Environments in 21st Century Central Eurasia, Spring 2025 installments
“Englightenment and the Gasping City: On the Praxis of Breath, Light and Mind in Urban Mongolia”
With Dr. Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko
Our Environments in 21st Century Central Eurasia series kicked off once again on January 21st, 2025 with a guest lecture by Dr. Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko who spoke about the intersections of spiritual enlightenment and pollution in modern Mongolia. Dr. Abrahms-Kavunenko is the author of Englightenment and the Gasping City: Mongolian Buddhism at a Time of Environmental Disarray, and is currently a visiting fellow within the inherit. Heritage in transformation research group at Humboldt University. Her research focuses on issues relating to plastics, global warming and pollution, doubt and materiality, Buddhism, shamanism, postsocialism, and economic anthropology in Australia, Mongolia and India.
In her guest lecture Dr. Abrahms-Kavunenko discussed contemporary attitudes and understandings of both pollution and climate change in Mongolia. She covered how concepts of enlightenment and progress have changed in Mongolia over the past century in both the socialist and democratic eras. During the socialist period, enlightenment and progress was associated closely with increasing secular education. However, Mongolia is now experiencing increasing amount pollution and environmental degradation. What was once seen as progress and enlightenment during the socialist period is now being associated with moral decline as people in urban areas of Mongolia continue to suffer from poor air quality and other effects of pollution. Many of Mongolia’s environmental and ecological challenges are attributed to mismanagement and corruption. Dr. Abrahms-Kavunenko also discussed how despite the fact that light is often associated with enlightenment, a paradoxical situation has arisen where the electricity which lights peoples’ homes is created by the coal power plants that contribute to Ulaanbaatar’s air pollution. She also brought up how pollution and “dirtiness” are tied to bad luck. An example of this belief in practice is miners who are paid in cash which is dirty from the pollution from the mines. Due to this, miners would rather spend their “polluted” money on consumables rather than durable items which they fear will be tinged with bad luck from the dirtiness of the cash. While awareness is rising in Mongolia regarding concern for the climate and pollution, much work remains to be down to combat its root causes.
“Ecotoxicological Impacts of Environmental Pollution in Turkey”
With Dr. Melek Türker Saçan of Bogazici University
Our next event in our Environments in 21st Century Central Eurasia series took place on February 11th, which Dr. Saçan gave a guest lecture about the challenges Turkey faces with increasing pollution from a variety of sources. Dr. Saçan main area of research focuses upon issues of ecotoxicology, mainly how manufactured substances effect and cause harm to the environment. Dr. Saçan is currently a Professor of Environmental Sciences at Bogazici University in Istanbul.
In her lecture Dr. Saçan covered the various types of pollution that are harming the environment of Turkiye. The majority of pollution stems from the use of chemicals in manufacturing or agriculture. These harmful chemicals leech into the environment causing, air, water, and soil pollution. Agriculture is an important part of the economy of Turkiye, and as elsewhere, fertilizers and pesticides are extensively utilized. However, the chemicals from these fertilizers harm the soil and leech into rivers continuing on to the coast. In addition to chemicals from agriculture and manufacturing, Turkiye is also faced with challenges regarding facilitating sufficient landfills. Many European countries outsource their waste to Turkiye where it is stored in large landfills. However, this puts a strain on Turkiye as it limits the amount of land which can be utilized for landfills. This has led to the creation of illegal landfills which are not sanction or regulated by the government. Harmful chemicals from landfills in Turkiye also leech into the water system, polluting both river systems and coastal areas. Once particular aspect of pollution that Dr. Saçan discussed in coastal areas is that of mucilage which is the build up of certain microorganisms in the water, creating a thick gelatinous substance. This occurs when pollution reaches the coast upsetting the environmental balance. Mucilage causes problems in marine ecosystems by negatively effecting the amount of oxygen in the water. Dr. Saçan also discussed how Turkiye is attempting to address these problems by implementing programs to decrease the amount of harmful chemicals utilized in both manufacturing and agriculture. While this has been having effect there is still much work needed to be done.
