Blog Action Day

As this post is part of an international initiative, I will write it in English. Could it be that this is the first post written in English around here? I was actually thinking about this the other day: sometimes people choose to express their innermost feelings in a language that is not their own. I wonder what makes a foreign language so good for expressing feelings? Maybe it's the fear of being exposed somehow and the feeling of protection a stranger gives you. I don't know, but I have suffered from this sindrome in the past and that's why I have tried to learn how to really express myself in my mother tongue. But I digress...

The real subject of this post is about something different. Something really big, affecting us all. It's about the environment we are so merrily abusing every day. The same environment that will one day wither and die if we don't do something about it. And with its death it will take us with it... I know that as I write these words other people are writing about big issues related to the environment problem: waste dumping, alternative energy, endangered species and many many more. What I want to talk about is a very simple thing, minuscule if taken separately - the actions of one person.

This is the thing I think is missing most from the country I live in (which is Romania): awareness and an individual conscience of being "environmental friendly". Here is my point: in Romania people do not feel bad if they throw away paper. Students just collect courses and books they don't need in a big pile and throw them in the bin. We have no waste separation system and even if we did, I think people would be reluctant into following it. We have no problem driving around in polluting cars. We feel no remorse when cutting a tree to make room for a parking space. Bucharest is overcrowded with cars and people and maybe the most polluted European capital.

I think this is because we lack almost every kind of environmental education. I come from a family that recycles as much as possible and I was really surprised when going to school that almost nobody cares about that. And years later, when some friends and I conducted a recycling program in my old high-school, the results were disastrous. So what I think is needed in my country is education! We need to get to a point where people feel bad if they have to throw away paper, where doing such would seem like the odd thing to do and not the rule.

And also, every one of us needs to do his / her best to help the environment cause: use ecological light-bulbs, recycle paper, plastic and glass to the best of your efforts. Try to save energy at the office! For example, I have stopped using plastic cups for coffee when possible and have brought my own mug to work. But most importantly, don't forget that it's these small things that make a whole that we can be proud of!