“Environmental awareness should be cultivated at home”
Alina Kochetova knows everything about the air of Temirtau. She has been instilling environmental culture among the city’s schoolchildren as part of the UNICEF educational programme ‘Volunteers4Climate’.
Alina Kochetova is 16 years old. She is a Grade 10 student at City School No. 16 in Temirtau. Currently, she is the lead environmental instructor for Grade 5 students. She teaches them about the dangers of indoor and outdoor air pollution and how to measure pollutants all while instilling an environmentally conscience culture into her students. She is also one of 50 students from Karaganda and Temirtau participating in the UNICEF programme called ‘Volunteers4Climate’. Nevertheless, she was different two years ago.
“When I met Alina, she was a very secluded child who had never participated in any activities. She found out about our training on her own and asked her homeroom teacher for permission to attend these classes. She never dared to come to speak with me directly before this, so it was good that her teacher informed me about her. I approached her and took her into the classroom,” says Yelena
Petrovna Varganova, the Director of Teaching and an ecology teacher at City School No. 16.
In Temirtau, air quality problems are relevant to daily life, not just climate activism. Alina tells us of a stinking odour in her area that makes it difficult to breathe.
“After that [experiencing poor air quality], I started studying what air quality depends on, what can be done to improve it, and how air quality affects our health. One day, Yelena Petrovna attended our lesson and told me about her activities, including what they do at the Otrazhenie [Reflection] Public Foundation, and I became very curious about it. The very next lesson, I approached Yelena Petrovna and challenged myself to try something new,” says Alina.
At first, Alina experienced communication challenges. It was difficult for her to communicate with children about environmental awareness and promote it. Alina overcame her fears by realizing that her voice is important and needed, as she will only be able to explain to people the seriousness of environmental problems in Temirtau through public speaking.
“I used to be very scared even to answer blackboard questions in class, so public speaking seemed impossible. It was difficult for me to step out of my comfort zone, but Yelena Petrovna, the Director of Teaching, helped me overcome this fear. One day, we had an event at school where she asked me to speak. I could not fail my teacher, so I went on stage despite my fear. Now, it is much easier for me to participate in life. I eliminated my anxiety, and I can calmly keep up high-quality conversations and convey information to anyone,” says Alina.
Having delved into ecology, Alina studies climate change and everything related to it: she is interested in the quality and shortage of drinking water, solid waste disposal, and cultivating green spaces among many other topics.
“Now, I am fully environmentally conscious. I use reusable shopping bags or other alternatives. I also try to make sure that my friends know how to live in an environmentally friendly way. I just want them to at least be aware because not everyone has the opportunity [to learn] and not everyone wants to do it, but they must be aware of the issues so they can at least do something environmentally friendly,” says Alina.
Alina Kochetova is making information about Temirtau air pollution and the specific concentration of harmful substances in it available to every resident of Temirtau. She created an Instagram page, @vozdux_temirtau, where she publishes daily data on what residents of the industrial city must breathe that day. She collects this information from various sources: thematic websites, Kazhydromet resources, and air quality measurements she takes herself with devices available at her school.
“My goal as a volunteer is to engage as many people as possible in the environmental problem by shaping an ecological mentality from a young age. I want to highlight the air quality problem and provide air quality information to every resident of Temirtau so that they can see and know that what we breathe depends on everyone. In this way, we can learn to live environmentally friendly, take some environmentally friendly actions, and improve the environment. This is crucial,” says Alina.
Alina and other volunteers led by Yelena Petrovna train and develop environmental skills among the younger generation every day. They discuss the causes and consequences of climate change, environmental pollution, energy conservation, and clean drinking water. In addition, boys and girls share their knowledge and experience about waste separation and saving water and energy. Of course, air cleanliness has a special place in these discussions because the students live in Temirtau, an industrial city with poor air-quality ratings. Now, local environmental activists such as Alina have air-quality sensors in their arsenal, which the volunteers extensively use during practical classes. In addition, schools that participate in the UNICEF ‘Volunteers4Climate’ programme are provided with these sensors for educational purposes.
According to Yelena Petrovna,
First, we purchased sensors from Pavel Plotitsyn from Almaty. He produces devices specifically for our city and explained how they work and where you can view the data. Moreover, the monitors are user-friendly. If the user sees a smiley face [J], it obviously indicates that the air quality is fine, but if the user sees a frowning face [L], then the air quality is low. After working with the sensors, the students started asking us about the air quality in different parts of the city, but we did not have sensors there. Therefore, we purchased special devices to take measurements in different places. Therefore, Alina knows how to use all the sensors we have. Today, she is the lead instructor conducting trainings and holding classes for children and adults about how air quality affects climate change.
Environmental issues have become so firmly embedded in Alina Kochetova’s life that she has spread her ‘green habits’ among her family members. “Certainly, it
was difficult for me to instill environmental habits [in my family members]; it took time. Not everyone wanted to adopt them; some did not see the point. The hardest part was explaining the problem because adults do not always want to learn something new from children. Therefore, it was difficult for me to convey this information to my parents and family. However, over time, they got used to my habits and began following my example. Now, we sort waste together. We also have a separate compost bucket for household waste at home. We store all the waste there separately, and then we get humus to fertilize our indoor plants,” the activist says with great pride.
Thanks to environmental activism, Alina gained self-confidence, developed a sense of self-worth, and met many like-minded people. Moreover, with the help of air-quality monitoring, she managed to improve her health.
“Especially during hot summers, I had seasonal allergy flare ups. Now, I feel much better because I’ve been able to reduce them with the useful habits I know. I understand how air affects our health, and I know at what concentrations it is best to stay home and avoid going outside. I also know how you should protect yourself at home; for example, do not run your home ventilation system when there is heavy smoke, keep apartment air humid, and drink more water. If you still have to go out, avoid any outdoor physical activity,” says Alina.
The UNICEF educational programme ‘Volunteers4Climate’ helped Aline immerse herself even more in ecology and the dissemination of information about ecological problems. The environmental activist learned more about climate change and adapting to it as well as the scale of air, water, and soil pollution problems. Alina notes that she also found the classes offered on conducting training for schoolchildren and getting the audience’s attention very useful.
“I liked that the training sessions were aimed not only at gaining new theoretical knowledge but also at developing personal qualities: leadership, team building, peer-to-peer engagement, and cohesion. Personally, I realized that it is much easier to work on a team than alone since it is easier to overcome difficulties together. It was important for me to participate in the programme, as it was a stepping stone for me to reach a new and higher-level and, to some extent, even a global level,” says the volunteer.
Alina sincerely believes that projects like ‘Volunteers4Climate’ should be implemented throughout the country. She is sure that the environmental situation in Kazakhstan depends on each person’s environmental activities and that it is desirable to instill eco-friendly habits in children from a young age.
Alina is convinced that “[e]nvironmental habits should become a way of life. But again, this way of life should also be formed in the family because the family is the first to lay down your basic personal qualities, which undoubtedly, also affect environmental thinking.”
Every day Alina improves her knowledge and searches for new data on environmental issues, reading and learning about the latest research in this area. After graduating, Alina is planning to continue studying environmental issues by becoming an ecologist, or a teacher, to lay the right foundation for the younger generation.
