Masterpieces of the Nature

There is a very interesting question that whirls in my head very often. The question with a multitude of answers, but none of them satisfying my curiosity. The question so simple and logical to ask, but so difficult to find logic and rationale in its answers. The question:WHY DO WE, HUMANS, POLLUTE OUR ENVIRONMENT?

For instance, you… yes, you… why do you pollute? Why do you produce hazardous waste, why do you contaminate soil, why do you deplete supplies of freshwater, why do you cut down forests, why do you destroy ecosystems by converting them into agricultural and urban land, why do you emit greenhouse gases that enhance climate change…? WHY?- Because it is a natural and inevitable part of mankind’s survival, living, and development. We need food, water, shelter for survival… then technologies, transportation, infrastructure for development… then more food, water, shelter for supplying our constantly growing population… then more technologies, transportation, infrastructure for increasing our welfare and utility…, - you may reply.But all this is possible without so much damage to the environment. Around 25% of food from your table and 30% of all your consumed goods end up in a trash bin. With each person throwing out similar share of products, it accumulates into a huge amount of polluting waste. Moreover, before ending up as a pile of garbage, these items were produced with conversion of many hectares of natural land for agricultural purpose, with large emissions of greenhouse gases, with leaching of contaminating fertilizers into groundwater, with extraction of many nonrenewable resources… should I continue?- Well, yes, but this requires more efficient processes and technologies… And to develop them requires sufficient knowledge, innovation, time, need and demand for them…True. However, we have knowledge – there is a gigantic amount of books and articles written about sustainable and environmentally-friendly technologies. We have innovation – come on, nowadays we are more than 7 bln units of brainpower! We have time… still… if we start doing something nowadays. Need and demand… yes, but why we do not have them?- Because we do not experience the consequences of pollution... at least not much. We do not have enough economic and social incentives to make the environment our priority.In other words, we need someone to reward us for good behaviour and punish us for misbehaviour, right? But can’t we stop polluting our home planet and start caring about it without this “carrot and stick” approach? Can we do it just because we want a clean home, because we care about others, because we want future generations to have a nice place to live?- Here we talk about changing a worldview. And doing it of the whole mankind. Even if you are so eco-friendly, it is extremely difficult if not impossible to turn everyone in the eco-morale direction. Besides, why should we care about the future and our descendants, when there are many opportunities to live a happy carefree life nowadays? The descendants will find a way to deal with pollution, because they will be smarter and technologically more advanced.But is it right? Just think about it… Though we pollute the environment in order to develop and ensure future prosperity, but we put no value on our future… Isn’t it kind of controversial? And besides, we can live a happy life without degrading the environment along the way. It does not reduce our utility to do simple actions, such as reuse goods and share them among each other, thus reducing depletion of natural resources, waste generation, and pollution…- But who would share anything when he can own it and display it as confirmation of his welfare and power?... Ah, enough already! Stop worrying and start enjoying the life! Benefit from the so-called “Power of NOW”! And let someone else care and clean after you.

That was a shortened version of self-reflection and discussion with my other self. It was not very convincing and resultative, was it? So, I am still in search for the reasonable answer to my question.And what about you, dear Reader?WHY DO YOU POLLUTE?Sources:1. EEA, 2010. The European Environment: State and Outlook 2010. Consumption and the Environment.2. Government Office for Science, 2011. The Future of Food and Farming: Challenges and Choices for Global Sustainability. Executive Summary. London.

The previous post entitled “LET’S CLEAN UP MOLDOVA… IN A SCIENTIFIC WAY!” revealed some details of the international research project that is currently in progress. It bears the official name “Non-state Cooperation in Environment Protection Area in Developed and Developing Countries: The Case of Waste Management in Moldova” and is aimed at researching the possibilities of cooperation between corporate and non-corporate sector in the area of waste management and coming up with recommendations for its establishment and progress in the developed (Denmark) and developing (Moldova) countries. The project is planned to end in May 2012 with several research articles and the comprehensive final report.

The most recent achievement within the project activity is the finalized research work “Business Opportunities in the Waste Management Market in the Baltic States and the Example of TripleR: Join the Waste Management Evolution!”. Its output tells about the current situation with waste management in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and some opportunities of establishing business in this attractive market. It will be made publicly available in the nearest future.But the output document is not the only significant result of the above-mentioned research work. Its conclusions and recommendations, as well as the increasing number of persons interested in the research project and the issue of waste management in general became the inspiration for and push towards the creation of an on-line networking and sharing platform. In order to make it professional, the virtual social network LinkedIn was chosen to host this platform. So, nowadays one can find there the group called "TripleR: Join the Waste Management Evolution!".

