AIR IS SLOWLY KILLING US! Monitoring Stations Show We Breathe Poison at the Border with Serbia - Who Pays?

Man, sit down and let me tell you what I found out today from one of my boys, you know, he works at the University of Life Sciences in Timișoara. He came with something that left me speechless. The Faculty of Agriculture there, partner in the AirMON project, held a conference on June 19, at 11 sharp, to present what they've been doing with air monitoring at the border with Serbia. And, bro, what do you know? It's not good at all!

The AirMON project, that is CROSS-BORDER AMBIENT AIR MONITORING NETWORK - because, of course, the Germans and the English give it a name like it's NASA - is funded through the Interreg IPA Romania-Serbia Program. That means European money, 1.5 million euros, 85% from the EU, the rest from us and the Serbs. The consortium includes USVT, the Institute of Public Health in Timișoara, the University of Novi Sad, and the Environmental Protection Agency of Serbia. All these guys got together to see how we stand with pollution.

And, cousin, the intermediate results are terrifying. Suspended particles - PM10 and PM2.5 - and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) sometimes exceed the limits recommended by the World Health Organization. Urban and industrial areas are the most affected. Man, when I go out with my BMW in traffic, I feel like I'm coughing, but now I have proof: the air is full of crap. Can you imagine what my kids, Brian and Ioana, breathe when they go to school? Mioara says we make masks at home, but what can you do, bro?

The conference was attended by representatives from Romania and Serbia, air quality experts, local and regional authorities. They presented data collected from monitoring stations installed at strategic points along the border. And plans to expand the network. Fine, fine, but what do we do about pollution now? The project will continue and will make recommendations for reduction. Well, we all make recommendations, but when do we get to breathe clean air?

This reminds me of the times when smoking was allowed in bars and everyone said it was nothing. Same old story: measurements, studies, recommendations, and we still have lungs full of smoke. Caragiale would have been proud of this comedy. Until then, I'm going to explain to Mioara that maybe we shouldn't keep the window open at night, because the air in Berceni is like a factory.