Masterpieces of the Nature

Date: July 2015 Place: Nesbyen, Norway

Aren’t they just beautiful? Such speed! Such agility! Such grace! Yes, as you might have already guessed, I admire horses. They are one of my favourite species of mammals. This couple of beauties, like all the animals described in the previous blog posts, I have met this summer in Langedrag Nature Park in Nesbyen, Norway. The horse (Equus ferus) comes from the family Equidae that includes also donkeys and zebras. In turn the species Equus ferus has 3 subspecies: the domestic horse (Equus ferus caballus), which you can see practically on all farms; the tarpan (Equus ferus ferus), which has unfortunately become extinct; and the Przewalski’s horse (Equus ferus przewalskii), which runs wild in Central Asia.

Horses have several quite interesting anatomical and behavioral characteristics that are related to the need of constantly escaping from predators. For example, they have very strong fight-or-flight response to potential threats that in many cases saves their life. Their eyes are one of the largest ones of any land mammal with approximately 65 percent binocular vision and 285 percent monocular vision. Thus, horses can see everything that happens all around them. Besides, they see very well both in day- and nighttime. In addition, horses can sleep while standing up, thus being constantly ready to make a run for their life. And during the run they make use of an extremely well developed sense of balance to help them control their position, direction, and speed. The whole skeleton-and-muscle system of the horse is designed for run. For instance, they do not have collarbones: their forelimbs are attached to the spinal column by a powerful combination of muscles, tendons, and ligaments. The leg bones and hooves are also made in such way that they can carry a 500 kg horse body with high speed and agility. Technically speaking, horses walk and run always on their tiptoes. The horse was domesticated about 4000 BC in Central Asia. Now this beautiful and gracious animal has become an important member of our agricultural activities, transportation, sport, culture, and entertainment. Horses have been together with us throughout our history and even now, in the modern age of advanced technology and robots, continue to help us in our economic and social activities. They have truly earned all respect and admiration.

Date: July 2015 Place: Nesbyen, Norway





I am sure you know a lot about these sexy guys. Indeed, they are said to be one of the best recognized, known, and researched animals in the world. And I have met them this summer in Langedrag Nature Park in Nesbyen, Norway. Yes, that’s right. This is the gray wolf (Canis lupus), also known as western wolf, from the Canidae family. Most probably you have already met it in different legends and fairytales, as the wolf is a popular character there. Although in many of them it appears as the Big Bad Wolf, in some cultures, like in the Japanese mythology, this animal was worshipped as near deity. In Ancient Greece and Rome wolves were connected to the sun and the god Apollo. But most of the time these social predators are depicted as dangerous and evil. For example, in the Bible wolves serve as symbols of greed and destructiveness.

In spite of this dark image given to the gray wolf, it is rarely a threat to humans, as they are not part of his natural prey. Wolves feed on both small and large mammals, including hares, foxes, deer, moose, wild goats, wild boar, and others. They hunt mostly in packs, although single wolves or mated pairs were also observed hunting. Wolves are very social and territorial mammals. They also have complex expressive behavior, body language, and facial color patterns. Wolves also use howling to assemble the pack (something like “Avengers, assemble!”), send out an alarm, or locate each other across large distances. Wolves are hunted by people for their thick and durable fur, which is used for making scarves, jackets, rugs, etc.

Date: July 2015 Place: Oslo, Norway

These broad leaves of about 3 meters in diameter floating on the surface of water on a submerged stalk belong to the plant called Victoria amazonica. It comes from the family of water lilies (Nyphaeaceae), the aquatic herbs that can be found mostly in temperate and tropical climatic conditions. Victoria amazonica specifically is a happy resident of the Amazon River basin. But the plant on the photo has actually been found by me in the Botanical Garden in Oslo, Norway, that I visited in July this year.

Besides the very large leaves, Victoria amazonica is also known for its big (up to 40 cm in diameter) flowers that change colour: the first night they are open the flowers are white, but the second night they become pink. With both of these features, the large leaves and flowers, Victoria amazonica is considered to be the biggest water lily in the world.

