Galina Horeva is an organizer of the Kola Environmental Coordination Center GAIA at Murmansk, Russia, and has worked in the anti-nuclear field since 1990. She told her story to Elena Krouglikova.
(509/10.kola) Elena Krouglikova - "In 1990 I participated in a large international environmental conference in Norway with people from about 60 countries. We spoke a lot about environmental problems including nuclear ones. There were presentations of a lot of different issues about nuclear safety. The most interesting was one from England. I remember a booklet about the danger of radiation based on the popular Alice in Wonderland book. Information was given in a way it was understandable for layman. Russian participants were deeply impressed; during the Soviet period, we thought that only specialists could deal with nuclear problems. If we tried to ask some questions or counter some arguments about nuclear energy (it was four years after the Chernobyl accident and we had a lot of questions), we were immediately interrupted. But during this conference we suddenly understood that specialists just produced nuclear bombs and a lot of other problems to mankind. Suddenly we realized that our belief that specialists would solve all problems of nuclear energy is at least unwise. We understood that we had to do something, and we could do something.
"Back home after the conference, I organized an environmental club at school. We began to collect information about nuclear energy from Russian and foreign magazines and newspapers. We were translating a lot and producing leaflets and distributing them in our region.
"Step by step we came to the conclusion that this problem was rather difficult for a school club. At that time the main problem in the region was acid rain from the copper-nickel facilities. Pollution from these plants has destroyed ecosystems and many scientists dealt with this problem. Most people were not interested in the Kola nuclear power plants. In order to attract attention to the problem of nuclear energy we started actions against waste, and against nuclear tests. Main slogans at that time were: "No to peaceful atom!" "Kola nuclear plant-2? No, thank you!" In 1991 we organized the first anti-nuclear action on Chernobyl day, which became an annual tradition. Its goal was to attract the attention of people and raise awareness to the problems of safety of nuclear energy facilities. Youth clubs all over the region took part in these actions.
Also with our school club we organized a first international environmental conference with the participation of journalists. As the result of that activity we were pushed out of the school and we have organized our own organization--Kola Environmental Coordination Center; GAIA, which has been working since then. We have close cooperation with the Norwegian anti-nuclear organization Bellona. We think it is now time and necessary to raise a new anti-nuclear wave. Modern technologies allow the use of renewable sources of energy which are much cheaper and more safe.
Galina believes that the struggle against nuclear energy is a women's job. Radiation influences genetics and it is women who are responsible for producing healthy children. On the other hand nuclear energy is violence against nature. And violence is unnatural for the real woman.
Currently at the GAIA center an energy project has been developed. One of the directions of this project is the lobbying for the implementation of renewable energy sources in the Kola peninsula where wind energy potential is enough for the whole of Europe.
Source and contact: Elena Krouglikova, Leader of the Energy project at the GAIA centerBox 68, Apatity 184200, Russia.
Tel: +7-815-5533 840
E-mail: krugl@aprec.ru
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