“Environments in 21st Century Central Eurasia - Climate Change Driven Pressure to Coastal Environment: Examples from the Baltic Sea Region”
With Dr. Tarmo Soomere
Prof. Dr. Tarmo Soomere is mathematician and marine scientist, whose interests are concentrated to the mathematics of wave processes, wave climate, wave-driven coastal processes, mitigation of marine hazards, and preventive methods of coastal protection. He has published over 250 research papers and dozens of science policy essays. Moreover, he received the state decoration of 3rd class White Star order and twice the national science award for developing coastal science in Estonia. He is a member of Academia Europaea, foreign member of Latvian and Lithuanian academies of sciences, and honorary doctor of Klaipeda University. He also holds a number of societal distinctions, including Person of the Year in Estonia 2005 for his contribution to the forecast of a devastating storm, and was named The Friend of Press 2017 by the Estonian Society of Newspapers.
His talk on Tuesday, February 25th, 2025, focused on the coastal and low-lying ecosystems of Estonia and other Baltic States that represent unique young environments that are rapidly developing under massive pressure by marine and atmospheric loads. He noted that the average temperature had increased by 2.3 to 2.4° C, with many implications to the environment. However, he also emphasized that the signal of climate change was much more pronounced in terms of changes in the duration of the sea ice season and rotation of strong wind directions. This led to, among other things, a substantial increase in marine-induced pressure to shores and coastal engineering structures, concluding that the implications could be radically different in locations that were separated by a few dozens of miles.
“Environmental Change in Central Europe: Challenges and Adaptation”
With Dr. Ferenc Jordan of the Institute of Biological Research (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) and External Associate of Stazione Zoologica (Napoli, Italy)
On March 5th, 2025, Dr. Ferenc Jordan presented on environmental issues in Hungary, especially focusing on Lake Balaton. Ferenc Jordán is Hungarian biologist (born 1973) with PhD in genetics (1999, Eötvös University, Budapest). He is a systems ecologist, focusing mostly on biological networks, including marine food webs, animal social networks and landscape fragmentation and connectivity. Currently he is Group Leader at the Institute of Biological Research (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) and External Associate of Stazione Zoologica (Napoli, Italy). His first book, The End of Humans, a Chance for Nature, published in Hungarian but being translated to English, was coined the book of the decade by National Geographic Hungary.
He began the lecture by giving a global context to environmental issues: for example, the North Atlantic Sea temperature continues to rise, which the speaker argued was mostly due to overpopulation on the Earth. Dr. Jordan said that over the past 50 years the Earth’s population has doubled, from 4 billion to 8 billion. With this, he said, there is a culture of overconsumption and unlimited growth, although this cannot be achieved, in reality. Jordan argued that humanity is using too many resources, and that this is not something that is particular to the rich but something that is due as well to the masses. For example, he said, overfishing happens because nations are trying to feed their massive populaces. Jordan also noted that humans try to overcontrol the planet, and determine where forests can and cannot be, and skyrocketing the number of domesticated animals while wild animals are facing near extinction. Jordan also raised issues within agriculture, such as nations relying on a monoculture of crops, which can be prone to climate disasters. Then he began to discuss how we can understand local environmental challenges in light of global ones. He outlined the major environmental challenges as: habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, pollution, climatic loss, warming, and modern agriculture. For example, he said many ecosystems are not like before and so they lose their pollinators and ability to clean water. Dr. Jordan noted that one positive is that some local populaces have been successful in controlling pollution. However, other situations are very complex, and it is difficult to determine specific cause and effect. One local problem in Hungary that he underscored was wetlands are disappearing. This leads, he said, to extinction of species, where if a government builds a road through a wetland, this can destroy the environment and then decades later whole species will die out. He also noted that Hungary, like elsewhere in the world, is facing a dying off of its pollinators, sometimes causing situations where humans have to pollinate the plants, because the bees have died off. He also discussed how Hungary is in the Carpathian Basin, and includes the Danube and Tisza Rivers as well as many shallow lakes. This Carpathian Basin used to a wetland, but canalization was done by humans there to create agricultural lands. This did have positives, Jordan explained, like reduction of diseases. People canalized the Tisza River, he said, because they needed agricultural land to feed people, but this had bad effects 20 to 30 years later, like floods. Wetlands are natural buffers for floods, but now there is no wetland to buffer the flood. At the same time, Hungary also faces dryness though, so one can see extremes of both extreme dry spells and extreme flooding.
