ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights some of the principal ecological dilemmas facing Ukraine and demonstrates how problems led directly to the formation of the ecological association called Zelenyi svit. The Soviet authorities have tried to resolve the problem of drought in Ukraine, especially in southern regions such as Odessa and Kherson, by means of grandiose and ambitious irrigation and river diversion schemes. The fact that Ukraine had been designated as the center of the nuclear power program added fuel to the fire. The process which led to the emergence of a powerful Ukrainian ecological association might be described as the development of a Chernobyl myth, or, at the least, the provision of a simplified version of that accident. To Zelenyi svit, as to the Ukrainian public in general, Chernobyl had become a classic example of official secrecy, of what was wrong with the present system. Zelenyi svit has remained a highly influential organization on the Ukrainian scene.