September 21st, 2014 became one of the historical moments in the global action to raise awareness about climate change issue and mitigate it. On this very day the largest march on calling for climate change action in human history took place. More than 675 thousand people (around 0.01% of global population) marched on the streets of New York, Barcelona, Paris, London, Rome, Berlin, Istanbul, Jakarta, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Melbourne, Sydney… There were over 2800 climate-change-related events in 166 countries that day. This so-called People’s Climate March became the largest and loudest call for action to mitigate climate change and its negative consequences so far.

All that was organized to push the global leaders, who are gathering on September 23rd, 2014, at the UN Headquarters in New York City for the UN Climate Summit 2014 to discuss the state of climate change nowadays, what is currently being done, and what still needs to be done in order to reduce (as avoidance is already not feasible) the economically, socially and environmentally damaging consequences of global climate change caused by anthropogenic activities. The one-day programme of the Summit includes announcements of national action and ambitions from the participating countries, forum for private sector, and then announcements of multi-stakeholder initiatives agreed upon. All in all, it is expected to be a surprisingly short event with quick discussions on such a complex and crucial issue as global climate change.

As I am currently doing research at IÖW in Berlin, Germany, as one of the winners of the Green Talents competition, I managed to participate in the Climate March and Festival here. Approximately 10 000 Berlin residents marched in a Silent Climate Parade from the Neptune Fountain (Neptunbrunnen) towards the Brandenburg Gate, where the Parade transformed into a Festival with music, dances and climate-change-related exhibits. Different environmental organizations, both local and international, such as Avaaz and Greenpeace, put up their stands to inform people about the issue of climate change, what it leads to, and how can we mitigate it through common action. Indeed, such event attracted much attention of pedestrians, visitors, local residents, and mass-media. Still, did it succeed in communicating the whole complexity of the issue and the urgent need for action? This is the question I keep asking myself since the participation in the Berlin Climate March. Firstly, the general message was mostly about the problems related to climate change. Much less focus was on possible solutions for climate change mitigation. What can a person do to reduce his/her carbon footprint and at the same time maintain the same level of happiness and well-being (and perhaps increase it)? It would have been great to have more showcasing of solutions to climate change offered for the people by the people.

Secondly, although there were some solutions expressed, they were targeting dominantly the transport and energy sector. Indeed, these are the largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting sectors (approximately 20% and 30% of the global emissions respectively), but they are not the only ones. Industrial processes (~15%), unsustainable agricultural practices (~10%), and commercial and residential activities (~10%) also contribute to the release of carbon dioxide, methane and other GHGs into the atmosphere. So, we also need to account for them in shaping up the global climate action. For instance, the Climate Festival in Berlin created quite a volume of paper and other waste that could have been avoided. Yes, much of it will probably be recycled. But that also means that energy will be used for the recycling process. And what have I pointed out about the energy sector above?

Thirdly, the way we communicate messages about climate change and environment protection should be improved. For instance, the Berlin Climate Festival ended up as an ordinary music festival with people around selling merchandise, dancing and getting drunk. Only those participants, who already knew about the importance of climate change, kept the interest and passion for climate action till the end.

Overall, the People’s Climate March became a significant historical moment within the global people’s movement to address and mitigate the climate change issue. People succeeded in coming together and raising their voice full of desire to reduce the negative effects of the issue now and in the future. Still, as the Berlin Climate Festival showed, the ways of communicating the climate-change-related messages need to be improved. Climate change is a multi-faceted issue that should be considered in all its complexity and from all its sides. Our call for climate action should reflect that. And I hope it will be so in the near future.

For now, we will see what outputs the UN Climate Summit 2014 produces and whether the People’s Climate March have had any effect on them. Then we should prepare for the next important event – the UN Climate Change Conference, or COP-20, that is going to happen in Lima, Peru, in the period of December 1st – 12th, 2014. It is there the global climate agreement is expected to be finally decided upon. And it is there that our loudest call for change in history is expected to be heard.

