Bucharest Babel Blog - Society

WOULD YOU CARE FOR SOME CYANIDE?

bucuresti — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:37:00 +01:00

A. If the answer is YES: the product - to be stored in the ambient air, drinking-water or food - could soon become available for distribution on the Romanian market. It is expected that the offer will atipically exceed the demand, causing providers to deliver HCN compounds en gros and en detail, at the mere price of accidental exposure.

B. If the answer is NO: you can support the legal initiative to ban cyanide use in the mining industry at: http://www.faracianura.ro/vot.php.

The „Coalition for a Cyanide Free Romania” was initiated by several national as well as international environmental NGO’s. Civil society representatives developed this informative campaign aimed at supplying members of parliament with essential data prior to reaching a decision on the ban of cyanide use in mining. Initially drafted as a joint project by UDMR (The Democratic Hungarian Union in Romania) and PRM (Great Romania Party) alltogether, the Legislative proposal to extend article no. 4 of the Mining Law no. 85/2003 will be submitted to the vote of Romanian MP’s between December 15 and December 20.

Currently, no cases of cyanide use in the mining industry can be reported in Romania. The law proposal whatsoever aims at setting a national legal framework able to prevent environmental catastrophies from becoming recurrent in future. International opinion has portioned the effects of the ecological disaster at Baia Mare into a regular percentage which Romanian contributors have not finished delivering yet. Damage caused to the Hungarian side through cyanide discharge in the Tisa River is being payed by the Romanian state alone, since the Australian Mining Company „Esmeralda” went bankrupt straightaway. Consequently, as long as weaknesses in legislation are not rigurously addressed, similar events remain likely to occur.

Concerns center around the specific cyanide based exploitation proposed by the Canadian Mining Company „Rosia Montana Gold Corporation”. The prospected area to be melted comprises four villages situated in the Alba County. Out of these, Rosia Montana clearly stands out, having an unique archaeological heritage (Roman galleries), utmost diversity of flora and a multicultural community, already eroded. Against all security measures, potential accidents are likely to trigger cross-border consequences directly proportional with the dimensions of the project, which outweighs by far the above mentioned Baia Mare. The Romanian state will –again!- be made accountable by affected neighbours if RMGC follows the profit pattern by withdrawing in bankrupcy.

Furthermore, indirect effects upon human health go beyond common power of estimation, when it takes 20 tones of waste to manufacture one single golden ring. Complying with the environmental norms in order to avoid any short term health risks implies monitoring for only three categories of cyanide: free cyanide, weak-acid-dissociable (WAD) cyanide, and total cyanide, required by regulators. It does not imply monitoring other compounds nor preventing medium and long term effects. Among the states which, through power of precedent or example, have regulated the use of cyanides in the mining industry by banning it, we currently acknowledge Montana, Colorado, Wisconsin, Turkey, Honduras, Costa Rica, Peru, Philippines and Argentina. Inside the European Union, policies in this regard belong to the national sphere of reglementation. Germany, the Czech Republic and Greece have hitherto passed laws securing citzens’ protection relating exposure to cyanide by banning it.

by Geanina Turcanu

Photo: ww.faracianura.ro

Part 2: No More Place for Beggars in Geneva

bucuresti — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 21:03:00 +01:00

The new law that renders beggary illegal in Switzerland, was approved on 30 November by 52 liberal and centrist votes against 30 green and socialist votes and 5 abstentions.

Although the plan of evacuation of the Roma shelters, their identification and control of their legal status in Switzerland has been effective – in some twenty Romanian Roma leaving Geneva after the 16 November police raid – the coalition strongly defended Romand citizens’ right to a begging-on-one’s-knees-free city. ‘We should not let people begging on the sidewalks in the name of human dignity’, Yves Nidegger of UDC maintained. The Green voices gradually faded away, despite noble slogans: ‘We cannot find an answer to exclusion in exclusion’, insists Mathilde Captyn (Les Verts).

