I regrettably have not been able to write anything here for a while. This article has been in my head for months, but I lacked the energy and the time to put it on paper. One of the reasons for why I have not been writing, is because I went away. I visited my family in The Netherlands and I went on holiday to Croatia. During this time, I started thinking about the European Union, about climate change and the approaches to that in the countries I was in.
Three levels of integration
As many of you know, I live in Serbia. This is not an EU country and that is visible everywhere. Houses are run down, electricity cables are all over the place, we do not recycle at all and the wages are shockingly low.
The Netherlands, my native country, is in a completely different league. Everything is organised to perfection. The minimum wages are good, you do not have to be unemployed or homeless and there are benefits, pensions and healthcare.
Croatia is a country that has been allowed into the EU in 2013. You can see that compared to Serbia they are less of a third world country. They will get the euro in 2023. What struck me, was that there is still a lot of poverty there as well. The parts of the country that are not considered tourist areas, do not appear so different from what it looks like in Serbia.
This surprised me and during my runs, it made me think. I grew up, of course, in a strong EU country where there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that being a member is a great benefit. But now, I notice the contrasts more and more.
The energy crisis
A good example of this is the energy crisis that we are all dealing with at the moment. The Dutch government has made certain agreements with regards to climate change and, as a result, every household needs to be gas free in 2050. During years of welfare and prosperity, the Dutch people have been merrily heating their houses with gas boilers and cooking on gas stoves.
What needs to happen to make your house gas free? In The Netherlands, that is not an easy nor a cheap task. You need to first insulate your roof, walls (including windows) and floors, to high standards. Then you need to remove your current gas central heating system and replace it with floor heating on a costly heat pump.
Then you need to install a ventilation system in your home, so that you do not need to open your windows for fresh air. That would only let the warmth out, that you are so desperately trying to save. Finally, you exchange your gas stove for an electric one and pay hundreds of euros to your council to have the privilege to be cut off from the gas supply.
Meanwhile in Serbia…
Here we do not use gas in our houses. They actually only recently came into my street to install the gas pipes and offer us the option. We heat up our water with electric boilers and we heat our homes with woodburning stoves. We can even cook on these stoves as well. Our homes are not insulated and the ventilation system is natural. A large part of the households in this country is already (still) gas-free.
Dealing with waste
Another thing that always bugs me is waste. We are all producing so much waste, it is depressing. In The Netherlands that all needs to be nicely sorted into bins. A bin for organic waste, a bin for household waste, a bin for plastic and every other week they pick up the paper you have so dutifully collected.
This is, of course, a fantastic system, because the waste will be dealt with as it should. What can be recycled will be recycled. The rest will go to garbage heaps. The goal is to recycle all and have nothing left to throw away.
At the same time, the transport, logistics, machinery and everything else that is required for this intricate system, must put a strain on the environment.
Not in Serbia!
As I said already, no system is in place for recycling here in Serbia. People do things differently. First of all, they are very thrifty and they re-use many things. Jars, bags, boxes etc. are used for making preserves, for storing cheese or for binbags. They also buy food in huge quantities and ready-meals and pre-packed foods are much less common. On top of that, outside Belgrade, many have their own vegetable garden, fruit yards and livestock.
Of course, there still is a lot of waste. I do not speak for everyone in the country, but what people often do is create their own garbage heaps and set fire to them once in a while. Obviously, this causes toxic smoke and that is bad for the environment, but at least the plastic does not linger around for thousands of years and all the garbage does not need to be collected, transported, sorted and reused.
Unfortunately, in many places you see littering. There is no bin, so they just throw it onto the street, into the water or into nature. The lake that I run at is full of litter, left behind by people who were too lazy to walk to the garbage containers at the entrance.
Meat consumption
I used to be a vegetarian. Many of my friends think it is strange that I decided to eat meat again. But the way that meat is consumed here, is completely different from the way that meat is produced in The Netherlands. When I was a vegetarian, I was against the whole system, not against eating meat. That system is much less prevalent here.
People here love to eat meat, and a lot of it. Too much, if you ask me. You must all have seen the images of pigs roasting on a spit and a bunch of Slavic guys tending to it. The difference is that very often, this pig comes from their own farm or from a neighbour. It had a good life, it was not transported before- and after death and it was eating only organic food. That is how it should be.
The same goes for other livestock. Many people have chickens, cows and/or sheep. They have their own meat, dairy and eggs. I am not sure about this, but I think that a lot of the meat sold in stores and eaten in restaurants here also comes from domestic farms. Pork chops and steaks in shops are usually not individually wrapped.
Many other examples
As I started thinking about these things, I came across many other similar examples.
· Heating: we use the fire to cook, to heat our house and to heat our water. In Belgrade even has a form of centralised city-heating.
· Medicine: there have been times I was told by a doctor to drink a certain type of tea for my ailment, instead of immediately being prescribed pills.
· Rules: there are so many rules in The Netherlands which demand a certain lifestyle. You have to shower for 5 minutes, for example, to save energy. Your walk in the forest is carefully signposted and they even tell you which percentage of your garden can be used for building. Insulate your home, all because your government agreed to something.
Which way is best?
Of course, I am the first one to admit that climate change is real and that we are all together making a mess of our beautiful earth. But I feel sorry for that person in The Netherlands, who bought a lovely rustic and cute 1920’s home and now has to spend tens of thousands of euros on sustainable measures. They did not want to live in a modern shoe-box and so chose for a home full of character and history. It seems unfair that they are now almost forced to move house. The measures are subsidised, but even then, the bills are shocking and for many not an option.
What I do know is that the Serbian population would never agree on being told what to do. You tell me to shower for five minutes? I will make it ten. I cannot build my shed here? Watch me. Even though they do not have a lot, what they do have is a certain type of freedom. They can make their own rakija, they can get their car through the MOT because they have a contact in the garage, and they can buy a six euro registration code on an online marketplace instead of buying the official Microsoft Office for hundreds or euros.
What is the larger issue here is that two areas in Europe, not very far apart, are taking a completely different approach. Of course, the driving factor behind all of it is money, and the lack of it here. In the west everyone is trying to reduce their carbon footprint and at the same time people here are setting fire to their garbage heaps.
I wish I had the answer, but I am no expert. I just see two completely different countries, lifestyles and peoples. Then there is little me in the middle, trying to figure it all out. What do I take from it? The warning light on the dashboard of the car does not freak me out half as much as it used to anymore.