National Coordinator for
Bulgaria
Varna, Bulgaria
III-rd HSNS
“akad. M. Popov”
Contacts:
Fax:
+1-206-202-3436
E-mail:
[email protected]
Colleagues,
I’m very glad to be here as a representative of the
school NC for Bulgaria – LNS – Varna. Unfortunately the period between this
meeting and the previous one in December was too short to do much work.
Half of the time our students weren’t at school –
Christmas, Easter and “flu” vacations. That’s why the first thing I did was to
send letters to all schools – participants to report about the meeting and to
give general instructions for the period from January to June 2000. Some of
them replied, others – did not. I think it’s normal to expect such attitude
after an interruption of an year.
I hope in September to reconstruct SEMEP’s net of
schools and having entirely fixed the subjects of the project to begin from the
beginning once again.
The main topics our students worked over this period
were:
-
This is my country –
Bulgaria. What about yours? (exchange of materials aiming to know more about
out partners)
-
Bulgarian customs,
legends, etc.
-
Bulgarian meals –
“Let’s compare and contrast…”
-
How green are you?
-
Proverbs and
sayings, concerning water in our life. (The students collected them, finding an
English equivalent to the Bulgarian one. They even illustrated them with their
own drawings and mare a poster)
One of our main problems is the financial. First of
all, our teachers are paid very little and irregularly. There should be found a
way to support them or the schools – participants with some funds and
materials. For a second year we have a new subject at school – Civic Education, which could be
successfully applied to work over the project, because it’s one of the four
compulsory exams in the end of their education in the 12th form.
If our teachers are motivated, supplied with some
information, which to be transferred to the students during the lessons, SEMEP
will have its important role in their education. To publicize and attract
students and society’s attention we have to be well prepared as specialists and
teachers and be financially supported.
It’s a problem to pay for Internet, for copying some
materials and send them to other schools – our Ministry of Education is not
helpful at all.
If these trainings of teachers are realized, if we
succeed in meeting SEMEP’s organizers and teachers in each country for a
workshop or conference, if the best of the students are rewarded with a
participation in a local or region Summer Schools or a document, results will
come soon. I think that not only Bulgarian children are eager to do some extra
work, to be involved in a project which, for example, could be very attractive.
The students are very proud of the fact that their essays will be shown to the
other NCs of SEMEP. They need their work to be publicized, that’s why I think a
NN and SEMEPs NS which to be distributed to each school is very important for
them and for us as teachers.
We could think together about the creation of
different materials or to make a competition among the countries, UNESCO can send us an official letter with
proposals for participation. Each group of participants to be sent an official
letter from UNESCO, thanking for their distribution to SEMEP.
I hope you share my thoughts and you have similar
problems in your countries. That’s why I hope we will restart SEMEP and will do
our best for our children and our countries to feel closer and understand
better. Young people’s curiosity and intelligence could be our inspiration.
Marieta
Kassabova
Varna,
Bulgaria
July,
2000
Prepared by:
Violeta Ivanova
(10a class)
(marine habitats, communities and species)
The
marine plants and animals of the Black
Sea form a complex food web. Marine plants, dominated by phytoplankton ,provide
the primary source of food to the oceans and are known as the 'primary
producers' . Herbivorous animals, dominated by the zooplankton, are the primary
consumers, deriving their food from phytoplankton. Carnivorous animals, or
secondary consumers such as larger zooplankton of fish, then feed on the zooplankton,
providing the food source for consumers further up the food web, such as birds,
marine mammals and ultimately man.
Although a
proportion of food in the marine web is assimilated by primary and secondary
consumers, a large proportion sinks through the water column to the seabed.
Here it is scavenged by bacteria, which in turn are eaten by detritus-feeders.
At all stages of the food web, the energy passed from one level to the next is
only between 10 and 20% of the original. Disturbance of one level can be
transferred up through the web and can
cause significant impact on the whole ecosystem.
Phytoplankton consist of the microscopic free living
algae that drift in the illuminated surface layers of the sea. They are
important as the primary food source, for removing carbon dioxide from the water and for producing oxygen through
photosynthesis .