Traian Basescu, President of Romania, met Micheline Calmy-Rey, Head of the Swiss Confederation, on 4 December, in Berne. The central topic on the agenda was the freedom of movement between the two states. Romania has many hopes from its partner, with the antecedent of one billion Swiss Francs that went to the 2005 new EU Member States and its own treasured memory of the Swiss financial aid for transition between 1992 and 2006. A possible further aid to Romania as a freshman in the European club will be subject of a referendum, according to federal law. With this fall’s agitation over the Roma beggary, one particular canton might not be as enthusiastic as one would desire.

by Ioana

Romanian child needs suicide to make his will heard

bucuresti — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:11:00 +01:00

Every single minute, one person commits suicide - worldwide. On Tuesday, 2 October, 06:02, this person was a 12 year old child from Romania. He decided not to live any more because he found no solution to his mother’s leaving. A potential scenario to be followed by any of the 60.000 children confronted with the same problem.

Lately, Romanian children left in charge of grandparents, relatives or friends became the protagonists of dramas ranging from reduced capacity to cope with schoolwork until depressions eventually generating suicidal actions. Surveys rank the North East Region first in the top of abandoned children - counties such as Suceava, Neamţ, Galaţi and Iaşi occuppying top positions. Psychologists report that over 80% of the children hospitalized in the County of Neamt ’suffer from pahtological diseases caused by the feeling of masked abandon’ . Their sufference is only temporarily alleviated by therapy.

Needless to explain, roots of depression reside in the damaging pseudo-familial environment where patients find themselves forced to return against recurrent attempts to escape. Desperate gestures motivating this far too recently acknowledged urge for promt intervention could have been avoided. The PRO TV media campaign, “Do you know how your kid has been doing lately?” succeeded in coagulating a lobby reaction from the part of the civil society towards this abnormal recrudescent behaviour. So far, 22.000 Romanian children have been deprived by both parents, as a consequence of the latter’s decision to work abroad.

Ideally, parents ought to secure new homes for their children after settling down. Against all invoked excuses, tuition is free in Italy and Spain, to mention but two destinations where one million Romanians are legally registered.

Otherwise, a ”National Authority for Protecting the Rights of Children” supervises the activity of 45 “County Directions for Child protection”. Nevertheless, they are not legally bound to develop coherent programs with the purpose of detecting problematic cases. Left unaddressed, this hysteria seems to have run out of control.

by Geanina Turcanu Credit Photo: Akane Kinomoto/Flickr

Romanian Roma’s Swiss Eldorado: One Step Away from Closure

bucuresti — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:52:00 +01:00

In a few months’ time, Geneva has become the new Romanian Roma Eldorado. Taking advantage of the new cantonal penal law of 27 January 2007 that legalises beggary, some 200 Roma – 77% of whom are Romanian – have hit the road and filled Geneva’s Chanel-flagranced streets.

In the city of human rights, people beg on their knees. Live statues by the doors of shops and super-markets, waggling bodies at the bank and post office entrances, the beggars provide a repellent view. From musical instruments to crutches and silent babies, the Roma mendicants reach for every possible tool of mercy. Their misery cries out at every step, from the commercial area in the city centre to the secluded river banks.

The picture went beyond troubling the local community and agitating the political class via the media: it resulted in a political plan aimed at discouraging the practice of beggary. Although this situation is far from being the first priority on the agenda, the outstretched hand poses ethical, social and public order problems that cannot be ignored. At the heart of the political wrestle is the new law on beggary that entered into force last January. Federal Councillor Laurent Moutinot’s initiative to abolish fines for acts of beggary brought about lively dispute among political rivals. The cherry on top of the cake was the decision to reimburse all the fines delivered from January on (in value of 100.000 francs ), under certain circumstances. Failing to anticipate the consequences of the law, the November wind saw Moutinot receding form his initial position, denouncing ‘the concerning evolution in the number of beggars’ in Geneva.

