Zelionaya Kistochka (The Green Brush)
Significant statistics
1 800
schoolchildren became participants in the project
6
cities of Russia
>60
volunteers – professional ecologists, geologists and labor protection specialists
The project aimed to build a foundation for training the next generation of environmental protection engineers, geologists, and HSE experts.The project ended up winning a 2021 international My Vmeste (We Are Together) award in the Land of Opportunities category
In 2021, thanks to SIBUR’s backing, Blagoveshchensk (Republic of Bashkortostan), Dzerzhinsk, Kstovo, Svobodny, Tobolsk, and Tomsk played hosts to the Green Brush project.
Under the project, a team of volunteers made up of subject matter experts spent half a year working with 1,800 school students aged 9 to 12. Using a game format, the students tried their hand at acting as environmentalists, geologists, or occupational safety experts by evaluating the quality of water samples at a mobile laboratory, by learning about personal protective equipment and ways to use it, by receiving training in administering first aid, by detecting and neutralizing household risk and hazards built into a design of an interactive model of a house.
The knowledge that the students had acquired during their classes with the Green Brush team was further consolidated during their self-directed work study developing projects and creating drawings dedicated to the themes of environmental protection, occupational health and safety. The contest’s winners traveled to a career guidance week held in Moscow where they visited museums of natural science and art as well as the chemical laboratory of Ecostandard Group to learn about the jobs of environmental engineers and to attend a workshop conducted by occupational safety professionals. The grand opening ceremony of the exhibition of students’ works featured the contest’s winners presenting their projects that go beyond just being left on paper. Instead, they will be given a life of their own with the students taking them to fruition either by themselves or with the support from SIBUR. As an example, SIBUR offered one of the finalists from Tobolsk to join a working group that will be implementing her project to clean up a city pond.
Under the project, a team of volunteers made up of subject matter experts spent half a year working with 1,800 school students aged 9 to 12. Using a game format, the students tried their hand at acting as environmentalists, geologists, or occupational safety experts by evaluating the quality of water samples at a mobile laboratory, by learning about personal protective equipment and ways to use it, by receiving training in administering first aid, by detecting and neutralizing household risk and hazards built into a design of an interactive model of a house.
The knowledge that the students had acquired during their classes with the Green Brush team was further consolidated during their self-directed work study developing projects and creating drawings dedicated to the themes of environmental protection, occupational health and safety. The contest’s winners traveled to a career guidance week held in Moscow where they visited museums of natural science and art as well as the chemical laboratory of Ecostandard Group to learn about the jobs of environmental engineers and to attend a workshop conducted by occupational safety professionals. The grand opening ceremony of the exhibition of students’ works featured the contest’s winners presenting their projects that go beyond just being left on paper. Instead, they will be given a life of their own with the students taking them to fruition either by themselves or with the support from SIBUR. As an example, SIBUR offered one of the finalists from Tobolsk to join a working group that will be implementing her project to clean up a city pond.
