“Yesterday I dusted off the nightstand, and today it’s back.”

It is impossible that any person who is lucky enough to live in the capital of Romania will not go through this. Unbearable smells in some evenings add even more spice to life in the most crowded and noisy city. A city with which everyone has developed a somewhat toxic romance.

Residents of Bucharest could live an average of 4 years longer if they were not exposed to air pollution. At least that’s according to a 2020 Institute of Public Health report. Today’s results could be much worse.

According to the latest IPCC report, the Romanian capital is the 5th most polluted capital in the European Union. Since numbers best paint this bleak landscape, I leave you with some sprinkled, disturbing data below:

• According to curat.aerlive.ro, more than 2,800 residents of Bucharest die prematurely each year due to pollution in the city.
• According to cumstam.ro, in 2022 Bucharest registered 115 cases of exceeding the pollution limits allowed by law for suspended particles PM10.
• According to WHO, 34% of strokes and 27% of heart diseases are related to air pollution.
• 7 square meters of green spaces per inhabitant of Bucharest – the EU average is 18 square meters per inhabitant

Where did these problematic situations come from and why did we end up here?

80% of pollution is caused by cars.

More precisely, cars in the city produce 90% of carbon monoxide emissions, 59% of nitrogen oxide emissions, 45% of volatile organic compounds and 95% of lead emissions, according to a report by the Platform for the Environment for Bucharest.

1.8 million cars in Bucharest and the same number of inhabitants. This is in 2020. Most likely, today the number of cars has exceeded the number of those with Bucharest license plates.

Why so many cars? We can again fall into the debate related to the deficit of the communist period, or ironically say that the Romanian was born in a car, but I think everything is simpler.

Every person makes a choice every morning when they go to work or take their children to school. And everyone will make the best choice for him.

Don’t you have a school or kindergarten near your home? You take the car.

Does public transport take about the same amount of time to work? You take the car.

From these two issues alone (of which there could obviously be more) we see that the solution has always been within the reach of local authorities.

A maximum of 10 minutes’ walk to school or kindergarten. Are you still taking the car?

Traveling by public transport takes less than half the time of commuting. Are you still taking the car?

With the exception of Nikusor Dan, the mayors of Bucharest prioritized the development of road infrastructure, despite the infrastructure intended for public and alternative transport.

Building more parking spaces, crossings and widening avenues to reduce traffic is like printing more money to reduce inflation.

Illegal dumps, landfills and inappropriate construction sites.

The illegal burning of waste came to light during the period when the USR appointed a man to the Environmental Guard who had a falling out with the mafia from the communes around Bucharest. The problem of these communities is very complex, but the lack of interest, incompetence and corruption of those who are supposed to protect our health make this phenomenon devastating. All these harmful substances are entering our lungs and no government seems to care.

The most frequent and serious exceedances of pollution limits occur in the cold season. Although I live only a few kilometers from the center of the capital, which has a higher GDP per capita than Berlin, many people still use wood for heating. Due to the warmer air in the city on winter evenings, all the toxic smoke enters the houses of Bucharest residents.

The air in the south of the city is especially flavored with gases emitted by those who manage the Vidra landfill. Criminal activity for the sake of saving on the gas bill. The registrar documented this case very well two years ago. Unfortunately, no one took any steps to stop the deliberate poisoning of hundreds of thousands of people in the south of Bucharest, in the communes of Berceni or Vidra.

Another large amount of dust enters our homes and lungs from hundreds of construction sites that do not follow any sanitary and hygienic standards. Nonsensical real estate development ended up not only blocking our traffic and sunlight, but also our airways. In 2022 alone, more than 4,500 fines were issued in Bucharest to those who built buildings. –

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