As a new type of tourism seemed to be unfolding, on 16 November, the police forces joined by social workers evacuated the Roma improvised shelters under the Arve river bridge and housed them in social protection centres. They are allowed to stay there for a maximum period of 10 days, after which the federal law on strangers will be enforced. This means that beggars found in illegal situations – ie, unable to justify that they have sufficient means to subsist – will be expulsed with no further notice. For the rest, the 90-day limit of tourist stay on Swiss territory will apply. Apparently, a travel aid will be provided by the authorities, under the form of bus tickets, as Isabelle Widmer, social service officer of the City of Geneva, stated for a local newspaper .

The evacuation process was qualified by human rights defenders as ‘correct’ . The principal Roma rights defender on the affair, Doris Leuenberger, lawyer and president of the Mesemrom association for the protection of Roma in Geneva, denounced the purpose of the action as not solely aiming to produce a certain malaise for the mendicants, but as being a clear police control measure: ‘In ten days, we will be in the same situation as today, with the difference that the police have the identity of each person. They are recorded and will be no longer authorised to enter Switzerland’ .

The local media devoted extensive attention to the volatile newly-installed community of Calvin’s city. From newspaper interviews with the unwanted bank door keepers that hardly can speak any French, to heart-breaking pictures of unimaginable misery and feature reports televised at peak hours . The Roma figures tell the same story of pauperism, rejection and discrimination that forces them to find their way to the West. ‘There’s a war against the Roma everywhere; it was better in Switzerland, everybody knew this in Romania. If in their turn they harass us and send us away, where are we supposed to go? To the moon?’ , Daniel confesses to a newspaper.

Ironically enough, the Romanian ambassador to the United Nations, Mr Doru Costea, is the current UN Human Rights Council president. Torn apart between ‘a certain malaise, a form of embarrassment’ and ‘a certain responsibility’, His Excellency seems uncertain about who exactly should manage the situation that induces these sentiments. ‘We can very well consider the Roma issue as a European matter. … But if it is a European matter, it is obviously a Romanian affair. … The Roma community should pose itself the same questions. … At the same time, we are certain that a part of the problem will not be solved but in collaboration with other countries.’

However, the fact that the Roma mendicants in Geneva possess a Romanian passport should reassure the Romanian government that it is their problem before every one else’s. The upcoming negotiation on the extension of bilateral accords on the free movement of persons should also provide them with an incentive to look into this issue more attentively.

by Ioana, Credit Photo: interet-general

Failed an exam? Blame the interior design of Bucharest University

bucuresti — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:02:00 +01:00

Can the external look of the chemistry and journalism departments of the oldest Romanian university have an impact on how you study? Can the lighting, colours, decoration, symbols or general 'look' of a department influence the education process?

Founded in 1864, Bucharest University is the second oldest (after the University of Medicine “Carol Davila”, founded in 1855.) and most important state-university in the Romanian capital. Although in Romania there is a never-ending debate whether Bucharest University`s learning curriculum is modern and up-to-date or the other way round, this time we tried to investigate a totally different aspect: the influence the learning environment has upon students` academic performance.

Chemical reaction

The chemistry department is best described by the word 'classical.' It is quite sober, elegant and looks timeless. The dominant chromatic combination is warm white with quiet black, but the classrooms` furniture, the windows` frames or the stair’s balustrade often display different tons of brown. The long, quite narrowed halls (traditional feature) are balanced by the presence of larger spaces like the main entrance hall or the large staircase that leads us to the upper floors. 'I've never really paid attention to the department's interior design,' confesses Dana Ardeleanu, a first-year chemistry student. 'It’s not really eyecatching. It just looks the way a place dedicated to education should: calm and discreet.'