The group includes updates about the research plans and progress of the project, recommendations for the literature used, released articles and other publications, good case practices from different countries, job positions, etc. You are able to join a discussion, start a new one, share your thoughts, promote opportunities, contact other interested people, contribute to the research project, and much more. Of course, all this is related to the issue of waste management.Thus, if you are interested in and willing to contribute to cleaning up our planet in a scientific way, then this group is for YOU.JOIN TRIPLER!JOIN THE WASTE MANAGEMENT EVOLUTION!Note: A recommendation is to also take part in the group “Waste Management & Recycling Professionals” that represents a good networking tool for people working in the waste management industry.

On 16th of April, 2011 I participated in the national environmental initiative “Hai, Moldova!”, which consists mostly in activating citizens of my home country, the Republic of Moldova, for collecting waste in certain places. I had heard about this initiative a long time ago, and as an environmentalist became interested to see and analyze it from within. Anyway, I used to collect garbage during my walks in “The Roses Valley” park in Chisinau, as well as organizing such events as the “Green Picnic”.However, there were certain doubts about the efficiency and impact of “Hai, Moldova!” also. In particular, I was concerned about recycling of the collected waste, organization of such large crowd of volunteers, cooperation with corporate actors, etc.Thus, I joined in. I did not affiliate to any particular group of volunteers intentionally in order to be able to observe multiple groups and thus have a broader picture of the activities performed. It was an interesting and fun experience, I should say.Still, the basic principles of scientific analysis make me depart from my personal opinion and present the assessment of “Hai, Moldova!” on the basis of the observed facts. Here I should stress the point that this is NOT a critique. This post is an independent internal assessment of an environmental initiative as seen through eyes of a young researcher and trainer in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. It is organized according to the well-known feedback principle of “STOP, CONTINUE, IMPROVE”.STOP:None observed.CONTINUE:+ Promotion and raising awareness about the issue of waste accumulation on the territory of Moldova among the society. The “Hai, Moldova!” message reached various economic agents: individual citizens, companies, non-governmental and governmental organizations.+ Recycling of plastic. The volunteers were instructed to separate all garbage into plastic and non-plastic one. I was told that all plastic waste would be transported to a recycling station at Ungheni. However, I received no information on where it is located and, most importantly, how the waste would be recycled. Therefore, refer to the IMPROVE section for further discussion.+ Equipment (protective clothing and bags) provided for all volunteers. The clothing allowed people to stay clean, while the bags were used to collect and store waste. Still, see the IMPROVE section for feedback about it.+ Aesthetical results. The activity of “Hai, Moldova!” contributed to the removal of waste on a large area. Many people enjoyed the view of the cleaned territory after performing the activity.+ Networking. The event on 16.04.2011 brought together many people from different sectors and places. There were even some foreigners.+ External promotion for companies as environmentally responsible agents.+ Team-building activity for representatives from corporate, non-corporate and governmental organizations.+ Fun. Many people enjoyed the activity in the fresh air, even though it was quite muddy after the rain.IMPROVE:! Achievement of the environmental goal. “Hai, Moldova!” claims to be the environmental initiative, but the environmental impact is dubious here. The initiative results in removing the waste from certain territories and transporting to other ones, but not in the reduction of the total amount of garbage on the territory of the country (for a discussion about the dangers of such approach see here). Therefore, “Hai, Moldova!” contributes mostly to resolving aesthetical and perhaps health issues related to waste, but less to the environmental one. A suggestion here is to pay much attention to the recycling aspect of waste management.! Control for further waste “way”. Talking about recycling, “Hai, Moldova!” seems to be not controlling the real elimination of waste from the ecosystem and, in general, have extremely little information about further “fate” of the collected garbage. The initiative encourages the behavior more of “yardmen” than of “environmentalists”. There is also danger of using the inappropriate ways of recycling. For example, simple burning of plastic bottles releases all their toxic components into the atmosphere and also contributes to carbon emission increase. Possible improvements can be represented in more active cooperation with the recycling stations, thorough tracking of the whole waste “way”, and more focus on waste destruction.! Coverage of the whole waste hierarchy. The focus of “Hai, Moldova!” is only on the lowest levels of it: disposal and recycling. But the real positive environmental impact is achieved by combining all levels, especially the “3 Rs”: REDUCE slows down the production and consumption of waste-generating goods, REUSE supports multiple use of the same goods, and RECYCLE eliminates the waste that has been impossible or extremely costly to reduce and reuse from the ecosystem. So, an evident proposal here concerns either the enriching of the “Hai, Moldova!” activities to cover all “3 Rs” or its cooperation with economic agents that focus on the REDUCE and REUSE campaigns. See for yourself: wouldn’t it be better if there is no need for such cleaning activities and people spend their time in more productive ways because there is simply no waste to collect – it is either reduced, or reused, or in the worst case recycled?! Dealing with “they will clean it anyway” attitude. The activity of “Hai, Moldova!” contributes to nurturing two opposite types of attitude and behavior in the society. The first one is represented by a more careful attention to the environment and less littering, while the second has the potential of producing even more waste. “I may litter as much as I can. Those guys from “Hai, Moldova!” will clean it anyway!” – such attitude deserves much attention and brainstorming for ideas on dealing with it.! Room for creativity and innovation. “Hai, Moldova!” uses volunteers as simple workforce with the approach “go there and do that”. There are few opportunities and specific environment for these volunteers and the whole society to express their ideas and come up with initiatives for resolving the pollution issue. There are simply no incentives to “think outside the box”. Some possible recommendations here are the following: creation of the “innovations” page on the website for users to post their ideas and initiatives; establishment of the virtual forum for creative discussions; organization of conferences, round tables, scenario workshops, etc. for networking and sharing of ideas among different economic agents.! Organization of volunteer groups. The beginning of the 16.04.2011 event was rather chaotic with many groups and individual volunteers seeking for some instructions and directions. It is possible to improve this by organizing separate “meeting areas” and “info-points” for individuals, companies, NGOs, etc.! Equipment, such as protective clothing and bags, distributed by “Hai, Moldova!” is waste in itself. After use it was thrown away, thus adding to the aggregate amount of garbage already available on the country’s territory. Additionally, the label on the clothing read “100% polyolefin”, which is a polymer containing such ingredients as dibutyl phthalate (30 – 40%) – a hazardous compound banned in the European Union and other countries. In the process of decomposing of such piece of clothing the compound is released into the environment, causing harm to plants, animals, and people. The recommendation for preventing such negative impact is either to reuse (do you remember the “3 Rs”?) clothing by collecting and washing it or to acquire more environmentally friendly protective clothing, or preferably both.