“…The planet is no longer a patient observer and victim of human intervention. It is now a raging beast that we continue to poke. And geoengineering might well be regarded as poking it even more…” – That was one of the conclusions of the first international Climate Engineering Conference (CEC 2014) that took place on October, 18 – 21, 2014, in Berlin under the topic “Critical Global Discussions”. The speakers and participants of the conference included such prominent scientists, economists, politicians, and writers, as Prof. Dr. Mark Lawrence, Dr. Georg Schütte, Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Klaus Töpfer, Dr. Harry Lehmann, Mr. Jamais Casico, Mr. Rene Röspel, Mr. Oliver Morton, and others. I managed to participate in it as ELP alumni with the generous support of IASS Potsdam.

The discussions at CEC 2014 were indeed critical considering the controversy around the topic of geoengineering. As the conference website explains, geoengineering, also known as climate engineering, is a combination of “technologies and techniques for intentionally manipulating the global climate, in order to moderate or forestall the (most severe) effects of climate change”. These technologies can be organized into two categories: 1. Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) that aims to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and includes Carbon Capture and Storage underground facilities, aforestation, ocean fertilization, etc. 2. Solar Radiation Management, or Sunlight Reflection Methods (SRM) are methods of minimizing the amount of solar energy and heat reaching the Earth atmosphere by either reflecting sunrays away from the planet by large space mirrors, or dispersing them in the planet’s atmosphere by creating artificial clouds or spreading sulfur dioxide particles in the atmosphere. As one can see, there are rather drastic methods that require enormous investments and influence the climate and hence life all over the globe. Moreover, we still know very little about such technologies and the climatic system they should have effect upon. So, there is much anxiety regarding the potential unforeseen negative consequences and risks associated with geoengineering. And last but not least, it raises a multitude of questions and heated discussions about ethics and equity of experimenting with these technologies, not to mention deploying them. And this is exactly what happened at CEC 2014. The questions discussed ranged from “What is so special about geoengineering and why should we put so much attention to it?” to “Will the global society be prepared for sudden rise of support for geoengineering due to governmental approval or, let’s say, Rupert Murdoch’s supportive tweet? And what consequences it will bring to the environment and society?”

Certainly, the participants of the conference included both active supporters of geoengineering and its active opponents. The “clashes of the geoengineering titans” happened mostly around three topics: the possible military use of climate engineering technologies; the potential of experiments with such technologies and their deployment to redirect attention from actual climate change mitigation (that is, prioritizing “treating symptoms” over “fighting the disease”); and the possible and currently unknown consequences of geoengineering on the developing countries (climate equity issue) and the planet as a whole. Right from the beginning of the conference there was even a document, the so-called Berlin Declaration, proposed for participants’ support and signature. This document called upon governments, research funding organizations and scientific and professional bodies to give approval or endorsement of any experiments on geoengineering (especially on SRM) ONLY in case of these experiments having open and transparent review process and the “social licence” necessary for them to operate. However, the conference organizers immediately communicated that the Berlin Declaration is not and will never be an official output of CEC 2014 and that its signing is the personal decision of each participant. During the conference the document had been renamed into A Framework for More Democratic Governance of Climate Engineering, also known as the Scandic Principles, and enriched with the list of risks the geoengineering experiments ought to take account of and a more detailed description of transparency, open governance and other principles to regulate geoengineering technologies. Still, the document remained as an unofficial individual initiative and not the official public output of the event.

All in all, the 5-days conference, including its open-for-public panel “The Anthropocene – An Engineered Age?” on October, 22, 2014, at the House of World Cultures in Berlin, concluded that geoengineering must not be a substitute for climate change mitigation and that much care and regulation is needed before we can move forward to large-scale experiments and implementation of these technologies. Still, many questions remained to be discussed and answered. And thus the true “clashes of geoengineering titans” are yet to come.

The basis of all great initiatives, projects, organizations and their achievements is the sharing of knowledge, building up of skills and accumulation of experience. This is realized through education and learning, be it theoretical or practical, formal or informal. Such well-known relation is valid for all areas of human activity, including environmental science and management: before engaging into the elaboration and implementation of environmental policies, conducting environmental research work, establishment of environmental organization, starting of “green” business, etc. one needs to understand how ecosystems function, how the human activity affects them, what are the consequences of this influence now and in the future, and how can we mitigate them.