Investigations of phytoplankton in Bulgarian waters
date back to 1954 when four major transects were surveyed. The survey showed a
rich variety of 255 species with a dominance of diatoms (Bacilliariophyta) and
dinoflagellates (Dinophyta) almost all year round. The distribution of
abundance and biomass show seasonal variability, with a general increase during
the spring and summer months when increased light and temperature promote
growth. There is also a clear zonation with distance from the shore. The
coastal zone has a higher abundance of
phytoplankton compared to offshore
waters.
The coastal zone (up to 3 miles from the shore) is
influenced by nutrient inputs from rivers and shows a high abundance and
frequency of algal blooms. Rates of
production are high ranging from 0,2 to > 1.0 grams of carbon per square
meter per day. Rates of production decrease with distance from the shore over
the next zone(3 to 20 miles from the shore)The outer zone(greater than 20 miles
from the shore) has little coastal influence, and low abundance and low species
variability is observed.
Based on the observations made over the last 40 years
the increased nutrient loading in the coastal zone has resulted in a shift in
the ratio of species, with a relative increase in the numbers
of
dinoflagelates and the appearance of several new species, such as
Scrippsiella trochoidea and Phaeocystis
pouchettii . There has also been an increase in frequency, number and duration
of algal blooms.
Macroalgae, commonly known as 'seaweed', are found
attached to shells, stones or rocks in
the shallow coastal waters. Not only are they important as a source of
oxygen and food but they also form an important habitat for invertebrates and
fish.
Some 157 species have been recorded along the
Bulgarian coast. The red algae is the most dominant group, followed by
approximately equal numbers of brown and green algae. The diversity of
macroalgae has changed considerably over the last 40 years. Populations of
Cystoceira barbata, Dasya bayloviana and Laurencia pinnatifida for example have
been observed to decrease and even disappear from some areas.
Zooplankton are free living marine animals, which
include fish larvae but not adult fish . They may remain free living for their
entire life or attach to hard surface or the seabed. The mean range in
zooplankton biomass is 70-300 milligrams per cubic meter in the summer and
50-70 milligrams per cubic meter in the
winter months, reflecting changes in the number of phytoplankton, their primary
food source. The variability of the biomass, composition and structure is most
clearly expressed in the shelf zone and is largely dependent on the temperature
regime in the water column . The distribution shows zonation with distance from
the shore. The coastal zone has a higher concentration of zooplankton,
dominated in the summer months by a small unicellular flagellate, Noctiluca
scintillans, racterised by large numbers of copepods.
Over the years changes have been observed in the
structure of the zooplankton community. Of particular interest is the invasion
by a new species, the jellyfish Mnemiopsis leidyi, which can reach 17
centimeters in lenght. This animal preys on other zooplankton including fish
eggs and larvae. The density of M. leidyi has been observed as high as 350
individuals per cubic meter (of sea water). The presence of larger numbers of
this species is believed to be due to increased coastal pollution and has been
implicated in the decline of the Black Sea fish stocks.
Prepared by:
Valeri
Million years ago all whales were walking. They started to swim and after the ocean level rised and there was less ground left they turned to the life in water. Like the other mammals, whales born their “babies” and feed them with milk. Almost each one of them lives in a group of several animals. The “hunt” together, protect themselves and their babies. They even play together, like the dolphins, but not so often.
The killerwhales are about seven meters long and two meters in diameter. They are very, very beautiful animals, coloured in black and white. They have strong and magnificent fin, which shows where they are. A picture of jumping over water killerwhale is a wonderful coast scene.
Their beauty made people want them. In the nineteenth century lots of killerwhales were captured but in the pools they all died. The way their free “brothers” were treated by fishermen whalehunters and others decreased their population a lot. The killerwhales are in danger because of their own reputation.
Pavlyn Milenov
Martenitsi
Full of beauty and a healthy love of life, the Bulgarian customs date back to ancient times when man tried to appease the natural elements and trembled before their power. Among them, the widely popular and typically Bulgarian is wearing “martenitsi”.
The weather in March is very changeable in Bulgaria. Sometimes it causes damage to crops and cattle. This was attributed to the difficult, unpleasant temperament of old Woman Marta – a personification of the month of March. Just like an old woman, peerish and hard to please, she laughs one day and weeps the other.
