The smell of Chernobyl

Lyubov Yakubovskaya - about ecological disaster in Moscow

The Year of Ecology in Russia was marked by the smells of hydrogen sulfide and rotten cabbage in Moscow, ruthenia emissions in the Chelyabinsk region and numerous prohibitions of rallies in defense of nature - throughout the country. The activist in the field of nature protection since 1999 and the independent municipal deputy of the Khoroshevsky district of Moscow, Lyubov Yakubovskaya, told Radio Liberty how the capital was on the verge of an environmental disaster.

- Rospotrebnadzor called the possible causes of unpleasant odors in Moscow: "decay of waste", but what kind of waste is incomprehensible.

- The problem is not what it smells, but that it is impossible to reliably find out. In Russia in general and in Moscow, in particular, there is completely no system of public environmental control. They began to destroy it even under Luzhkov, we then fought with him and thought that he was a frenzy of hell, but in comparison we understand that he represented at least some boundaries. And now ... No matter how beautiful journalists you are, you turn out inside out, you will not get completely reliable information.

- At the state bodies?

- No one. 15 years ago, we had a common conflict for the whole world: there are environmental problems, and there are some not very clean government agencies and individual officials who cover these problems, and the public fights this. But in the civilized world there is public control, there are strong organizations that are different in profile: someone is engaged in emissions, someone wildlife. In the zero years, there were powerful NGOs, but they lived on foreign grants and therefore they were little by little squeezed out of the country. The International Socio-Ecological Union, for example, froze its activities, it was a network organization, it united environmentalists from the countries of the former USSR. The Moscow Ecological Federation ceased to activity in 2012. This list is large, and by the way, it is not only about the ecology.

Love Yakubovskaya

The authorities not only blocked the course of foreign grants, but at the same time all the incentives were disappeared so that business or social, party structures financed real environmental activities. In the early 2000s I found money for our projects, and now I am talking with business and understand that they are not interested in financing environmental activities, this is not in trend.

Today we have the only unit that can finance some kind of environmental and environmental activity is the state. And it is the main pollutant. Oh, what a coincidence! And there is no one to deal with this, only local activists, initiative groups or small organizations remained. Here, for example, no one is engaged in emissions, for example. There are no organizations that would have a laboratory base or which could get unhindered access to the state base, which would have people with a specialized education, chemists, for example. So ask what we breathe, there is simply no one.

Information prevention

November smells were not the first. In August-September, extremely alarming events take place: in August, the Mosecomonitoring five times on different dates recorded a multiple overturning of hydrogen sulfide and other toxic gases, then the same thing happened in early September . The fact that this happened at the same time makes it make you think that a certain enterprise specially dropped something at night, hoping that it would be scattered by morning. But we do not know what kind of enterprise it is, what it drops, how dangerous it is for health - and there is no one to ask.

Activists began to barrack at some time, Greenpeace, on the basis of mosecomonitorial data, made a pollution card by dates and areas, after which it suddenly turns out that the Mosecomonitoring site needs preventive work-now there is no information at all.

- Why do not state bodies do this?

- Corruption. On September 9 , a criminal case was opened, but we do not know what is happening to him.

Chernobyl will not call and warn

In general, I am not sure that what happened now is the worst. It seems to me that society needs a more terrible shake.

- So was there a radioactive ejection in the Urals?

- And even this is not the worst. These are alarming calls to which society does not respond. And in the Union it was like this: there were some kind of accidents, some rumors walked that something exploded somewhere, it was silent, ended with a Chernobyl.

-When to leave?

- You need to leave now, because Chernobyl will not call and warn. We brought everything to such a situation ... Society in Anabiosis. Here are social activists who communicate with people, say that many say - it's okay. They inspired us that I was a little person, I do not decide anything, well, then I would growl in? Occasionally, you only get kaifan when you manage to move something in a small area, and people have a revelation: Oh, you can solve something!

Lyubov Yakubovskaya at a rally against renovation, Moscow, May 28, 2017

We are now sitting in the Khoroshevsky district, here on the eve of the municipal elections, even local activists said that everything was hopeless, and they did not go to these elections consciously. And when they saw that the majority of independent deputies had been elected, they began to write: what a pity that I did not go to the polls.

- Maybe just an ecological agenda is not interesting to anyone?

- The environmental topic in Moscow is blocked everywhere. I know many journalists who understand the protection of nature who previously wrote about this, not all of them left journalism, I have normal contact with them - the topic is blocked everywhere.

The district authorities believe that there are one hundred crazy people in the area who want the park to have a garbage

The Moscow authorities are afraid of ecology. For example, the initiative group of residents of the Khoroshevsky district wants to hold a referendum to preserve the Birch Grove Park, in which, like in many Moscow parks, they arrange playgrounds, lay out paths with tiles - kill nature. Residents went through all the stages: they collected documents, gave them to the district election commander, the election commander confirmed that the documents were collected correctly, transferred them to the Council of Deputies, and since the majority of independent candidates were approved in the Council of Deputies, they approved issues of referendum, and the District as the election man could no longer resolve or prohibit, he had to register and start the referendum organization under the law. But literally the day before yesterday, residents were told that unexpectedly in the process intervened Mosgorisbirk, who lowered the order to recognize documents collected by the initiative group that did not comply with the legislation. At the same time, the district authorities believe that in the area there are one hundred crazy people who want a garbage and boletus to be in place of the park, and normal people for paths and playgrounds. Firstly, no one is facing such a choice, and secondly, if the authorities believe that the inhabitants support them, let's ask them!