CONCLUSION:No doubt, such national environmental initiative as “Hai, Moldova!” is a valuable move towards the society’s friendlier attitude towards the environment. “Hai, Moldova!” managed to bring together many economic agents from all over the country and really “point their noses into” the problem of pollution by waste.Still, it stands in the infancy of environmental initiatives, where a lot of important connections and interactions between various areas and issues are not considered. And, most importantly, there is no science behind vision, mission, objectives, and all activities within the initiative, as shown by the assessment above.Anyway, I see (and I hope I see it correctly) that “Hai, Moldova!” is one of the first, but nevertheless important steps in addressing environmental problems. A baby needs to learn to crawl before one teaches him / her to walk. Therefore, if “Hai, Moldova!” learns to use science, to “see the Big Picture”, and to explore its own rich potential (and I see it rich indeed!), then it will have the strength to grow into a powerful organization producing REAL POSITIVE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT.So, “HAI, MOLDOVA!” RISE UP AND START WALKING!

… collecting garbage can be harmful to the environment?The reason is that you do not remove it entirely from the ecosystem, but just move (shift) and pile it in another place. Waste that is stored on a single territory produces more pollution pressure on this territory than garbage scattered on a far larger area. While in the second case the ecosystem is still able to cope with it, the battle with the constantly increasing concentrated waste is beyond its powers. Therefore, the first case leads to quick and irreversible damage of the ecosystem.So, if we really want to clean up our planet, we need to change our focus from moving the increasing amount of waste here and there to reducing its “production” and reusing / recycling what is impossible to reduce.Note: “Did You Know?” is an informational initiative of the BioSciences Research Centre (BSRC).