To assure good health and protection from the evil influence of March, an object called “martenitsa” is tied around the wrist or pinned on the lapel on the 1st of March.
Martenitsa is made of turned white and red woollen or silk threads. The threads are always wind round to the left. They are ended with two tassels – one red and the other white. Coins and beads decorate the tassels. In some regions of the country “martenitsa” is in the form of balls – red and white, a boy and a girl - called Pijo and Penda – again in the colours of red and white. Lately, young people wear also different small and bigger figures – flowers, animals and others.
Martenitsa is put on the doors of the houses. They are tied to the necks of the cattle and are sent to close friends. It is thought that it has magical powers.
It should be worn until the day one first sees a stork or a swallow. Then it it’s taken off and either tied to blossoming tree or placed under a stone. The stone is lifted after several days: if ants are found crawling under it, it is a sign of happiness and health; if there are worms instead of ants, it is considered a bad sign.
Martenitsa may be kept to protect the children from “bad look” and ill luck. In our days people wear martenitsa to congratulate the spring. It is a symbol of the beauty and the good. With beauty against the evil – how nice the people has been it thought out.
The white colour symbolised purity, innocence and joy and the red colour represented the love and the health.
Prepared by:
Katia Jordanova
(9-d class)
Nikulden
(The day of St. Nicholas)
Nikulden is a holiday on 6th December. It is one of the most important holidays in Bulgaria. According to a belief, St. Nikola is one of the six saints brothers between whom the world was separated. He is a protector of the water and sailors and fishermen. His form is a hero with wings who flies over the waters and saves people in troubles.
Jesus church holiday is about Saint Nikola Mirlikijski – Miricler who was chased and tortured because of his faith.
On Nikulden, like an offering to St. Nikola in every Bulgarian house, there is a carp – special ritual bread and food without meat. The food, specially prepared from “bread” and “ribnik”, is given to everyone and after this, the family is having breakfast.
Saint Nikola is one of the most often chosen saint men on which a curban is made in case that someone have had bad adventure. The curban must be made of fish and once made, it mast be repeated every year. (Curban: food which is prepared beforehand and many guests are invited to eat it for the health of the person who was in trouble)
At this day (Nikulden) all men and women who are named after St. Nikola, such as: Nikolay, Nikola, Nikolina, etc. – they all have a gast.
Denitsa
Tsaneva
(10a
class)
It is high time people to understand that the nature
was not inexhaustible. We do not have to take it for granted – to utilize and
pollute endlessly.
As per me the problems concerning the environment are
so various and elaborated that are becoming all but impossible to cope with and
which is more important – they can even get more serious. It is ridiculous and
pitiable that the human is used to reorganize everything in order to provide
more and more amenities for himself, usually at the expense of the environment.
A problem that has gathered head an that does not seem
to be decided soon is the melting of the polar caps and the green-house effect.
It is caused mostly by freons: chemical softies which cannot be dissolved by
natural agents. Exhaust funes are also a very serious prerequisite and don’t
have to be underestimated.
The natural equilibrium is being constantly disturbed
by ocean dumpings, scraps, civilian garbage and artificial fertilizers. Let
alone deforestation – especially connected with the rain forests – the main
source of oxygen, wood and cellulose on
the Earth. What about the acid rains? Lots of plants, particularly comfers do
not bear them. Here in Bulgaria can be seen brown spots from dried trees on many
slopes of mountains. Very alarming is also the fact that barren lands are
increasing.
It may sounds rather pessimistic but I don’t think
that the problems I’ve scratched will disappear in the future. They can only be
restricted in order to preserver what has left.
Prepared
by:
Denitsa
Tsaneva
(10a
class)
Bulgaria occupies most of the eastern part of the
Balkan Peninsula. To the north it has a common frontier with Romania, to the
south – with Turkey and Greece, to the west – with FROYM, while to the east it
borders on the Black Sea.
Bulgaria is a country of low and high mountains,
extensive plains, lowlands and valleys with dense network of rivers and a clean
and calm Black Sea. The country’s average altitude is 470m above sea level.
