nevgody village is that it was founded after the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant in order to provide housing to the people evacuated from Chernobyl. Existing water treatment facilities cannot perform their initial functions. As a result, water remains of poor quality.
This year, a network of Green Cross National organizations marks a significant event - the 20th anniversary Green Cross International founding. In this regard, various activitiess dedicated to this important event are going to be held during the year.
One of the priorities of our organizations activity is to attract young people to the missions, programs and projects aimed at raising awareness, prevention and effective responding to environmental emergencies that have environmental and humanitarian impact, providing social and medical care, environmental education, assistance in settling the problems of families and communities living in areas of environmental contamination, sustainable and secure future for the planet.
Nominations for the 2013 Green Star Awards, recognizing outstanding efforts to reduce the environmental and humanitarian impacts of disasters and conflicts, were called for by the United Nations and the non-governmental organisation Green Cross International.
The biennial Green Star Awards, first presented in 2009, are a collaborative initiative between the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Green Cross International (GCI), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The Green Star Awards recognize individuals, organizations, governments and companies that demonstrate remarkable achievements in raising awareness, building capacity, and effectively responding to emergencies that have severe impact on the environment, as well as on human health and livelihoods. The Awards hail real-life heroes from around the world. They commend those who not only exercised courage and leadership to rise from the ruins of environmental disasters, but more importantly, those who worked tirelessly to prevent such crises, and establish measures to brace for their impact
The nomination period for the 2013 edition opened on 11 December, 2012, and submissions will be accepted until 15 March, 2013.The winners will be announced on 2 September 2013 during celebrations in Geneva, Switzerland, to mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of GCI by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mikhail Gorbachev.
They say if you want make God laugh share your plans. I planned to come to Rio+20, but my 81st birthday has had unwelcome toll on my plans.
2012 will inevitably be a year of reflection. Those of us who are concerned for the future of our Earth and its inhabitants must do all we can to ensure it is also a year of action, and one that marks the end of a period of apathy and shortsightedness.
Overcoming such lack of vision was what brought us to Rio 20 years ago for the first Earth Summit on Environment and Development. But that event’s tangible results, and those of the many subsequent conferences here and around the world since, have fallen far short of what is needed to steer our world onto a sustainable path.
Green Cross consultant and Director of the University of Southern California Institute for Global Health, Jonathan M. Samet, M.D., M.S., discusses the human impact of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the challenges that will face affected people for decades to come.
Pollution problems threaten 125 million people worldwide
The new Environmental Report 2012 published jointly by the environmental organization Green Cross Switzerland and the Blacksmith Institute of New York identifies the world's ten worst pollution problems. The latest report not only identifies the sources but also quantifies the global scale of damage to health caused by toxic substances for the first time. “Pollution problems and toxic substances are proven to endanger the health of almost 125 million people worldwide,” says Nathalie Gysi, Executive Director of Green Cross Switzerland. The report also states that the health impacts of the ten pollution sources are reaching a similar scale to known health hazards such as malaria and tuberculosis.
Unfortunately, not always and not all children from ecologically unfavorable regions have an opportunity to improve their health in a clean environment. Fortunately, this does not concern to orphans or children from single-parent families, who have been assisted by the Swiss Confederation for many years. Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine through Green Cross Switzerland and Green Cross Ukraine, headed by Yuri Sapiga, implements international SOCMED Program in Ukraine. Not for the first time the Swiss helps to improve health of children living in the Chernobyl areas and the Donetsk region, choosing the place for their temporary residence Lumshory village which is located in Perechyn region of Transcarpathia. For several weeks Polonyna Health and Recreation Complex became home for young people from Bila Tserkva, Slavutych Kiev region, Zhytomyr and Gorlovka. It was a "paradise on earth" for 80 children who stayed here for three weeks.
September 10, 2012 in Kiev near the learning campus of National Musical Academy of Ukraine n.a. Petr I.Chaikovskiy (conservatory) the opening of a memorial plaque to the Rector of National Musical Academy of Ukraine n.a. Petr Chaikovskiy, President-founder of ecological charitable organisation Green Cross Ukraine, academician-founder of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, professor, People's Artist of Ukraine, Full Cavalier of the Order "For Merit", Oleg Tymoshenko
For the last thirty-forty years in the European region, particularly in the West European countries, there is a growth of such phenomenon as social entrepreneurship, institutionally represented by various social enterprises which according to the traditions of European social economy studies include social cooperatives (as the further development of traditional cooperative system), social firms, associations, charitable foundations, non-profit volunteer organizations and other institutions oriented at the principles of social entrepreneurship.
2050 - The Future We Want