But second-year student Mircea Andrei has a different opinion. 'It’s too classical! It looks rather cold and impersonal. But maybe this is because I don't like any of the courses here either.' Mircea is convinced that a more dynamic environment could stimulate him to study more. 'Look at this building - how can we feel this place is ours? How can I learn, write, pass exams in a place that I feel I don’t belong to? '

Journalism

Meanwhile, the bright-coloured graffiti on the walls of the journalism and communication sciences have been created by the proud students themselves. These are actually journalism-related inscriptions, but only a graffiti expertcould notice it. 'Graffiti is a fresh and original art form which really represents our generation,' exclaims Andreea P. 'I love the light and the chromatic combination on these walls,' adds Alex C. 'But it’s not important if it’s painting, writing, caricature or graffiti - it just has to be something which looks 'young' to make us feel good.'

Do students get better grades if they feel their department is 'cool'? 'I think so, I have very good grades. I don’t feel uncomfortable at the thought of studying here,' says Andreea. ' I always study here because I don’t have time to study at home!' laughs Alex. 'I have a job and in comparison with my workplace, this place is a lot friendlier.'

Journalism students believe all European students should be given the chance to re-decorate their department. 'This would be the beginning of a more democratic education system,' says Alexandra D. 'It is not clear whether a more 'youth-friendly' learning environment would really make us get better grades, but it would certainly make us feel more confident and optimistic.' There is no future where is there is no desire to innovate!' concludes Alexandra

by Luciana Grosu

Youth employment

bucuresti — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:23:00 +02:00

We are being told that the more we study now, the more comfortable we’ll live later. We are being told to invest in our career. To participate at courses, trainings, internships, all kind of activities that can put you in competition with others like you. But nothing guaranties that once the university graduated we’ll obtain a well paid job, or we’ll manage to build a successful career, or even that we’ll work in the same field as the one we studied for. But also we don’t have to accept anything that comes in second hand. If you did study a lot, think about what you have learned and what you can use it for. Maybe somewhere in the future, it will be us the ones who rise the statistics for studies abroad, or the high quoted jobs!

One of the student’s biggest problems is the possibility of finding a job that corresponds to the study field you graduated. One the other hand, there are many students that have to find a job during their studies just to increase their income either for a full time or a part time job. Luckily for graduates, in Romania, the employers are stimulated to hire fresh graduated students, cause if they do it for an undetermined period contract, the employers obtain, during 12 months, subventions in quantum of 1 -1,5 raw base salary on economy. In the same time they have to maintain the work relations for a period of at least 3 years, while the graduates can follow professional training organized by the employer. All the necessary expenses will be supported from the budget of the unemployment insurance – on the request of the employer.

The employers receive:

1 minimum raw base salary at a country level, in force at the date of the work framing, for the graduates of the vocational education;
1,2 minimum raw base salary at a country level, in force at the date of the work framing, for graduates of highschool education;
1,5 minimum raw base salary at a country level, in force at the date of the work framing, for graduates of higher education.

According to an ILO research, when it comes about youth unemployment rate Romania holds the third place in Europe with a 9,9 %, but also a high position among the countries that practice “the black market work”. The high rate among youth is determined by a discordance between the study fields, the abilities requested on the market and the education’s system offer.

Although young graduates learn how to prepare themselves for a job interview, what kind of information should write in a resume, how to search for a job on the internet or at the Job Fairs, most of the times they confront with refusals. And this happens because the private companies or even the public institutions usually request a minimum of work experience. The paradox is that, between some experience, it is being asked young work force – meaning the exactly same young people who did not accumulate work experience. And this is where the stimulations we have talked above come on stage: the young candidate must only “remember” the employer all the facilities granted to the companies that hire graduates.

A proper solution for the diminution of the unemployment rate among youth is being presented by the Philips Plan for the unemployed instruction, developed by Ton Van de Bruggen. From two in two years the company, in collaboration with the syndicates, negotiate the categories which will be trained (young people that have abandoned school, young people over-skilled without a job, women, young minorities) and the number of persons that, after graduating the one year training program will become Philips employs. After their countable analysis, Philips won in 10 years 5 times the invested sum of money they have invested in this program (50.000 euro for trained worker), extending the project in Croatia and Morocco.

