Between the 20th and the
\n27th of September, a number of environmental organisations held
\nprotests and carried out activities intended to draw the attention of the
\ncompetent authorities about the level of pollution and its undeniable toxic
\neffects. Madalina Scarlat, one of the initiators, says Fridays for Future
\nactions have taken place in Romania this year, first in Bucharest:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We then gathered in other cities as
\nwell to protest and to put together this campaign which took place all week
\nbetween the 20th and the 27th. This was intended to
\ncoincide with the Climate Week and the UN Summit in New York, where the
\nrepresentatives of the Fridays for Future movement went in an effort to
\npersuade the world’s governments to recognise the state of climate emergency in
\nwhich we find ourselves and take the necessary measures to reduce the impact of
\nclimate change.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
A protest march held on the 20th
\nof September that began outside the National Library in Bucharest and which was
\nattended by around 1,000 teenagers, was followed by other activities carried
\nout in 75 partner schools. The actions are wide-ranging but are primarily
\nintended to inform and encourage pupils to make their own small contribution to
\npreventing an even faster pace of global heating and pollution. It’s all based
\non the idea that any individual contribution counts because it adds to other
\nsimilar contributions, says Madalina Sacrlat:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Each and every one of us can
\ncontribute something small, which, together with other small actions, can cause
\nsignificant improvement. The fact that we don’t use so much plastic, that we
\nuse our own bottles, that we don’t put fruit and vegetables we buy at the
\nmarket in plastic bags, but bring our own tote bags to carry them, all these
\nindividual actions, apart from convincing others to do the same, have a larger
\nimpact together.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
However, according to an opinion
\npoll measuring Romanians’ perceptions about climate change and global warming,
\nonly 6% of respondents have heard about #fridaysforfuture, the actions
\ninitiated by the activism of the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, while two
\nthirds have heard about Earth Hour, with 36% taking part. Moreover, 73% of
\nRomanians have never heard of the Paris agreement. On the other hand, the poll
\nindicates that many are concerned about environmental issues. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
96% of respondents said they know
\nabout global warming, while 86% of them said that global warming is a serious
\nissue. This might sound optimistic if we compare the data to the results of
\nanother survey carried out in 2009. At the time climate change was a reason for
\nconcern for only 16% of Romanians. Now, a little over 25% believe that climate
\nchange is the second most important challenge at global level after poverty.
\nWhat are the reasons behind this change in perception? Sociologist Dan Jurcan.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Media coverage has worked very well
\nin this respect. It’s not enough to see politicians talking about the Paris
\naccord. The latest meteorological phenomena have been more impactful in this
\nsense, even locally. This year alone we’ve had two small tornadoes which caused
\ndamages in Romania, while last year we had a similar phenomenon in Timisoara.
\nIt’s clear that the impact of climate change on small communities produces
\nchanges in the behaviour and perception when the event reaches the news.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According to the same study, only
\n75% of respondents expressed an interest in waste collection or greening
\ncampaigns, as compared to the 86% who declared an interest for forestation
\ncampaigns. Still, the degree of participation is lower in the case of the
\nlatter, 33%, as compared to the former, 38%. This is why we need to move from
\nintention to action, as well as to strike a balance between citizens’
\nexpectations and the authorities’ achievements, Dan Jurcan says. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
If the population had a solid green
\neducation, then behaviours would be different too. For instance, our study
\nreveals that Romanians claim they are recycling waste selectively, whereas we
\nknow this is not the case in reality. And citizens are not to blame for these,
\ntheir good intentions are there. More often than not the responsibility lies
\nwith the authorities and companies that take care of waste collection. There
\nare success stories about local authorities who have provided people with
\nwaste-collection bags of different colours, to separate household waste from
\nplastic, paper and glass. And people have complied, which is a sign that they
\nare willing to take on a more eco-friendly behaviour. This is what our study
\nshows. The authorities simply need to create a suitable framework.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
To conclude, although the study
\ncould play down any initial outburst of optimism when reading its findings,
\nthere’s one thing that gives us reasons to rejoice: Romanians are concerned
\nabout environment issues. Dan Jurcan:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
When the topic is perceived as a
\nhighly important social issue, it’s normal to have positive results,
\ncommensurate to the topic’s importance. But it’s worth noting that the public
\nhas grown aware of such issues and people are talking about them. So, climate
\nchange is not just on the Government’s agenda, something a number of
\nresearchers are trying to include on the public agenda. It’s already there.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recently initiated by the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, the global movement to raise awareness for climate and ecological problems Fridays for Future also has its supporters in Romania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":143253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[35375],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-143252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-environment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n