NEWS
Prime Minister Pahor: "We are obliged to leave to our children an environment at least as clean as inherited"
Within the campaign "Let Us Clean Slovenia in One Day", the Slovenian Prime Minister today visited the Kolezija Primary School in Ljubljana. There, he attended ecology workshops in classrooms, gave a short opening address and a lecture for the pupils on the schoolyard, and then helped the children clean the surroundings of the school.
(Photo: Stanko Gruden/STA)
Mr Pahor arrived at the place of the event by bicycle and first visited three classes of the primary school where he discussed with the children environmental issues and what the clean-up campaign meant to them. He then gave a short address on the schoolyard where he was joined by the ecologist, Ms Marinka Vovk. Together, they outlined the significance of a clean environment and waste recycling. Prime Minister Pahor called on the children to be friendly with one another and friendly to the environment, while emphasising that "if everybody takes care of oneself and one's waste the others will not have to attend to it and the surroundings will be as tidy as we want them to be".
(Photo: Stanko Gruden/STA)
Mr Pahor also called on the children to be diligent at school and particularly learn for their own benefit and their future: "The more we know the more we will be appreciated and independent of others". Then, Prime Minister Pahor went for a litter walk around school grounds together with the children.
(Photo: Stanko Gruden/STA)
In his statement to the press he emphasised that we have inherited this beautiful environment from our parents and grand parents. We therefore must remain committed to the task to preserve it in such a state also for our children. "We are obliged to leave to our children an environment at least as clean, neat and tidy as inherited. Slovenia is a beautiful country, but there are many such other countries, and if we wish to use any of the advantages to our benefit, Slovenia must also be tidy", said Prime Minister Pahor adding that people like to come to a tidy country which may prove to be Slovenia's important competitive advantage.
In his view, Slovenia is not as clean and tidy as it could be and, consequently, today's all-Slovenian clean-up campaign has educational significance, "also for me, because we all change". Therefore, it is very important to start raising environmental awareness among very young people. Prime Minister Pahor concluded that the highly positive response to the clean-up campaign "Let Us Clean Slovenia in One Day" shows that we can take care of one another, "which I find cool".