A couple of weeks ago, our school had a group of kids from
Romania come visit. They were part of a folklore group travelling around Europe. These sweet kids sang and danced songs from their homeland.
After they left, I looked their town up and discovered that
Unicef has determined the areas surrounding their little village was/is an environmental disaster area.
Here's what I read at Google Earth.
The environmentally damaged area covers hundreds of square kilometres of land. The main industries in Copsa Mica are non-ferrous metalworking and chemical processing plants, and their effect on the environment has been devastating. Air pollution by heavy metals is 600 times the allowed levels. To make matters worse, a lead-smelting facility emitted fumes containing sulfur dioxide, lead, cadmium, and zinc over the town and surrounding area for 50 km² (19 square miles). The entire town and much of the surrounding area were covered with a blanket of black soot daily until the facilities were forced to close in 1993.
I think it's about time that we put children and the environment first and industry second - don't you?
Happy Weekend
L
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