The success of the Philips Plan is due to a good cooperation between companies, the employees (which have donated monthly 0,3% of their salary), syndicates and the government, which had a financial contribution in supporting the initiative.

To be successful in your professional life you must take everything with a very great responsibleness and involvement. The job seeking has become in the last years a real battlefield and you must prepare in time and with carefulness a strategy of self presentation and to create a favourable image in front of the employers.

by Andreea Luciana Ion

Love scanarios

bucuresti — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:03:00 +02:00

Love – an inexhaustible subject, tackled from any point of view, by all sort of characters that can’t be written down on the list of taboos anymore because the media today knew how to seize it in order to develop attractive, manipulative, novelty stories.

The media, the art, the movies made of love’s two representative words – “I love you” a nonconformist greeting, a fashion that, through revision, perseverant presence on screen and in literature, the population appropriates it. In this rhythm, love is simply devaluated. And you start watching dum-dum all the new scenarios: women divide themselves between the desire for true love and their career, they have become more pretentious, and they want to enjoy their freedom, with the growing tendency to run away from love and marriage. Meanwhile, men tend to keep up with them, not wanting to forget their role of master and ruler they used to have.

Although they seem comical, these two scenarios both converge to a sort of human publicity, in which the two genders become products, on an opened market. The more you know how to promote yourself, the more the chances you get to be chosen from all the other offers. And the funny thing is that there are n “recipe” books on how to become more lovable, or the best way to love or been loved. And the true is love is meant to be lived in that very instant, not thought trough.

The paradox is that the earlier mentioned scenarios raise another consequence: idealization. Literature is studded with love quotes, novels and poetries that make the lover’s world different from the real one, deformed by dreams he tends to have about the perfect person and the perfect love. Seen through the eyes of a lover, love has no limits: it’s exaggerated, it demands, it obsesses, it fascinates, it bothers and it tires. And deviating him from reality, great dreams of love, great expectations lead to great disappointments.

Two well known sociologists, Hatfield and Walster (1981) talk about tree conditions why people do fall in love: you have to believe that real love does exist and could happen to you; you design and materialise the qualities of your ideal lover and last, but not least, the existence of emotional, physiological and behavioural acts, like body language, exuberance, butterflies in your stomach etc.

Let’s see: you have to believe that real love does exist and could happen to you. This kind of thinking occurs especially when mass media and literature are being sprinkled with love stories, with happy endings - but credible ones. Even experiences, the stories of real love told by grandparents, relatives, friends or even the ones you observe in your very own proximity can give you a role model, prepare and teach you to hope for such a love.

In this way, it leads to create a cognitive model of love – the idealization of love and of the person you consider mr/mrs Right. The ones who are risen in this kind of environment begin to strongly believe and be prepared for their own romance, being more probably that in the future, a nearer or a further one, to get to live this kind of emotional states. We tend to attract what we believe in that very moment.

Still, there are two not-wanted situations. Firstly, it could happen that the more you place your love closer to the top, the more you get pretentious with you love story and lover, the bigger the disappointment. Because you’ve raised love to the rank of perfection and you want to change everything in order to combine your criteria. Of course, you have concord love, but not your prejudices.

Secondly, there is the feeling at a common sense that love can change a person. Wrong! Love, with all its emotional alterations changes felt by the one in love – lack of concentration, absent-mindedness, babbling, insomnia or bad sleeping, lack of appetite, of energy, sensations of coldness / warmness – changes only temporary a person, only at the surface, his character remains the same. The violent person he was before fallen in love will be the same violent person after. A person, who likes to be bossy, will be bossy in his relationship also. A person with obsessive-compulsive disorder after falling in love will have the same disorder. Old habits die hard.

