Urges parents to take kids camping, not to noisy cafes

Karen Antashyan, a Yerevan Council member from the Im Kayl (My Step) Alliance, is a writer who wants to see more green space in the Armenian capital and for residents to be more attentive to environmental issues.

He says Armenian contemporary literature showed that a revolution in Armeniawas coming, since rebellion, a desire for freedom and sobriety prevailed.

Antashyan says he had a willingness to move to a more socially active role, in particular - to address urban forest restoration and the protection of green areas - before the revolution, which changed the course of his thoughts in a fatal way.

Appearing on a My Step Alliance pre-electoral ticket, his original intent wasn’t to get involved  in politics.Rather, he  saw a good opportunity to put his environmental experience to use. As a member of the municipal council, Antashyan sees his main task as the study of urban forests, the introduction of new methods of landscaping, and promoting love and care for nature.

Antashyan says the council is now busy responding to operative issues, whereas it's administrative work and should be performed by the municipality staff.

“From the day we were elected, we have become a target for real issues - garbage disposal, transportation, greenery, etc., especially on Facebook, while the council should deal with more conceptual, general decisions, implementing reforms, not daily operative work. However, now we are at the stage of crisis management, and it hinders our core functions - developing a strategy for the city, long-term projects that would contribute to the well-being of our citizens,” Antashyan says.

Hetq spent two hours walking down Yerevan streets with Karen. He says the environmental situation in the capital is critical.

The air in Yerevan is dry, filled with small particles and heavy gases. Unlike drinking bad quality water, which people can immediately taste, bad quality air leads to acute respiratory diseases, causing various health problems.

Antashyan says the statistics as to how many infant children have respiratory illnesses are quite scary. Green spaces in Yerevan are not enough to purify current emissions. Urban forests and gardens are the main solution.

Antashyan believes that the city administration must work on long-term projects to plant new trees and forests, for example junipers, which don’t require much water, instead of spending a lot of money on plastic decorations and short-term lawns. Karen also advocates the culture of growing perennial climbing grape vines which are equal to trees in term of providing oxygen.

To make all this happen, Antashyan suggests cooperating with Armenian scientific institutes, such as the Ecocentre, Hydroponics and Botanical Institutes, and agronomists.

In order to change people’s mindsets to start to care for and value nature, Antashyan thinks kindergartens and schools are the best place to start.

He believes that educational programs should include camping. Instead of raising entertainment consumers, by taking children to noisy cafes, for example, Armenians should try to raise a new generation that cares for the environment.

Antashyan has developed guidelines for nature education, but he’s not sure he will manage to get it included in the city’s agenda. He proposes a range of routes in the city, where people can walk, see a blooming tree in a specific month, gather and grow seeds, explore birds and insects living in the city.

"The source of not loving nature is hidden in not knowing it. Children have a natural demand to know the environment, to study and like it via playing. The Japanese even have a holiday when they gather and admire blooming trees. I dream that one day we will have a tradition to gather and admire, for example, blooming apricot trees,” says Karen Antashyan.

Photos by Saro Baghdasaryan