75% of the respondents in the same
\n2019 survey showed their interest in environmentally focused campaigns on waste
\nmanagement while 86% were concerned about deforestation. People’s involvement
\nin environmentally focused campaigns is lower though, 38% of the Romanians
\nwould participate in waste management activities while only 33% would get
\ninvolved in reforestation campaigns.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
There are more and more
\ninitiatives, either individual or belonging to smaller groups, of involvement
\nin curbing pollution and other environmentally friendly activities. A case in
\npoint is Dinu Drog, a lawyer from Bucharest, who founded a civic engagement
\ngroup involved in solving some of the issues currently facing the district he lives
\nin. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Mr. Drog has recently become an
\nentrepreneur in the field of renewable energy. Late last year, upon the
\ninitiative of one of his neighbours, he set up a renewable energy cooperative
\ntogether with a Dutch partner. The cooperative, which initially had 15 members
\nnow, two months after its launch, boasts a total number of 140. But what
\nexactly is a renewable energy cooperative? Here is Dinu Drog at the microphone.
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Dinu Drog: A renewable
\nenergy cooperative is actually an energy community, a business vehicle, which
\nprovides renewable energy to the members of this network. At the same time it
\nproduces energy in keeping with the EU legislation. Energy democracy is a trend
\nin Europe nowadays with a view to involving its citizens in this process of
\nproducing energy by means of solar panels. We, the members of this cooperative,
\nare presently holding talks for the purchase of an entire solar field. For the
\ntime being the cooperative is functioning as an investment fund and its members
\nare making interest in exchange for their contributions. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Members of the aforementioned
\nenergy cooperative are also shareholders; they benefit from the energy they
\nproduce but they are going to turn into suppliers as soon as they have obtained
\na production license. Sometimes these cooperatives are allowed to invest in
\nrenewable energy facilities. Although unique in Romania and Eastern Europe at
\nthis time, Mr. Drog’s cooperative is an example of civic engagement proving the
\nincreasing concern some citizens have for the world they live in and the air
\nthey are breathing. Here is Dinu Drog at the microphone again. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Dinu Drog: Individual
\nsolutions are easy to find, if people want to. They can start by sorting waste,
\nrecycling, monitoring electricity consumption…But we also need public instruments,
\ncommunities, whose contribution to this initiative is even greater because it
\nbrings people with the same degree of interest in sustainability and
\nenvironmentally -friendly activities together. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Another example of
\nenvironmentally-friendly entrepreneurship is the Seneca publishing house, which
\ndescribes itself as Romania’s first green publishing house. The enterprise also
\nincludes a bookshop and a cafeteria showcasing books on environment and where
\nvisitors pay for the time spent rather than for the drinks, which they prepare
\nthemselves out of natural ingredients. Here is director Stefania Oprina with
\nmore on how a green publishing house is actually working. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Stefania Oprina: When you
\nmake a product, you need to take into consideration the environment. We produce
\nbooks, and that means we need to use recycled paper and we also recycle the
\nwaste resulting from the production process. We use this paper to print
\nleaflets or other materials in order to avoid using fresh paper. The type of
\nink that we use is also a special one, and all these efforts eventually pay off
\nas the final result is very beautiful books, always well-received by readers
\nwho know that less trees had been cut for their production.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The growing interest of the
\nRomanians in environment preservation has been proven by the fact that ‘The
\nAlmost Zero Waste Family’, a book written by Jeremie Pichon and Benedicte Moret
\nwas a best-seller at the Gaudeamus Book Fair last year. Here is Stefania Oprina
\nagain.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Stefania Oprina: People are
\nalready looking for practical solutions to apply. They carry reusable textile
\nbags to avoid using plastics and are no longer using plastic forks and knives
\nfor the same reason. Some are interested in recipes of less polluting
\ndetergents in a bid to save money and time both in supermarkets and at home
\nbecause these recipes allow them to produce the quantity of detergent they
\nneed. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
All these initiatives, ranging from
\ninvestment in renewable energy to avoiding the use of plastics or polluting washing
\npowders are indicative of the Romanians’ growing interest in a cleaner and
\nhealthier environment. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(translated by bill)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
According to a recent survey 86% of the Romanian respondents believe that global warming is a serious issue. These figures are encouraging as compared to the year 2009 when only 16% of the Romanians were worried by the phenomenon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":143398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[43782,35375,43783,43784],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-143397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-drog","tag-environment","tag-oprina","tag-preservation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n