rupert's travel blog

Tag: rural development

  • My Pulitzer Prize

    I published an article on Huffington Post on January 1st 2014 called Thank You Romania and it went viral. Over 11,000 people liked it on Facebook and everyone I met in Romania seemed to have seen it. Apparently it was just what was needed in Romania – a positive article to balance all the scaremongering by the British tabloids about the „Romanian immigrant invasion’. By now, almost two months later, everyone knows that story is a joke but for Romanians a bitter taste remains; it’s hard for them to accept that they’re disliked – even hated – in the UK.

    When Formula AS, a leading Romanian weekly newspaper, asked me to do an interview based on my brief analysis of the British tabloids in my Thank You Romania, I jumped at the chance. (more…)

  • How to get a grant

    roma_comunity_montenegroWhen I was in Montenegro recently I checked into a small guest house and asked if they had internet. “Of course we do” boomed the big cheery lady who runs the place, but when I tried to get online it didn’t work. I asked for help and she went to fetch the Siberian who was living with his wife on the floor below. “He knows English” she cried as she hurried down the frozen stone steps.

    A small, alert and friendly young man came in and tried to help me connect. But it still didn’t work, and we ended up on the outside terrace which was the only place (apart from his room) where the wireless signal actually did work. We sat there for hours, despite the rain and cold, and I learned about Siberia.  (more…)

  • EU funds could re-forest Romania

    Interview

    Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (DAZ):You are demanding the plantation of new trees in Romania. What benefits for the environment are you expecting with this measure?

    Rupert Wolfe Murray (RWM): Due to global warming and successive heat-waves, much of Romania’s farmland is being abandoned or is becoming impossible to farm. Other areas cannot retain the water in the land – and the inability to retain water is the definition of a desert. (more…)

  • Bureaucrats ban ancient rural practises

    The proposed ban against transhumance is symptomatic of the Romanian government’s attitude towards the peasantry, but it goes against the values of the EU.

    It would be really tragic if Romania banned transhumance (the ancient practise of taking huge flocks of sheep to mountain pastures for the summer) . Although the practise may contravene some of the EU’s public health rules, there is a strong tendency within the EU to suport traditional cultural practises within EU member states, to encourage diversity as well as environmentally friendly activities.

    (more…)

  • Bran, the Capital of Kitsch

    Five days after Romania joined the EU I visited Bran Castle. I was sadly disappointed by the incredible kitsch on display in the carpark, the ruination of the village by uncontrolled banner advertising and an interior that has been ruined by bad restoration. What was an intriguing fifteenth century castle has been reduced to a centrepiece of the kitsch capital of Romania. The Habsburg’s asking price of 60 million Euro is laughable; they would be lucky if they could get 10% of that over inflated value. (more…)

  • How I became green

    Ever since my history teacher explained about global warming I knew we were in trouble. But it was too depressing to worry about. What could I do about global warming, pollution and the preservation of the countryside? Like most people, I assumed there was nothing I could do; I put the issue to the back of my mind, went traveling and got on with my life. (more…)

  • Romania becoming a desert

    The climate is changing in Romania. The land is being dried up by increasingly hot summers, torrential downpours are becoming the norm and the side-effects of rapid economic growth are damaging the environment.

    Parts of eastern Romania have become so arid that farming is impossible and in other areas, over-grazing threatens to destroy all plant life and usher in an era of desertification. (more…)

  • Invest in education for Roma minority

    A massive investment in education is the only way that the huge Roma minority in Romania can emerge from grinding poverty and marginalisation. If better educated, the Roma people could fill the gap created by the country’s falling population and provide future generations of entrepreneurs, scientists and skilled workers. (more…)