The issue of environment protection is not only one of the major topics in the scientific, economic, and political agendas these days. There are also singers and bands stressing the importance of taking care about the Nature in their musical creations. Here are some of the examples I like the most.Let us start with “oldies but goldies”. Please welcome on the stage the German disco group “Boney M” with their single “We Kill the World (Don’t Kill the World)”.Next, Michael Jackson tries to show us what we have done to the World in the “Earth Song”.And finally, Jack Johnson tells us why we should use “The 3 R’s” in our daily life.Of course, there are more songs on this topic appearing nowadays, which is a good trend – it contributes to raising awareness about the environmental issues in the global society. But, of course, it is not enough to just sing and listen about it; we should DO something about it! Like Boney M points out: “And don’t just talk. Go on and do! The one, who wins, is you”.

Every 9th of May, my birthday date, I travel around city parks, admiring the beauty of the Nature, enjoying the warm sunrays and fresh air, as well as picking litter on my way and throwing it in the garbage boxes afterwards. In this way I educate myself to be environmentally friendly and respect the Nature of my Motherland and abroad. This also brings other benefits, such as spending time in a healthy way and personal satisfaction of doing something small, but extremely needed for the surrounding World.The year 2010. The 9th of May is approaching fast. But this time I have decided to share my approach of having this small positive impact on the environment with the others. Thus, the “Green Picnic” initiative has been born.

“Green Picnic” is an environmental initiative aimed at self-education on being an environmentally-friendly citizen.It can be practiced by any person and is represented in having a picnic at a local park, respecting the following rules:1) No littering! – All garbage must be taken with you and thrown in the garbage boxes;2) When leaving the place where you had had picnic, you must pick all the litter on your way and also throw it in the garbage boxes;3) For food the natural products (fruits and vegetables) are preferred.Benefits of the “Green Picnic” initiative:1) Easy to implement;2) Self-education on being environmentally friendly;3) Keeps the parks and other public places clean;4) Spending good time on fresh air together.The first event of the initiative called “Green Picnic: The Roses Valley” will take place this 9th of May in the Chisinau park called “The Roses Valley”. It includes the picnic with litter-picking itself, as well as visiting the beautiful Memorial Complex to celebrate the Victory Day.If you wish to join this event, please check the respective Facebook page “Green Picnic: The Roses Valley” and confirm your attendance.Looking forward to seeing you together with us!

Here is a joke I have read recently – it is a very actual one due to the continuous debates concerning our role on this planet and negative impact on the environment:A planet passes by the Earth and asks it:- How are you? Have not seen you for millions of years!- Not so good… You know… Homo sapiens came out all over me…- Do not worry, it will pass! I also had them!

In general, there are two main points of view on the issue of climate change, caused by human activity.The first one is the most well-known one; it suggests that due to the so-called “Greenhouse effect”, when such gases as carbon dioxide accumulate in the Earth’s atmosphere and trap the heat within its lower layer – the troposphere, the overall temperature on our planet will significantly rise. This will cause irreversible climate changes that in turn will result in global ecological catastrophe: ice caps of mountains and glaciers will melt, the World Ocean’s level will rise, and terrible floods and tsunami will wipe many coastal cities and regions off the face of the Earth.

The theory of Global warming is actively promoted nowadays and is the basis for negotiations within COP-15.Still, there is another opinion about the future related to climate change, and this one is not so warm. It definitely gets a bit chilly from the inside, when the other group of scientist predicts the upcoming of a new Ice Age. The “Icehouse” theory tells us that the same greenhouse gases in large quantities will block the life-giving sunrays and place our planet into the cold darkness. As the scientists point out, such situation had already happened in the long past, when the giant meteorite crushed into the surface of the Earth, raising an enormous cloud of dust and dirt that blocked the Sun for several years. They warn that consequences of pollution with industrial gases might be far longer and more severe.While the followers of these theories argue with each other to prove who is right, it might occur that all of them are. The global warming might be the first stage of the possible climate cataclysm, when the amount of industrial gases still allows sunrays to reach the ground. Gradually their layer might increase and thicken, allowing less sunlight to warm the surface of the planet. Thus the “Icehouse” theory will also demonstrate its terrible truthfulness.Still, in spite of the conceptual differences, the major point in both theories is one – the cause of the possible global climate cataclysm is the Mankind’s careless and destructive activity. How to stop it and prevent the frightening theories to become realities – this must be the focus of the COP-15 negotiations happening nowadays!Note: the copy of this article can be found on the international blog “G-1 Billion”.

Do you have a message about climate change and wish to display it?Then join the climate message competition HERE!Also, please see my own proposal of a slogan / logo and evaluate it. Thank you in advance!

Altogether we can be heard!