Today, each partner brings in his love life its own customs, tastes and abilities, which he has to adjust to the new situation he is submitted to. Men and women expect to negotiate a relationship that can satisfy the needs of each partner. In love, as in life, you have to be patient and endure some of the things. Nothing is perfect, but it can be close to perfection. The love scenarios proposed in media and books can be as real as the real-life inspired movies or documentaries. Let’s not forget that one of love’s ingredients is the will to love!

by Andreea Luciana Ion

Start for a virtual Romania

Camelia — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 09:35:00 +02:00

In a few years now, one can see every corner of Romania by browsing an online map. Considering the EU directive, Inspire, which aims at creating a 3D map for the EU, the National Agency for Cadastre from Romania, ran in the past two years a photo shooting in which our country “showed off” its landscapes to a special photo camera, set on a plane.

Carpatian Mountains

The shootings started in 2005 but because of the bad weather, only 70% of the country was captured, the rest of it being shot in 2006, during the months without vegetation (beginning of March-mid April and October-November).

The technique used is very complex. The specialists first used an air-photo camera, having the dimensions of a washing machine, where the photographer was in fact represented by three people (the operator for the air-photo camera, an assistant and the operator for the annexes of the photo camera). But since the process was complicated they started instant photo shooting, using a digital camera. Smaller and with a large memory (over one terra-byte) this camera covered all the requirements, the most important being the efficiency and a high resolution (one pixel can reach 5 cm). After all top secret information have been taken out from the pictures (military bases or any other info which might affect the national security), these are processed through a software that reconstructs the puzzle, giving the final picture of the country.

Transylvania sight

Soon one can virtually travel on the streets of Romania, changing the altitude of its sight, even getting to know the height of the trees or being capable of seeing inside one’s flat (the picture would be of emptiness cause nobody would gather information about the interior).

The first cities that will soon benefit of this kind of maps will be Craiova and Galati. The fact is that these maps are very expensive, only for Craiova costs around 3 million euro, but the advantage is that apart from the streets, it will show every detail of the buildings: area, the year it was built in, the materials is made off, the type of walls, if there is any pillar in the yard or any hydrant.

Moreover it will show the type of the electricity cables and the water pipes from the city, the depth at which are located and the materials are made off, so that will be avoided the cases in which the municipality rebuilds a street and the next day the utilities’ company comes and breaks down everything to change a water pipe, as it often happens.

Mr Stoian, the director of the National Centre of Geodesy hopes to make a virtual Craiova such as Paris. “I’ve been in Paris 3 months ago and I’ve seen a virtual map made by the National French Geographic Institute. They had for Paris and a few other cities what do we have for Craiova. We are not technologically behind them. We can do it, but we need time and money. Bucharest already started this kind of mapping, but to carry it out we need 15-20 million euros and 3-4 years”.

As for Romania “it needs around 10 years and hundreds of millions of euro to finalize its general survey in which each centimeter would be clearly delimited, numbered and put on the hard disk”.

Photo credits: Bortes Cristian/Flickr

Jobs, housing and education – main concerns for Romanian Youth

Camelia — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:50:00 +02:00

According to a survey released by the National Authority for Youth, 97% of the young people declare themselves being concerned about getting a job, a better education and access to housing, since the prices rose very much on the market.

Romanian school

On the other hand, young people have a law interest in politics or NGOs. Over 90% has never been a volunteer and only 20% discuss about politics. This happens mostly because young people don’t feel being of great importance in the decision making procedure and 64% consider that there is no political party in Romania that represents their interests.

Moreover, as the survey shows, they don’t feel having any support from the national authorities, do not even know all their rights. Only 6.5% have heard about the Youth Law, meanwhile 85% declare they haven’t benefit from any financial support from the public authorities.

In this context, the Government should run an information campaign, no just for letting them know their rights, but for raising awareness about the things they already enjoy, compared to some other European states.

