I am searching for Fyodor Morgoun, Mila Popova and other of the scientists who were so gracious to host me twenty-two years ago in Moscow when I covered the first-ever assembly held on the health of the environment and agricultureal lands of the once (and perhaps future) Soviet Union.
Like so many of us who were working on environmental issues before the 'net,' as prescient and brilliant SciFi writer Connie Willis called her own form of timetravel the late 1990s, they have not yet surfaced on the wwweb. What did happen to those committed, passionate and, I dare say, brave environmental activists, scientists and citizens who filled the vast hall during that week of discovery and dismay? They had gathered to find out what the Truth was about the state of the environment and agricultural lands in their vast home, coming from the Baltics to Siberia and converging in Moscow to weep in dismay at what was openly reported in those first, fragile moments of Glasnost created by Mr. Gorbachev.
Did those brave and caring souls give up? Are they continuing to fight in the trenches, as they were then? Has progress been made?
Stay tuned here, as I begin my own journey to find them and to find out how the environment of Russia and other former-member-states of the Soviet Union have fared, what initiatives have been undertaken and what successes, if any, are underway. I am hopeful, as I see that the USFWS and a senior delegation from the Russian Ministry of the Environment met in June to discuss the future welfare of the wildlife we share, such as the Alaska, Chukota polar bear population (no, it's not just another 'cute' and gratuitous polar bear photo aimed to attract your attention. Well, not totally.).
In the meantime, if in honor of the new elections indicating Mr. Putin will retain power and especially in honor of those demonstrating in Red Square as a people wishing to retain a fair democratic vote and the ability to ask questions and demand the Truth in their beloved nation, if you'd like to read the original article I wrote in 1990, contact me! I'll send you an actually readable copy of the coverage (you can see excerpts of it in my portfolio pages). I'd love to hear from you!
Like so many of us who were working on environmental issues before the 'net,' as prescient and brilliant SciFi writer Connie Willis called her own form of timetravel the late 1990s, they have not yet surfaced on the wwweb. What did happen to those committed, passionate and, I dare say, brave environmental activists, scientists and citizens who filled the vast hall during that week of discovery and dismay? They had gathered to find out what the Truth was about the state of the environment and agricultural lands in their vast home, coming from the Baltics to Siberia and converging in Moscow to weep in dismay at what was openly reported in those first, fragile moments of Glasnost created by Mr. Gorbachev.
Did those brave and caring souls give up? Are they continuing to fight in the trenches, as they were then? Has progress been made?
Stay tuned here, as I begin my own journey to find them and to find out how the environment of Russia and other former-member-states of the Soviet Union have fared, what initiatives have been undertaken and what successes, if any, are underway. I am hopeful, as I see that the USFWS and a senior delegation from the Russian Ministry of the Environment met in June to discuss the future welfare of the wildlife we share, such as the Alaska, Chukota polar bear population (no, it's not just another 'cute' and gratuitous polar bear photo aimed to attract your attention. Well, not totally.).
In the meantime, if in honor of the new elections indicating Mr. Putin will retain power and especially in honor of those demonstrating in Red Square as a people wishing to retain a fair democratic vote and the ability to ask questions and demand the Truth in their beloved nation, if you'd like to read the original article I wrote in 1990, contact me! I'll send you an actually readable copy of the coverage (you can see excerpts of it in my portfolio pages). I'd love to hear from you!
Image courtesy of USFWS
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