Recently I have found this very interesting article – “50 Creative WWF Campaigns That Make You Think Twice”. It represents the gallery of the most creative, powerful, and eye-catching advertising posters created and released by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), previously known as the World Wildlife Fund.

WWF is an international NGO working on issues of conservation, research and restoration of the environment. It is considered to be the world’s largest independent conservation organization that operates in more than 90 countries.

The advertisements presented in the article are aimed to raise awareness of the global environmental issues and promote sustainable approach to living on the planet Earth and using its resources. The variety of issues displayed on the posters is quite large: global warming, energy efficiency, conservation and protection of wildlife, recycling, deforestation, toxic waste, and others.Here is an example of such posters advertising the event “Earth Hour” and energy efficiency:

More advertisements can be found in the article “50 Creative WWF Campaigns That Make You Think Twice”.

Virus (in Latin means “poison”) – a microscopic infectious agent that is able to reproduce only in a cell of other organism. When it infiltrates into the host cell, the virus uses its resources and mechanisms to construct new virus particles (virions) that spread onto other cells. Viruses are not capricious in choosing their victims: they infect all types of living beings, including bacteria, plants, animals, and, of course, humans. And they feel themselves quite good everywhere – you can find these unseen assassins in almost every ecosystem on the Earth.

Pretty nasty guys, aren’t they?Well, there is a theory that the way of life, behavior and impact on the environment of viruses is similar to the ones of another living being on this planet. Although the latter is a multicellular highly-developed creature that is usually drawn at the top of the evolution ladder, it also cannot develop without the “host cell” (in this case, the planet) and its resources, causing constant degradation of its “home”.You should have guessed that it is we, humans, that are compared with the deadly viruses.This rather strange and unexpected theory has even been reflected in some world-famous movies, including the science fiction trilogy “The Matrix”.Here is a short video from this film with a character stating the above-mentioned point:So, here is some spicy food for thought:Are we really the virus? If yes, what is the cure?And most importantly:Do YOU want to be considered the DISEASE or the CURE?

Each year June 5th is celebrated as the World Environment Day (WED). It was established in 1972 by the United Nations General Assembly and is hosted every year by a different city and country. In the same year the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was created and since then it has used WED to inform the global society about its threat towards the Nature and significant (even vital) importance of the environment protection.

WED 2009 has the topic: “Your Planet Needs YOU! – UNite to Combat Climate Change”. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests. This year the host city is chosen to be Mexico City in Mexico, which symbolizes the growing role of the Latin American country in striving against climate change, including its growing participation in the carbon markets.Watch a short video about WED 2009 HERE.The initiative of WED is an awesome and extremely important one. But the question is: “Is it enough?” And the answer: “Of course, not”.As the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said: “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do”. So, in order to produce notable impact we must not only acknowledge the necessity of the environment protection – we must act. And not in just one day in a year, but EVERY DAY and EACH YEAR! And not only by a small group of Nature-loving activists, but by EVERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING on the planet! Because if one day the consequences of the Mankind’s negative impact reveal themselves, they will hit all of us and will do it very hard and painfully.“Impossible…” – you may think about this. Well, everything is possible, the “impossible” just takes a little longer and, that is quite a paradox, does not require difficult actions. It is simple – anyone can do it. And the ways are multiple – you can choose the ones that suit your lifestyle and everyday activity the best.Here is an example of my own. Each weekend I visit one of the city parks to have a walk or a small picnic. In such cases people usually take with them and leave there plenty of trash – one can see cigarettes, paper scraps, plastic bags and other stuff almost everywhere he / she puts an eye on. On the contrary, during my walks in the parks I not only leave zero litter, but also take some with me and throw it in the nearest trash / recycle cans. The same with picnics: after them I take with me not only my own litter, but also collect the one nearby and leave it all in the trash cans. Involving family and friends in such small campaign is even better – it produces three benefits at once:1) You spend some wonderful hours in a good company;2) You improve your health by breathing fresh air cleaned for you by the surrounding trees;3) You contribute to making a piece of our beautiful World a cleaner and better place.Definitely, one person cannot make significant positive impact at once. But he / she is able to do it constantly and involve others in these simple environment-caring activities. And there is always room for innovations: an idea in this area cannot be bad, bad is to hide it from the others.

Therefore, think about this message, your lifestyle, and how can you adapt it to make you contribute to the environmental protection in your park, city, country, continent, planet.Make the “impossible”!And let’s celebrate the World Environment Day… EVERY DAY!