September 30, 2013, Feodosia, Crimea — Students’ conference on “Sustainable Food & Organic Farming” was held at the Feodosia Polytechnic Institute of the Admiral Makarov National Shipbuilding University. The city’s environmental NGO “MAMA-86-Feodosia,” the institute and the Crimean Republican Association “Ecology and the World” organized the event within the framework of the Global Green Action Week as part of the Green Consumer Week’2013 campaign “Environment on Your Plate.”

The conference participants discussed environmentally responsible food as a key aspect of sustainable consumption, interrelationships among sustainable food, organic farming and human health, and problems faced by producers of eco-friendly products.

The conference made use of multimedia presentations and info bulletins prepared by Maryana Lukyanova, FPI ecology teacher and MAMA-86-Feodosia director, and environmental activists based on information materials developed by the national NGO “MAMA-86” for the campaign.

As a result of the conference, students suggested conducting an awareness campaign among residents of Greater Feodosia to extend the circle of sustainable production and consumption supporters, involving the students as volunteers.

The event wound up in tasting of “ecologically clean products” including fruits grown under organic farming conditions.

For the last two years, FPI students and teachers have been active participants in the Green Consumer Weeks.

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Green Consumer Weeks in Ukraine – week-long concentrated awareness campaigns aimed at popularizing environmentally responsible consumption and focused on one of important themes of sustainable consumption – have been carried out since 2012 by the Ukrainian National Environmental NGO "MAMA-86" with support from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and in collaboration with various partner organizations.

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has been conducting similar campaigns in their country in October for many years running. These campaigns have helped significantly increase public awareness of advantages of environment-friendly way of living, develop a legal framework that encourages sustainable consumption and prohibits or limits supply of environmentally harmful goods and services, as well as form a circle of eco-responsible producers and sellers who, on their part, further the transition of the Swedish society toward more sustainable consumption behavior.