A global community of trashbonders since 2007. We dare because we care.
FOR THOSE
OUR MISSION MESSAGE TO YOUTH MEDITERRANEAN
OUR MISSION
Water is life
Just as blood is of vital importance to every man, water and the water cycle are the blood and circulatory system of our planet. Contaminate a man’s blood, and he will die. It is the same with our planet,
because water is the source of life on earth.
Everything on earth is made of water. Our bodies are made of water. Water is life.
The pollution of our waters is increasing day by day. Photographs of water basins show us the terrible truth. Fish are disappearing from the waters around the world. Life on our planet is slowly dying ...
Civilization, as never before, is faced with the question: Is it possible that we are so arrogant, so conceited and selfish that we will leave our children with a planet that is dying ... leave behind the testimony of our negligence ... so they can remember us for this ... for centuries to come?
There are a multitude of organizations and movements around the globe that are trying to clean up
what has been contaminated. The problem is sustainability. In a few months, the same thing will happen again. Clean-up initiatives are good, but they are not the solution. The solution is to create a population with a healthy and honest attitude towards our planet. Unfortunately, it is too late for many things,
but not for everything.
Guided by a sincere desire to change our own attitude towards life and nature, we have realized that the only way to do something that will lead to real change is to invest in our future. And our future is our children. Unlike us, they are completely honest with themselves and life. They have the strength, willpower, and most importantly, a free mind ... they do not seek money or power ... they want change ... they want the truth.
With the proper education of our children, over several generations, we will create heirs who will live in harmony with nature. We will have a generation of people who can truly relate to the natural environment, who will love nature with all their hearts, and preserve it as a sanctuary.
If we begin right now, over time, we will create serious people with a serious mission: to preserve that which is the source of our lives at any cost. This is our goal ... that all our children become:
GUARDIANS OF THE EARTH
MESSAGE TO YOUTH
Dear children,
we, your parents, we were not wise. All our lives, we longed for material things. All our hopes were focused on science and technology, thinking that this would change our lives for the better.
We thought that money buys everything, and technology can replace everything. We forgot the fact
that our ancestors survived and lived from our rivers, forests and animals. We have forgotten that life
is in every breath, every movement, every moment.
Life is a sip of clean water, sunrise and sunset, the smell of flowers in the spring.
Life is all around us, but we do not see ...
We, your parents, have been blinded by technological tools, we have lost sight of the essence of life.
Somewhere along this path, we lost our way. We destroyed the planet in our madness.
The essence of these thoughts cannot be expressed so easily. It takes a lot of words, many written pages to point out the truth to you. However, it only takes one look to make things clear. Look at all of our "sad" rivers, lakes and numerous illegal dumps throughout the World. These are the pictures with a thousand words.
We want you to become better hosts and parents than we were. We would like to ask you to create a clear picture of your own priorities and your life in general, and that in your relations with nature you do not forget to love it, and do not make the mistakes that we have made.
Our sincere wish is that you love nature.
Bogdan Kladnik & Srboljub Pešić
MEDITERRANEAN
I wrote this text in 2011. It is even more concerning today, as it was back then.
The Mediterranean sea is the biggest ecological problem
in the world.
Pride, prejudice or just a false statement from someone who is a guardian and lover of Nature?
First I have to admit something to you: I am not a chemist, I am not a biologist, I am not a geographer, not an ecologist. And I’m not an expert on global warming. I'm the best not ever:).
Nevertheless, I am not without knowledge and experience. In the last 41 years I have explored caves, mountains, gorges, springs and waterfalls, photographed and filmed movies, written and published 68 books on nature, read dozens of articles, talked with hundreds of people – and during those 41 years I have seen with my own eyes the continuous and relentless pollution of water in many countries.
And finally I have connected numerous indisputable facts.
Last summer I sat in front of a huge wall map of the Mediterranean. Yes, you read correctly – not looking at Google maps on the tiny screen of a mobile phone, but in front of a huge old map, like we used to have once upon a time in schools.
I remembered all the horrible scenes of polluted rivers which we saw while traveling through the Balkans with the Young Guardians.
Then it struck me: The Mediterranean sea is the biggest ecological problem in the world!
At first you will think: Nonsense! Everybody says it is China, and this is thousands of kilometres away. The Mediterranean is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world. Even last year we swam in crystal clear water around the Croatian islands and ate fresh calamari … Maybe this is true but I am afraid that it will not be true for much longer.
Now we have arrived at the point where, to understand better what I have been writing about, you should watch the scary movie by Srboljub Pešić TUŽNA MORAVA. Once you have done this, please return immediately to this site and read on.
So do you understand more clearly what I am writing about now? Also look at the map below. OK, it’s rather old, but the continents and oceans are still in the same place, and the rest doesn’t concern us now.
Tell me: Can you find anywhere in the world a sea which is smaller and more enclosed than the Mediterranean?
Actually you can. That is the Baltic sea which is fortunate not to be surrounded by the Mediterranean countries (for this purpose I include the Black sea in the Mediterranean). The smallness and enclosed nature of the Mediterranean is it’s biggest problem (apart of the obvious pollution of course). Nowhere else can you find such an enclosed sea, nowhere else can you find in one geographical location so many different countries, so many nations, so many religions and so many different political systems all crowded together.
And nowhere else has so much industrial pollution been poured into the water and nowhere else for such a long period of time as in the Mediterranean.
I am quite aware that that the problems in other oceans are as great, if not greater than in the Mediterranean. But the size of these oceans is so great that the consequences will become apparent later.
And why does almost nobody recognize the Mediterranean as a huge problem?
In the last few months I have tried to verify my hypothesis by asking different nationalities the same question:
”What is your first impression when I mention the word Mediterranean?”
Their answers like: ”ahh holidays, warm sea, Sardinia, beautiful Croatian beaches, Crete …” were somehow expected.
And why did nobody mention the polluted sea, dirty beaches and poisoned fish? People are predictable. It’s easier to think on beautiful things and to forget the bad. Because otherwise we would have to deal with them. And that is difficult. It’s easier to think about nothing or focus only on beautiful things. It’s easier to survive like this.
Survive? Yes we will, but what about our children?
You see, this last question concerns me. I am afraid that in this time when everything is changing so quickly, when governments and economies are falling apart, when major and minor wars are being fought – and while water still flows from our pipes – the question of clean water will be one of our last priorities. Until it will be too late. By this time all our water will be contaminated (think about the fact that only 10% of the water from the Alpine rivers is still ecologically intact) and the rest will be owned by multinational companies.
THE END – AND THE BEGINNING:
Why this huge change in civilization should take place precisely in this tiny boiling pot, in this centre of the Earth (Medi-Terra) where great civilizations and great wars were born – why this transformation in our minds and our actions that only from here can we disseminate (copy paste for computer freaks) to the whole world – I will tell you some other time …
Bogdan Kladnik
Ljubljana, 12.12.2011