The specific case Jordan focused the end of his talk on was Lake Balaton in Hungary. This lake is entirely within Hungary, and so only that country controls the policy for managing it. Jordan said that one would think this would make managing the lake easier, but in reality, it is more difficult than one would think because then those managing the lake miss out on international ideas. Lake Balaton is 47 miles long and 12 feet deep, so it is extremely shallow. Professor Jordan explained that winds are able to easily mix the lake vertically because of its shallowness, and so the lake has a strong connection between its water and its sediment. He said it has no real open water because the middle of the lake is connected with the shoreline due to the lake’s shallowness. Many rivers and small creeks run to and out of it as well. One of the most important elements of this lake environment, Jordan told the audience, was its reed belt. This reed belt, Prof. Jordan explained, is a healthy buffer and protects against erosion. In addition, the middle of the reed belt has a different chemical composition that cleans the water naturally. Many fish species also reproduce in the reed, which is important to the food chain as big fish will go there to eat all of the little fish. He said when managing the lake, people must keep this whole composition of the lake in mind. Prof. Jordan also taught the audience about the invasive species in Hungary such as the tiger mosquito which spreads disease and came as a result of climate change, as well as the zebra mussel which was brought by trade. and the law in Hungary that forbids collection of rainwater. In Lake Balaton another element of environmental impact is the algae blooms which are natural with shallow lakes, but people do not like. The algae blooms occur, the presenter stated, because there is one main way into the lake and one main way out, so the algae always bloom in the West, the “in”, but people do not understand this. The wider context of this is that since there is glacier melt in Austria, this water comes to Hungary, which eventually goes to this lake, or perhaps other lakes.
He discussed how the environment around Lake Balaton changes too quickly for the environment and creatures in it to adapt. Jordan noted how Lake Balaton has a strong human presence, including tourism, industry, and agriculture. He said because of this, there are many different agencies and groups trying to manage the Lake, which leads to chaos. For example, Dr. Jordan discussed how yacht owners want to raise water levels for their yachts, and this has destroyed the reeds of the lake, which are water cleaning and fish reproduction sites. He also noted how water management has gone awry with laws that outlaw any collection of rainwater. Another issue, he said, was real estate norms around the lake such as huge homes with swimming pools near the lake, and large houses on agricultural land or the coast.
However, Professor Jordan noted that Hungarians have adapted to new environmental issues, especially in agriculture. For example, he talked about how olive production is becoming very successful in Hungary, as is any growing of Mediterranean plants there. In addition, he discussed how Hungary has been known for its white wine, but now more and more people are making red wine there, because the grapes grow better in the new climate. The speaker explained how people have been making smarter decisions for the environment too such as using kayaks and canoes at Lake Balaton instead of yachts. This flexibility is better than trying to predict how climate will change, the speaker underscored. He also emphasized that a nation cannot do this alone, as we must acknowledge multiple drivers for climate issues, which happen on a global scale, not just local ones. Scientists must also research climate issues from a socio-ecological point of view, not just one or the other, Jordan said, underlining the need for multiple experts when dealing with environmental change. The speaker also argued that superficial agreements cannot solve climate change, but rather deep cultural changes must be done. He concluded with saying that the population of the Earth is not sustainable with our current practices, and instead of controlling the environment, we should let it be wild.