Having the chance to spend three days in the European parliament in Brussels, I reached Mr. Kristian Vigenin, one of the most active Bulgarian MEPs, and asked him a couple of questions related to climate change.
What is your brief definition of climate change?
Climate change is the greatest contemporary challenge of mankind. There are proofs of raise in average temperature levels on all planets in the Solar system due to the increased solar activity. At the same time humankind contributed heavily to the increased speed of this process on planet Earth. We can not control climate change but we could effectively influence it through modernization of technologies, new sources of energy and above all change of thinking. The fight with global warming is related to a new way of living. The faster we adapt the more efficient our positive affect on climate change will be.
What does Europe do regarding climate change and is it enough?
Europe showed itself ready to give global leadership: to tackle climate change, to face up to the challenge of secure, sustainable and competitive energy, and to make the European economy a model for sustainable development in the 21st century. Public opinion has shifted decisively towards the imperative of addressing climate change, to adapting Europe to the new realities of cutting greenhouse gas emissions and developing our renewable, sustainable energy resources. A political consensus has crystallised to put this issue at the heart of the European Union’s political programme: a guiding theme for the Union, central to the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs, and of primary importance in Europe’s relations with partners worldwide. It won the support of both the European Parliament and the European Council.
During the last years the EU claimed the leading role in global warning fight and stood up to be the moving force behind the decrease in carbon emissions. The maximum levels of greenhouse gas emission imposed by the European Commission in coordination with the Kyoto protocol serves as a fair example. All heads of state agreed upon committing to EC`s goal 20-20-20 i.e. cut of at least 20 % of CO2 emissions, 20% share of renewable energies in the EU energy consumption and increase of the energy efficiency with 20 % by 2020.
Do you believe in the individual’s power to change the course of climate change in a positive direction?
We the people are the only ones to blame responsibility to whether and in what ways we shall put an end to climate change. No results could be achieved unless every single human on Earth undertakes the effort to reduce greenhouse gases. The combat with global warming will be resolved by global actions implemented locally.
What do you personally do to reduce climate change?
As for my personal stake in the fight against global warming I was the brain behind the Spring air cleaning 2009 initiative. The main idea of the project was to establish an eco-calculator (http://www.vigenin.eu/eco , in Bulgarian) to calculate the burned gases according to the model of car you posses and the amount of trees to be planted in order to justify these gases. The first issue of the initiative took place in four highly polluted Bulgarian cities (Pernik, Haskovo, Yambol and Sofia) in the time frame of a month in the Spring and amounted for more than 500 trees planted by citizens.
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