There are a lot of public services they benefit of, just for being young; starting from free access to education, up to University level (in a context in which State Universities are better rated than the private ones), free medical services, priority in getting housing or a monthly amount for scholars, to paying half ticket for the transport or for cultural events.

As for their leisure time activities, 81.5% never goes to theatre, 77.1% states that going to cinema is not a habit for them, meanwhile 48% goes out in discos on regular basis. 39% never reads books and 41% does not practice any sport. Seems like the only constant activity is watching television, as 63% declared. Despite all these, 62% declare themselves pleased with the way their spending their free time and 76% with the living conditions.

Photo credits: Daniel Baragan/Flickr, listadark/Flickr

NOT IN MY BACK YARD

bucuresti — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:57:00 +02:00

This seems to be the expression that guided the British in their struggle against the undesired constructions situated close to their home. Shouted or not, this motto proves the interest of the Albion’s inhabitants towards the preservation of the green spaces.

This way, they succeeded at the middle of the 70s to stop the building of a business centre on a green space. As a consequence of their constant fight, the first urban farm was developed (Mudchute Farm), near the second financial centre in London.

In Romania, day by day we have to face the uninspiring view of the buildings that do not fit in the historical and aesthetic context of our cities. Buildings made out of glass near old and bad preserved houses, gas stations and commercial or business centres built on the last scraps of the city’s green space.

There’s of no importance the fact that an inhabitant from Bucharest benefits only 11 sqm of green space while in Viena each one enjoys 70 sqm., while the European average is of 12 sqm. There’s of no importance that one can barely see some green space between so many buildings we have. And it is of little concern the fact that in Bucharest or other Romanian cities, we are becoming more and more overwhelmed by buildings.

The Romanian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development made some steps forward by starting project which will ensure 26 sqm of green space for each inhabitant. Attila Korodi, the present Minister, stated that until the end of the year 50 new parks will be developed. It’s an important measure considering the fact that for the first time after 1990, the Romanian Government actually takes effective measures for improving the green spaces within the cities. On the other hand, we cannot blame the Government that it didn’t do anything till now, since the lack of green spaces is not one of the major preoccupations for Romanians. According to the CURS poll (Bucharest - 2006), 39% of the respondents declare themselves concerned about the vegetal preservation, while just 16% are very concerned about it, while the majority, a 40%, states that this topic is not a matter of interest for them.

People must become more aware of the importance that the environment has for their lives, before it would be too late and the only green place where we could take a walk would be a virtual park.

by Claudia Calin

A smoking Europe

bucuresti — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:46:00 +02:00

Smokers watch out! EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou launched on the 1st of March 2005 a four-year anti-smoking campaign „Help, for a life without tobacco”.

With a budget of 72 million Euros, the anti-smoking campaign consisted of a road show in which a giant inflatable structure, in shape of a cigarette, toured 25 EU capitals between March-July 2005 and was aimed at gathering people around the same objective – giving up smoking. Additionally there were many television adverts, sustained press coverage and a pre-test smoke level kit.

In Romania, one of the active members of the „Help, for a life without tobacco” is Romanian Youth Council, with its partners Their activities are national spread and consist of organizing specific seminars, social theatre in schools, public meetings and information campaigns for applying the smoking test and distributing informative materials.

The above-mentioned campaign was initiated because of the alarming situation in Europe. More than half a million people die every year in the European Union as a direct or indirect consequence of smoking. This makes nicotine addiction the most easily avoidable cause of disease and premature death. According to the Eurobarometer, more than 25% of all cancer deaths and 15% of all deaths in the EU could be caused by smoking.

The same figures show that the majority of Europeans (women more than men) are in favour of banning smoking in public and working places, restaurants and pubs, in the latter case in a smaller percentage. Moreover, some national authorities started taking steps in this direction. But, shouldn’t we, as individuals, take attitude against the smokers that do not respect the others’ right to a free-nicotine environment?

by Claudia Calin

Photo credits: Rupert Ganzer/Flickr