I have just returned from a three weeks of travelling by trains, buses, trolleys and trams through Romania, Ukraine and Moldova. Because recycling, climate change, and pollinator plants are our interests, we do our own environmental travel. and watch for best practices as something we can all learn from. This is our 6th trip to Eastern Europe in 7 years.
The best practice for our earth I observed is their farming. The patchwork and DIVERSITY of crops: Corn, wheat, sun flowers, cabbage, potatoes, and animal grazing all work together. This is so much healthier for our bees, birds and butterflies. One person told me they didn’t need to use chemicals because of the diversity of their crops! They also still use lots of hand labor and horses to pick crops.
The streets often have many pedestrians, and I love these great crosswalks.
Garbage cans are small and they generate less waste per person than most countries. We went 3 weeks using real plates, cups and the napkins are tiny. Often the toilet paper is made from recycled paper.
Recycling is dismal and plastic pollution is a serious problem. These countries lack the resources to educate and recycle like they know they should. The young men we meet are frustrated with their job opportunities and futures. With some resources Eastern Europe could be a perfect opportunity to create new green industries and jobs to recycle plastic.
The brain drain of the young is serious. Many we talk with think success is leaving their homes and moving to the United States or EU countries. Loans should be available to generate new industry around green issues. We met environmental scientists helping Moldova on energy efficiencies because of a loan from the World Bank…Perfect!!
Coco Cola and other bottle and plastic bag manufactures, should take responsibility to help support these countries to recycle the trash that their products generate!! https://health4earth.com/2012/10/22/should-the-soft-drink-industry-help-communities-recycle/
Jobs and economic hope could help Eastern Europe be economic drivers of the E U and could be good for our earth also.
Romania has less trash per person
http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html
http://www.kleanindustries.com/s/environmental_market_Industry_news.asp?ReportID=143587
Health4earth 