The Perception Game: Environment & First-World Problems

In this post, we introduce the concept of environmental protection through the prism of the ongoing air pollution in my hometown. In spite of popular opinion, we will see why this is not a topic reserved for developed countries and show that Serbia is at a notable green tipping point. Same would apply to other countries of Southwestern Europe and beyond.

For years now, during wintertime, Belgrade residents have been hearing that the "fog" has again descended on the town and that everything will be fine when the wind starts blowing anew. At the same time, local bloggers share how they are enjoying family time with small children on the city quay submerged in that "fog"... Meanwhile, in a parallel universe, sometimes called factual reality, the Air Quality Index app (aqicn.org) indicates almost daily that the degree of air pollution in Belgrade is literally like burning tires in open flames.

I still remember my recent arrival to the capital of Serbia and that viscous gray cocktail of particles and pollutants in which we will land. Along with my feeling of despair, the lady next to me starts to cross herself and mumbles how she can't believe that the "fog" is again in her city. To my comment that this was no fog but air pollution and a consequence of a worn-out energy supply system, individual coal-burning heaters, and old vehicles, she was shocked, and her husband bluntly said that I must be wrong. Apparently, if I was right, he would find out in the evening news that this was air pollution, not just fog. It seems that the gentleman lives in a more beautiful reality than mine, in which you sometimes see and sometimes smell the visible air along with coughing or your eyes watering.

Belgrade air pollution, February 26th, 2021 at 09.46h. Air Quality Index: cca 120 (very unhealthy)

Anyways, amid a petition to combat air pollution in Belgrade "Sign, breathe", otherwise a city that is shortlisted for the green capital of Europe, I recently saw a video where the Prime Minister of Serbia utters the following sentence: Ecology is a first-world problem. Not ecology and certainly not a first-world problem. Ecology is a scientific discipline that belongs to biology and studies the distribution and diversity of organisms and their relationships with the environment. This was at least written in my biology book, when aged 13, I learned about the cycles of matter in nature, about climate, food chain, vegetation in ecosystems (from desert to taiga), and similar phenomena on the planet. The Prime Minister actually meant the environment, that is, its protection and this is more than just a common mistake in English-Serbian translation. Roughly speaking, ecology deals with the study of nature, and environmental protection minimizes the effects and consequences of human actions in and out of nature. By that, its efforts largely shift from nature (which is worth worshipping) to the human environment and in an urbanized world where people live far from nature, environmental protection ends up dealing with living conditions in cities. This, then, is not just a linguistic or translation correction; it becomes a matter of perception - "Who does environmental protection concern?".

In this regard, a much more significant part of this statement is that this is the problem of the first world. The protection of the environment, as the protection of the human surrounding, is the biggest problem precisely where the living conditions are disturbed. Please leave the romantic perception of my profession aside - no fight for polar bears and icebergs is important for 2 million inhabitants who suffocate for at least 4 months a year… My profession deals, among other things, with public health technology because it allows us to live better, longer, and healthier. Sometimes that incorporates the biodiversity or global warming issues, but in many cases it is simply about health and living conditions.

Back in 1992, World Bank reports showed that the level of air pollution increases with GDP, all the way to one point as the trend reverses and pollution begins to decline [1]. This is no coincidence - when a society reaches a certain level of economic development, citizens begin to worry about what kind of air their children breathe, what kind of water they drink, whether they are surrounded by waste because they can literally see and smell the problem. It is also true that before the population can take serious care of the environment, it must first reach a certain level of economic development; once it is "there", there is no longer any European, North American, Russian, Far and Middle Eastern investment that will then, due to the projected economic benefits, distract attention from concerns for children’s and own health. This tipping point is between 6000 - 8000 USD, and Serbia, with its 7400 USD per capita, is right there [1,2].

Experience shows that the state policy at that point, due to pressure and real need, must turn to environmental protection through investments in infrastructure, but the catch is that the effects of this shift are seen before the end of political turn and significantly later. By effects I mean, not technology at the level of nuclear submarine programs, but increasing living conditions - drinking water supply, sewerage system, safe energy production, home insulation, sorting & disposal of waste… I will only mention the fact because of which I blush with shame: Besides being deprived of decent air 4 months a year, Belgrade is a European capital without wastewater treatment (sewage treatment before discharge into its rivers). For a country on whose soil as many as 17 Roman emperors were born (the most after today's Italy), it is not noticeable that aqueducts or sewage remained items of importance. If we think about it, the mentioned civilizational achievements are mostly invisible nowadays because they are buried under ground; as such they don’t profit from media coverage of the opening ceremony and red ribbon cutting...

In the end, the awareness of the problem and a certain civil revolt appear primarily due to the significantly poorer air quality in the cities - and the recent protests and petition in Serbia confirm just that. There is no escape from the air; it has no bottled, organic, or homemade alternative. It is the same for young and old; those without much education and those with a doctorate; those with a salary of 300 euros and those with 3000 euros; the ruling, the opposition & the apolitical individuals – so for the whole society in one territory. And this is critically important in a system where both healthcare and energy supply are public because there is a direct link between government investment in environmental protection and its health costs.

In the next post, I will show why an argument like "What are you talking about, kid? The heating season has always been like that and it always smelled like smoking meat in January" does not apply to the current situation; why the current "fog" is not the fog from our parents' childhood, and you will see what Cedevita (a Balkan favorite instant orange juice) has to do with this topic.

Honestly, consciously and informedly,

Tijana Ivanović

Ing. env. dipl. EPF Switzerland

Dipl. inž. zaštite životne sredine, Serbia

References:

[1] World Bank. GDP data for 2019. Pristup aprila 2021.

[2] World Bank. World Development Report 1992: Development and the Environment. NewYork, USA. 1992.

Picture from personal collection.

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