Bulgaria is a country of ancient culture. During the
1320 years of its existence it has boasted a great variety of cultural and
material values, from very first steps of man and from Thracian, Slavonic and
Early-Bulgarian cultures.
Nadejda Atanassova
(10a class)
Haralambi (10th February) was observed in
most parts of the country as a day of rituals designed to ward off the plague,
smallpox and other infectious diseases over which St. Haralambi was believed to
exercise control.
Women refrained from most forms of domestic work and
baked special loaves, which they smeared with honey concervated in church and
distributed to their neighbors and to those whom they met while taking the
cattle out to graze. Some of the conserved honey would be kept in reserve to be
used as a medicine. Bread made by a ritually clean woman might be left just
outside the village boundary, so that the personified plague could eat without
entering.
In some villages the housewives would carefully sweep
their homes in order to sweep illnesses out, while in others they leave their
front doors open when they go out, and invite the illnesses, using euphemistic
epithets to follow them out and receive a leaf.
The custom of making and distributing honeyed leaves
on Haralambi was maintained up until the World War Two, after which changing
attitudes and the provision of modern medical care rendered the custom obsolete
and unviable.
(10a class)
Nowadays the problems with the pollution are very
popular. In my city – Varna, the pollution
is a big problem. The streets are dirty, every night the air is hard to
breath, the waters of the Black Sea are not blue but red or yellow.
But not only in Varna the pollution is actual. In our
capital Sofia in the nights there is a smog. It is a fog caused by the gasses
of the cars, the fabrics and other.
In Burgas there is an oil pollution of the water.
There is a lot of dead fish every day. In our country you can not sleep well.
Many people can’t sleep because of the dirty air.
The rivers can’t flow in their natural way, the
ecosystems are dead, many of them have mutated.
Living in Bulgaria is not easy. I want to tell
everybody to start keeping the nature in the way it has to be. If people don’t
stop with this foolishness, we will loose our home – the Earth.
Ilka Dimitrova
(10*d
class)
St. George’s day takes place on May 6th and
marks the beginning of commerce and stook-breeding for the year. On the night
before the day, young boys pinch blossoming willows twigs to decorate the
houses, pens and cattle for health. During the day, the table is laid with
ritual bread and dishes and marry songs are sang with the ‘traditional’ wishes
for joy and abundance.
Lazarouvane is another great festival which bears on
the element of love and marriage. The lazarouvane is a string of ritual games
and songs, studied by the young girls.
Although the marriage starts with the invitation of
the guests, preparation in both houses continues for days; wedding banners are
made; bread is baked and a number of rituals, symbolizing the end of
maidenhood, is performed. The dressing of the bride, the departure from the
native home is saturated with emotion.
Her welcome at the groom’s house is also accompanied
by interesting symbolizing actions. She is presented with bread and salt, wine
and honey so their marriage be sweet and harmonious.
Asia Asenova
(10*a
class)
I like pumpkin pastry very much. It is my favorite
dessert. It’s dough leaves stuffed with a mixture of pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon
and walnuts. The pumpkin pastry is baked dessert. In my family it’s made for
celebrations only.
The kaval is a typical Bulgarian flute. In the past
the shepards had been looking after their herd with the assistance of the kaval
and a dog. Many of the Bulgarian celebrations were accompanied by the kaval and
its music. Very few young people can play this instrument nowadays, although
the son has learned how to play from his father. But the tradition in this kind
of music will never die. I’m sure.
Varna is a sea town and almost all the people living
there respect St. Nicholas. It is a
celebration for the seamen, bankers, pirates, merchants. This day is a
special one for my family – nearly so important as the Christmas day, because
we love the Black Sea and we are hardly involved with it. I like it also because there is fish, beans
and home made bread on the table for dinner.
Daniel Dobromirov
(10a
class)
As the human population increases in size, the space
allotted to natural ecosystems is reduced in size. Natural ecosystems are then
no longer able to process and rid the biosphere of wastes, which accumulate and
are called pollutants. Pollutants are substances added to the environment,
particularly by human activities that lead to undesirable effects for all
living organisms. Human beings add pollutants to all parts of the biosphere –
land, water and air.
