On 6 November 2025, the Faculty of Education at Trakia University – Stara Zagora officially launched EcoEducators Club , led by Asst. Prof. Dr. Stoyanka Todorova.

The official guests at the opening — Prof. Dr. Nikolay Tsankov, Vice-Rector for Quality, Accreditation and Continuing Education, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Galena Terzieva, Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs, Quality and Accreditation — congratulated the students on the initiative and wished them success.

The young EcoEducators explained why they chose this specific day to lay the foundations of the club:

On this day, November 6, the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict is observed.

In November 2001, the United Nations General Assembly declared November 6 of each year as the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has found that over the past 60 years, at least 40 percent of all internal conflicts have been linked to the exploitation of natural resources — whether involving valuable materials such as timber, diamonds, gold, and oil, or scarce resources such as arable land and water.

Behind the name of this day lies a serious issue: war destroys not only human life, but also nature.

Nature, before which the patriarch of Bulgarian literature, Ivan Vazov, bows in reverence

A bow to you, Nature, boundless creation

to your azure vault, to your golden sun

to your eternal youth and everlasting beauty,

to everything within you that is divine and mysterious,

invisible as God, vast and infinite.

and equal to eternity.

excerpt from “To Nature,” written in Plovdiv, March 14, 1882

We chose to launch our club on this day because we are convinced that education plays a significant role in preventing conflicts and protecting the environment.

“Today, we are not simply opening a club — we are introducing a new way of thinking: to be EcoEducators. To be teachers who hear the voice of nature and pass it on to children.”

And on behalf of all of us who are laying the foundations of the EcoEducators Club at the Faculty of Education of Trakia University:

“I promise to teach children to love the Earth just as they love themselves.

to protect nature, just as I protect the trust of future generations.

to be a teacher who inspires through personal example!”

The EcoEducators reflected on the question: “What do I hope the EcoEducators Club will have achieved in four years, when we will be nearing the completion of our bachelor’s degree?”

Students who wish to join the club can submit an application at: ekopedagozi@abv.bg