TH!NK post
My morning angriness
Published 25th November 2010 - 6 comments - 6907 views -
Czech republic is a country whose president Vaclav Klaus openly denies the existence of global warming or human impact on climate changes. This attitude brings this rather uninteresting person world fame. He is an orthodox capitalist who calls people who want to live in a cleaner world environmentalists and eco-radicals.
Czech president Klaus: global warming denier (photo: Czech Press Agency)
I have been living near the city of Ostrava since I was a child. It is an industrial town with more than 350 000 citizens. It is the most polluted city in the whole European Union. Almost in every city council there is the communist party. Leftwing government supports companies like Arcelor Mittal or other big industrial companies because they give jobs to people who votes for the communists in the elections. That is why companies can do whatever they want to do.
Welcome to Ostrava: the most polluted city in the whole European Union (photo: Ludvík Hradílek)
According to Czech law air pollution can be present in a limited number of days in a year. It is about 50 days per year. In Ostrava these year limits are exceeded in February! But there is no legal way how to punish companies. They would just say – if you take concern about this issue, we will relocate our company to Poland and your people will lose jobs. That is the reason why the government is blind. No right or left power in this country is opened to green changes or sustainable development. Czech republic is one of the most corrupted countries in the European Union. Our relationship with mother nature is on the same level as our relationships between people. Just to exploit the others for one´s personal interest. This is Czech reality.
Recycled printing paper (photo: earthgreen9.com)
And here comes my morning story: In my hometown – even if there are more than fifty shops - it is almost impossible to buy recycled paper for a copy machine. It is simply impossible. I have spent more than three hours – travelling back and forth. I visited all the stationaries in my hometown and there is not even one sample of recycled paper there. Shop assistants were looking at me like I was idiot or something. This is the sad reality of my hometown Ostrava. So be green – it is possible but unfortunately not everywhere.
Here I would like to show you the map of air pollution in my hometown from yesterday:
Red to Brown are the most polluted areas. (1 cm = 10 km) (photo: CHMU)
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About the author
Roman StanekCzech Republic
Freelance Journalist
freelance journalist and guide living partly in the Central Europe and partly in the Svalbard, Arctic. Interested in development, social problems and climate change. Published articles from Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, Georgia, Armenia, Belarus, Poland and of course Arctic...
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Hi Roman, Ostrava´s nickname is “black city” because of mines and heavy industry there, but I had no idea it was the most polluted city in the EU. It is not good news at all!
Fingers crossed for you to find enlightened stationary in Ostrava that would sell more eco products besides recycled paper or a copy machine.
Hi Roman,
what about the water pollution today? Do Ostrava have waste water treatment plants? The hometown of my wife is Franfurt (Oder). The river Oder cross Ostrava long before Frankfurt - So we share the pollution in some way
Below:
http://www.ostrava.cz/jahia/Jahia/site/ostrava/lang/en/ostrava/podnikatel/strategicke-projekty/dostavba-plosne-kanalizace
... City of Ostrava explains that there is not yet a citywide sewage system. But obviously it is in process of planning: “Currently, a tender is underway to select an external consultant to cooperate in the preparatory phase of the application for co-financing of the project ‘Completion of the City-Wide Sewerage System’ via EU funds – the Operational Programme Environment 2007–2013.”
It is a scandal here and worldwide, that still in the year 2010 cities are hiring and sponsoring big investors with tax giveaways (City of Ostrava: “Tremendous incentives (grants, tax-breaks, etc…) offered by the Czech Government through CzechInvest and the Region to support job creation and training”) while they did not resolve the infrastructure for waste waters.
Doesn’t exist any European law for that problem? Czech Republic is part of Europoean Community since 2004.
Yes there is. Since 1976 are existing european wide regulations for that. You can find it here - in english:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:064:0052:0059:EN:PDF
Dear Roman, I understand your indignation. But please go on to be an “alien” in a dirty world.
Best wishes - Marcel
Hi Roman,
Well. Do you know what is Svejking?
The Czech nation was left in the lurch many times during the history.
Klaus is only Svejking. But we know that he knows exactly they importance and urging of the problems you mentioned above.
Rgrds, Laci
To Roman: Facebook advertisement linked me to this post - good one, actually the map of dust pollution is not so bad today, it used to be worse and it will be worse during winter. :-(
To Marcel: Thanks god at least the water pollution is OK, Odra river is quite clean now. The sewage system was built dozens years ago, what’s the link about is just conneting some smaller parts of the city, mostly villages administratively belonging under the municipality of Ostrava, to the central sewage system. From approx. 310 000 people living in the city, this is the case of approx. 5 000. Morever, part of the localities mentioned in the hyperlink probably have some local sewage system and local treatment plants, certainly not so efficient as the central one. You can check the water pollution here.
http://www.pod.cz/portal/isvs/jvp/en/default.htm
The big rivers are usually relatively OK, some smaller brooks have problems because flowing through villages without central sewage system. Moreover the flood-plain forests in Odra valley above and bellow Ostrava clean the water substantially. The water’s clean enough for beavers and otters to live there.
Thank you Vinca for your further informations.
The picture is shocking. I can’t believe people can live in that “Black city”. What is their health and mortality rate? Do the people believe this president? They shouldn’t. The idea of denying that there’s a problem is insulting to anyone the man trys to tell it to.