Most of Vladivostok's favorite spots for residents and tourists are littered with trash, and one such place is Tokarevsky lighthouse. Students from grades 10 and 11, together with their teachers and ILS staff, recently visited the lighthouse, where they removed trash from the grounds around one of the most famous symbols of our city.
The students were participating in an environmental project initiated by ILS IT specialist Vyacheslav Yaglinsky, who has reached the semifinals of the "Leaders of Russia" managers' competition.
"The heavily littered state of city territory leads to environmental degradation, fosters an incorrect attitude towards nature among the young generation, and negatively affects our city's image in the region," says Vyacheslav Yaglinsky. "Environmental awareness is a necessary condition for environmental protection against human actions."
The visitors from ILS also posted information signs around the lighthouse grounds that included this reminder: "Every time you throw litter into the bay, a sea creature suffers."
The students and staff collected more than 20 bags of trash from around the grounds, including plastic cups, metal cans, and a wide assortment of other rubbish people left behind.
Local ecotourism company "ForiTour Primorye" helped to haul away the trash collected for disposal and recycling.
"This was not a one-off action," explains Vyacheslav Yaglinsky. "We plan to do this on a regular basis at popular locations around the city. What we did was also for educational purposes - Yelena Parkhomenko from the tourism company gave the students a lecture tour covering the history of lighthouses in Vladivostok and Primorye."
"Our school always supports constructive initiatives by students and staff," notes ILS Principal Olga Shevchenko. "Our Student Council does serious work among the younger pupils, such as the recent presentation "How long does it take for litter to decompose?", after which the Council encouraged 4th and 5th graders to create posters on the topic to reinforce their new knowledge."