The ways to educate people are different. You can organize series of lectures with teacher reading the material from a book and students writing it down word by word. You can invite experienced speakers to present their research results and project achievements and share how they obtained them. You can organize excursions and internships to various environmental projects and organizations. Or you can provide the on-line or off-line platform for peer-to-peer education and self-learning. These ways differentiate on the basis of objectives of education and effectiveness of learning.

I am interested in the approaches to learning and ways of environmental education, because currently I contribute to the establishment of an environmental education institution called Moldovan Environmental Governance Academy, or briefly MEGA. This unique organization offers a hands-on learning experience – the MEGA Experience – in a form of a real-time game with creation of positive impact in society and environment during the whole “play”. In this way MEGA is the first educational institution on Environmental Management, Economics and Governance with the practical and gamified education and learning process. In order to make it happen in the way we, the MEGA Team, envision it, I joined the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program offered by the University of California, Berkeley. Here I was able not only to receive valuable knowledge on Environmental Management, Economics and Leadership, but also observe the environmental education process in action and study how it is done in one of the top 10 universities in the world.

I also managed to interview a number of program participants to identify what kind of methods, tools and approaches to environmental education are needed in order to make it successful. Each interviewee was offered to answer two questions: 1) What session / method / approach did you particularly like within the Environmental Leadership Program? 2) What educational method, tool or approach would you like to be introduced in the Program? The interviews are presented in the following video:  Judging by the responses, we can see that an effective and successful environmental learning experience can be achieved, if we incorporate the following elements in it: + Diversity of participants, professors and trainers; + Space and opportunities for networking and collaboration; + Interactive trainings with practical methods and exercises; + Time for common discussions, brainstorming, reflection, peer-to-peer learning and sharing of personal experiences of participants; + Updated and practically applicable information; + Knowledge related to personality, personal capabilities of participants and leadership; + Real case studies adapted to the participants’ places of origin and communities; + Good case practices from all over the world that are inspiring and useful for participants; + Excursions to explore different projects and organizations that work both with high-tech and low-tech solutions; + Multidisciplinary and holistic approach to learning; + Various types of sessions organized in an integrated manner; + Combination of theory, recent and relevant research results, examples and practice. All these inputs will be integrated in the MEGA Experience when MEGA is fully established and running. What do you think about the inputs? Do you agree with them? And how would YOU like to see environmental education taking place in your country and worldwide? Note: I thank all the ELP participants, who agreed to be interviewed and filmed for this study.Sources:1. Times Higher Education: World University Rankings 2012-2013.2. Townsend, J. 2000. The Trainer’s Pocketbook.

In the post “LA GRANDE FINALE” I wrote about my research project “Non-state Cooperation in Environment Protection Area in Developed and Developing Countries: The Case of Waste Management in Moldova” and the collaboration with the national cleanup campaign “Hai, Moldova!” in the Republic of Moldova. The collaboration appeared to be quite fruitful: nowadays there is the updated information on the state of the waste issue in Moldova, description of about 20 good case practices in waste prevention and management and the practically applicable model of non-state cooperation available for public. And “Hai, Moldova!” itself was successful in removing about 2,800 t of illegally disposed waste, recycling approximately 31 t of plastic waste and organizing the first Eco Fashion Show in the country. However, you can easily understand that this is not enough to solve the problems with waste in Moldova described HERE. This is why together with the NGO “Medium” that organizes “Hai, Moldova!” and some interested and very capable people - Daniela, Alexei and Anastasia - we have decided to go further from the simple cleanup activity to the education of young people about waste pollution and proper waste management, installation of waste sorting equipment in some schools in different regions of Moldova and offering the citizens of this country open access to the latest information on the waste issue here. Thus, the environmental project GREEN (Garbage Recycling and Environmental Education Nationwide) was born. Although it officially starts in January – February 2013, we have already made the first video explaining the reasons behind its organization and its concept. You can watch it HERE: Of course, this video is only our first piece of news about the project. More updates will be coming. So, stay tuned about the project GREEN in Moldova! And really, let’s make Moldova both clean and GREEN!