Renovation is, among other things, an ecological disaster

The same was with an environmental rally in the summer of this year. When on May 28 there was a rally against renovation, they gave me a word, and I felt that there was a request for a separate rally in defense of nature. We were denied seven times to conduct it.

- And what is the connection between renovation and nature? On the contrary, the Moscow authorities develop parks, plant trees.

- Renovation is, among other things, an environmental disaster. A huge number of trees will be cut down in areas where renovation will take place, every fourth tree will disappear. This is completely optional. Even if you come to terms with renovation, you can set the task of maintaining these green spaces. But no, everything will shave out completely and a new one to rebuild in this place.

- So what? Some will cut down, others will plant.

- It’s not difficult for me, I repeat for the hundredth time: trees, in addition to aesthetic function, give us oxygen. But before the tree begins to give a sufficient amount of oxygen, 20-30 years should pass. Green spaces in these areas are now at the peak of their performance, they are 50-60 years old, these are the most valuable landings in the city, and they want to destroy them and in their place to stick trees that, firstly, we do not know whether they will survive or not, even if they survive, they will only gain the necessary capacity for 20-30 years.

- Renovation is not throughout Moscow. Here on the mayor’s website it is said that 49.5% of the area of Moscow occupy green spaces.

The city hall reports on planted trees and in every possible way ignores the dead

- This is wrong. This is considered with their roller lawns that do not give any oxygen, then, probably, such a figure will come out. There are much fewer trees.

- Fine. In Moscow, the Million Trees program hosts. Since 2013, 83.9 thousand trees and 1.75 million shrubs have been planted in the city. Is this not enough?

- The city hall reports on planted trees and in every possible way ignores the dead. How many died of those who were planted? If this statistics were, we would be horrified. If we talk about the birch grove, those birches that were planted there in the spring, they all died. Fully. And now new ones are planted. But Moscow is an infinitely rich city, can afford to plant a new tree into the same hole every year.

- Why so?

- Those who plant have no goal for the tree to grow. Only recently I had a meeting in the premises of the Council of Deputies with the representative of the "Housing". “Housing” is responsible for the condition of the parks - this is an economic organization, they do not have a specialist in the staff who would be competent in maintaining landings. They have a goal - they stuck in the ground, reported, the money was mastered. Then they have work on removal, again paid, and then again on landing. And they can do it as much as they like.

In addition, the tree is many times more productive if it is surrounded by a natural, close to the natural environment. If it is surrounded by shrubs, heterogeneous, it gives more oxygen than the same tree in the tub on Tverskaya. They tell us: rejoice that your linden sticks out of asphalt. But firstly, this linden will die over time, it will simply die slowly, being sealed, and secondly, all this time we will see greens, but it will not give oxygen.

In Soviet times, Moscow was conceived by a healthy city: there was a sacred forest belt around it

Moscow is suffocating. Among other things, these terrible anti -ecological garbage plants are being built in the Moscow region and cut down forests in catastrophic volumes. In Soviet times, Moscow was conceived by a healthy city: there was a sacred forest belt around it. Now gradually these forests reduce the status, deprive their immunity and then build up to everyone in a row. The first bells began 10 years ago, but then it was timid, and when Vorobyov came (the governor of the Moscow region since 2012 Andrei Vorobyov. - Approx.) , He generally seriously took up everything.

No need to tell us that you are struggling with emissions - you are struggling with motorists

- According to official figures, 98% of Moscow emissions are cars. The Moscow authorities pursue a policy of reducing vehicles in the city center: they introduced paid parking lots, narrowed some highways, created intercepting parking, urban transport is much better than before. The same should help maintain the environment.

- This is a competent manipulation of public consciousness - that we will reduce the number of machines and will be easier to breathe. You do not know how to plant trees, do not know how to maintain nature, the city government is not preoccupied with the preservation of nature in principle. No need to tell us that you are struggling with emissions - you are fighting motorists.

Moscow is not the first capital to encounter the problem of gasket, European cities have gone through this, and we repeat this in the worst version. They destroyed their nature 20-30 years ago, and then woke up that they had nothing to breathe, and began to revive. We had 15–20 years ago with nature everything was fantastic compared to some other capitals, but we also want to destroy nature first, and then wake up. And this suits the official from the point of view of the budgets: now they spend money on everything with tiles, and then they will spend money in order to remove the tiles, pay specialists who will explain how to return all this to a natural state.

Trees in the square on the 2nd Sandy Street were cut down during the preparation of the material

I would be on the side of paid parking lots if I saw that for the city government the preservation of nature really became a priority. But such a task is not worth it, we see only the destruction of nature. Now, while we were talking to you, they write to me that in the square on the 2nd Sandy Street, trees were cut down without permits! Activists wrote a statement to the police, but they are unlikely to punish anyone and you won’t return the trees.