Land pollutants are many, but I will describe only one
of them – waste disposal. Every year, the U.S. population discards billions of
tons of solid wastes, much of it on land. Solid wastes include not only
house-hold trash, but also sewage, agricultural residues, mining refuse and
industrial wastes. Some of these solid wastes contain substances that cause
human illness and sometimes even death; they are called hazardous wastes.
One of the pollution problems is Groundwater
Pollution. Ordinarily, one would expect underground water to be free of
pollutants because bacteria and fungi, found in the soil, can remove most
conventional contaminants, before the water reaches an aquifer. But it has been
found that underground water is sometimes polluted with nonbiodegradable
pollutants, such as organo-chlorides and heavy metals, and also with inorganic
nitrates and chorides. Waste water and chemical waste have also been injected
into deep wells from which the pollutants are constantly discharged. Both of
these customs are, or have been in the process of being phased out. However it
is very difficult for industry managed and controlled waste. Treatment plants
are needed. Because citizens do not wish to live near such plants, towns are
often successful in preventing their construction.
Four major concerns are associated with air pollutants
– photochemical smog, acid deposition, the green-house effect and destruction
of the ozone shield.
Acid deposition, the coal and oil burned by power
stations releases sulfur-dioxide and automobile exhaust contains
nitrogen-oxides; both of these are converted to acids when they combine with
water vapor in the atmosphere, a reaction that is promoted by the ozone in
smog. This acids return to earth as either wet deposition or dry deposition
(sulfate and nitrate salts). Acids deposition also corrodes marble, metal and
stone work, an effect that is noticeable in cities. It can also degrade our
water supply by leaking heavy metals from the soil into potable water supplies.
Similarly, acid water dissolves copper from pipes and from lead solder that is
used to join pipes.
Mihail
(10v
class)
The Race (3rd March)
Friday,
March 3rd:
The wind has dropped for four days. In the morning I
heard on the radio that the wind will be very strong. The crew and yacht were
ready to fight with the storm, but it didn’t come. I made a big mistake and we
lost the first leg. Acctually all the yachts didn’t finish, because there
wasn’t any wind. I saw that we can’t do anything so we left the leg and stayed
near to the beach. It was too cold so I decided to go back home. My boss was very angry that I had given up so
easily.
Saturday,
March 4th:
I thought to myself that it was the most horrible day
in the race. We made four legs and we lost again. It was our first race and we
were the youngest crew in it. Everyone says: “It is normal to make mistakes”,
yes, but not so many. Two of my friends left the crew because they couldn’t
lose and I couldn’t become a winner. I had problems with other crews as well.
Sunday,
March 5th:
The last day and the last leg. I hadn’t anything to
lose. I could only win. The wind was very strong. The crew was afraid but it
was the weather that I liked. I liked
the storm wind. The beginning wasn’t suitable for us, we had problems with our
“Yal-6” and we lost one rope. But we made a good start and we took the third
place. I won the victory but we weren’t lucky today. We made something
wonderful – overkyl. We stayed 20min. in the water as the boat of the bay watch
came to save us. I was very angry because the crew made a very stupid mistake
and we missed our chance to make something better in the race. But I was happy
because everyone was okay. We survived. I have spent six years on yachts and I
am a captain but for those three days I learned so much that I hadn’t learnt
for all these years. And I will remember that during the next race.
(part
of a report) Prepared by:
Consultant: Nina Dimova
(teacher in chemistry)
The World’s Water Crisis
…Suamitan Azokan is dreaming, his dream is about
water. He sees it springing from a giant leg. He watches bucked after bucket
full of it. He tastes this fresh liquid. After that, Azokan awakes up and sees
the reality which is a nightmare.
That’s why he gets up at midnight and with plastic
buckets in both hands makes his 5-minute walk to a community fountain. Here the
potable water starts running only between 4 and 4am, so before dawn Azokan, who
is 34 years old man and works as a clerk in a financial company, must stay in
the queue at last at 3am. What is he given for his efforts? – 5 buckets of
water which to be enough for the next day.