A lot of people know what social network is. A lot of people use such applications as Facebook. Nowadays one can even track the life of a person by using it. But what if our Earth had its own Facebook – the “Earthbook”? How would the past and present events on the planet look in such social network? And what would the Earth write us, Humans, there? These were the questions the makers of the video “Earthbook – Project Earth: Our Future 2.0” asked themselves. And here is what they came up with: What do you think, will the Earth “unfriend” us? Or it is possible to build up the economy that our planet will “like”? And if you used this “Earthbook”, what would you write and post to the Earth?

You probably expect to see here a number of photos of young Ladies in bikini or even without. Although female representatives of Homo sapiens are all indeed beautiful and truly masterpieces of the Nature, they are not the stars of this article. The “babes” I present here have eight hairy legs, eight dark eyes and a couple of poisonous fangs. You might have already guessed that these are spiders – really beautiful and amazing invertebrate creatures representing the Araneae order within the Arachnida class of animals.

 The reason for these “hot & hairy babes” being the focus here is that in June 2012 I managed to visit an interesting exhibition “Spiders” at the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was aimed at showing people how beautiful and fascinating spiders really are. And indeed they are.For example, these creatures do not have movement (extensor) muscles in their limbs and instead perform all movements by using hydraulic pressure of their inner liquids. This feature does not impede them from moving quite fast and even jumping several times their own body length. The latter ability is the characteristic of the cute jumping spiders (Salticidae), which are easily identified by four very large eyes.

A more well-known characteristic of spiders is the ability to produce silk from their spinnerets and to create wonderful, resilient and durable webs of different forms and sizes within a very short time (usually several hours). You might have heard that due to their resilience and durability spider silk and webs were used in producing clothes and tents. The exposition “Spiders” featured some examples of clothing and the golden shawl made from silk from 41000 spiders. Still, it may be a surprise for you to know that not all spiders make use of their silk-producing ability to weave webs. Some thrilled-for-hunt species use it as bolas, others, more patient ones – as fishing rods, while the most romantic “gentlemen” create a nice wrapping for gifts to their “girlfriends” from it (or even wrap the “girlfriends” themselves, if they misbehave).

Focusing on the spiders' romantic and sexual life in particular, there are some interesting features here also. For instance, their world is mostly a matriarchal one: here females are more powerful and larger than males. In some cases a male can be smaller than the cephalothorax of his “girlfriend” (such difference is called sexual dimorphism). This is why many males do not survive after copulation – they become eaten by their hungry partner, thus sacrificing themselves for organic material necessary for the development of eggs. In such circumstances spider males need to be real “gentlemen” if they wish to satisfy their “girlfriend” and stay alive after that. And in some species they are just that – always ready with a gift in form of a delicious meal or a gentle massage to make a Lady happy and relaxed. This is the spiders’ way of having a truly safe sex.

Of course, these amazing creatures have many more characteristics and features to be fascinated about. But you are probably waiting to see the photos of real living spiders to admire their beauty. So, here you have them – some “hot & hairy babes”:









To tell the truth, I have a “babe” of my own, which is shown on the photo below. This is Mashka, a cellar spider from the Pholcidae family. She lives in my bathroom and protects it from any mosquitoes or other unwanted visitors.

So, are you fascinated about spiders now? Do you want to see them with your own eyes? You still have the opportunity to do it by visiting the exhibition “Spiders”, as it is open until the 23rd of December, 2012. There you will be able to read more about these arachnids, watch some interesting videos about them, see some colourful glass sculptures of spiders, give a hug to a giant leather tarantula, and, of course, meet the “hot & hairy babes” in person. Thus, I wish you a pleasant date with them!Note: If you still wish to see some hot & sexy human Ladies, you can check my post about the Copenhagen Carnival “BEAUTIFUL, SEXY, FUN, COLORFUL…”.

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!