Third enrollment in Eco-School for Modern Media was launched with support of GC Titan

The Omsk region launched an educational project Eco-School for Modern Media. The trainees are journalists, bloggers, eco-activists, press secretaries, as well as schoolchildren and students involved in various environmental programmes. During the training, participants will have the opportunity to meet with federal experts, visit industrial enterprises and specially protected natural areas. More than 20 people applied for participation.

The general partners of the project are GC Titan and Gazprom Neft's Omsk Refinery. Traditional partners of the Modern Media Eco-School are the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Omsk region and the regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society. The project is organized by the Omsk Union of Journalists.

The students of the Eco-School will be able to improve their competences in the field of environmental protection, receive tools for deeper coverage of environmental topics, and learn how to analyze information correctly. The organizers have prepared thematic master classes as practical lessons for the new stream. An important component of the training course will be the implementation of the national project "Ecology" in the Omsk region, preservation of the forest fund and the ecosystem of water bodies, improvement of air quality and reclamation of landfills. At the end of the training course, the participants will receive certificates of participation in the Eco-School. The project will make it possible to form a pool of journalists specialising in environmental issues in the Omsk Region.

Dmitry Ushakov, First Deputy Chairman of the Omsk region Government, and Alexander Serdyukov, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Omsk Region, took part in the opening of the Eco-School.

Dmitry Ushakov told the project participants about the implementation of the national project "Ecology" in the region:

- The work to improve the environment is carried out in several directions. We are introducing environmentally friendly public transport. We are gasifying single-family residential neighborhoods. Despite the sanctions pressure, enterprises continue to implement measures on ecological modernization. Large-scale work is also underway to reclaim landfills, one of which - in the Central District - will be reclaimed this year, and three more - in the Sovetsky, Kirovsky and Leninsky districts of Omsk - in 2024. The construction of three new centres for the treatment of solid waste, with a total capacity of more than 800 thousand tonnes, is envisaged in the region. I note that improving the environment and improving the quality of life of Omsk residents is one of the most important tasks that the Omsk region Government team headed by Vitaly Khotsenko is working on. Thank you to the participants of the Eco-School for your attention to ecology, for an honest and interesting conversation!

The Eco School for Modern Media is a long-term project that the Omsk Union of Journalists has been implementing since 2022, filling the programme with relevant topics. More than 50 people have already been trained.

Andrei Motovilov, Chairman of the Omsk Union of Journalists:

- We have been repeatedly convinced that our project is in demand. The Eco-School has been recognized at the federal level, and colleagues from other regions are adopting our experience. It is pleasant that our initiative has been supported for two years by our permanent partners: GC Titan and Gazprom Neft. The co-operation between two large industrial enterprises and the media community is interesting for all participants of the project and generally gives good results. We are making further development plans.

Alexander Serdyukov, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Omsk Region, noted the importance of such an educational programme and the experience accumulated by the project team:

- This is already the third season. We see that there are already good results. The aim of this project is to ensure that the mass media, which fulfil the task of informing citizens in the sphere of ecology, environmental protection, and its condition, use conceptual tools competently, and have a deep understanding of current problems and tasks in the sphere of ecology set by the President of Russia. Here is a very interesting circle of dialogue: both the masters of the workshop and young guys who are making their first steps. We would very much like these steps to be correct. We know that it is easier to make superficial, perhaps even commissioned materials, but to become a real professional is serious work. And I am grateful to the Union of Journalists of the Omsk region and all the partners for giving me the opportunity to improve my professional skills.

Oksana Mironenko, an eco-blogger and participant of the project, has been attending the eco-school for the second year:

- I am interested in learning relevant and reliable information on environmental issues, getting acquainted with federal experts, visiting enterprises that not everyone can get to, finding like-minded people and expanding my author's audience.

As Andrey Motovilov, Chairman of the Omsk Union of Journalists, noted, this year more than 20 people applied. You can become a participant at any stage. The eco-school programme will include a lot of field trips. For example, in the middle of September eco-schoolers will visit the eco-trail in the village of Ekaterininskoye in the Tarsky district. Also in the nearest plans press tour on city dumps, where now the process of recultivation is actively going on. Excursions to industrial enterprises and meetings with regional and federal experts in the field of ecology await the students. At the end of the training, the participants plan to implement a joint bright environmental project.

The first session of the Eco-School for Modern Media will take place on 14 September.

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