In comparison with many of his native fellows, he’s a
lucky man. A thousand of the Indian villages haven’t got any local water
sources at all. People are forced to pass long distances to get to a well or a
river.
The shortage of water is bigger in the cities, where
the hospitals and the hotels are left to the mercy of “water merchants”, who
bring their “goods” on trucks and sell it at a very high price.
In spite of the heavy rains in the most parts of
India, its water supplies become less, because the population increases. The
hydrological equilibrium is disbalanced because of the uncontrolled cutting of
the trees which keep and save water, as well as the irregular pumping of the
underground waters.
The water which is available is constantly exposed to
contamination through the household produced wastes and the industrial wastes;
people are threatened by different diseases.
This is India, but there is only one step between its
problems concerning water and the world shortage of it. The World Institute for
Resources announces that about 3 billion people are forced to have at disposal
not more than 50 l. per day This is about 1/7 of the quantity which the average
American consumes. A lot of children die from the side effects of the water
crisis. The signal for the disaster can be heard everywhere – Russia and the
Caspian Sea, China with its wells going to zero levels, Israel – which is one
of the “safe – water” countries, Mexico – 40% of its population don’t have
water suitable for drinking…
Are we supposed to wait, and what for….?
* * * * * *
Consultant: Nina Dimova
(teacher in chemistry)
Water contamination and methods for
its clearing - Summary
Environment is an object of severe contamination
caused by different industrial products and wastes, among which chemicals and
radioactive substances take very important place. Many of them are harmful for
human beings, animals and plants. The subject of this report concerns one of
the environmental components – water.
The contamination is natural or artificial. The natural
one happens for a definite period of time and the quantity of organic and
non-organic substances raises gradually, which in its turn, threatens water
inhabitants’ life.
The artificial contamination is caused by industrial
and routines: It could be physical, chemical and biological.
The methods for water clearing are:
-
mechanical
-
chemical
-
biological
* * * * *
The
Black Sea – Problems And Hopes
(Summary)
The Black Sea is an unique water area. It’s the sea
with a relatively big water-collecting area on our planet, including the better
part of Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine and big parts of
Moldavia, Belarus, Slovenia, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Hungary, Austria and
Germany.
This way the Black Sea directly or indirectly takes
the waste waters, formed as a result of life and activities of more than 162
million people, which appears to be an enormous charge by itself, far above its
ability to clear its waters.
The main problems are caused by the great
number of situated along the beach sources of con-tamination – collection of
everyday wastes, as well as industrial waters and diffusive conta-mination of
agricultural lands. The intensive sea transport, the petrol and gas platforms
in the shelf, contribute for this contamination. As an important factor should
be mentioned the abrupt decreasion of the flow of many rivers, coming into the
Black Sea.
The sea is contaminated by the lakes and swamps along
the beach, through the flow of under-ground waters. Most of the small water basins
along the beach are used for throwing of industrial wastes and used waters.
One of the most serious ecological problems is the
contamination of the off-shore areas of the Black Sea, which puts in danger
people’s health and destruction of many plant and animal species.
As a main source it appears to be the stronger
antropogenic flow of contaminators coming from the big rivers as well as from
the local ones.
(10a class)
Sayings
and Proverbs
1.
All floats, all
changes.
2.
It’s raining cats
and dogs.
3.
Soaked to the skin.
4.
Catch a fish in
muddy waters.
5.
Still waters run
deep.
6.
Each frog to know
its puddle.
7.
Blood is thicker
than water.
8.
To jump like a fish
out of water.
9.
To make a storm in a
tea-cup.
10.
To spend money like
water.
11.
To muddy somebody’s
water.
12.
Be always on the
crest of a wave.
13.
Be on the same wave
length.
14.
It is a drop in the
ocean.
15.
To weather the
storm.
16.
To drink like a
fish.
17.
To pour oil on
trouble waters.
18.
As like as to peas
in a pod.
19.
To wash one’s hands
of something.
20.
Be between the devil
and the deep blue sea.
21.
It never rains but
pours.
22.
Not to hold water.
23.
It is like water off
a duck’s back.
24.
Neither fish, nor
good red herring.
25.
To pass an ordeal by
water.
26.
As dull as ditch
water.