Roşia Montană - Alternatives

Roşia Montană is a small commune in the Romanian mountains currently scheduled for complete destruction by a Canadian mining company. The Romanian government is bent on making it happen since there are some political and personal gains of a few state officials to be had by doing so. What a large part of the population is now trying to do by means never before employed on such a scale at a grass roots level in Romania is create alternatives to the mining disaster that would blow out four mountain tops. From eco villages to quiet retreats and from agro tourism to archeological tourism the place could benefit more if the mountains were left where they are both to preserve the diminishing bio diversity, the local customs and tradition deeply engraved in the buildings that the people live in which are also scheduled for destruction but also the intrinsic value of the place. Not only the buildings but also churches, cemeteries and historical tunnels made in the area by the romans who were never working at the capacity and scale this "modern" company is planning to do so. They used human scale solutions to extract for human needs while this company is working on a gigantic scale, planning to destroy 1600 hectares of wild mountains to extract the precious metal for the profit oriented needs of a few.

There will be a camp starting in the area formed by grass roots activists from all over the world as well as concerned Romanians that want to get involved in showing the alternatives. Reclaim the fields comes itself as another alternative to the countless others that people with no support from the government are creating. You can read more about it by following the above link.

I will myself be traveling in an alternative way, by hitchhiking and stopping over in Mannheim, Germany; Nuremberg, Germany; Linz, Austria; Vienna, Austria; Budapest, Hungary and finally reaching Rosia Montana in Romania by the start of the camp which will be on the 21st of September. I will be talking about the camp on free radios on the way and the first one scheduled is Bermuda.Funk radio in Mannheim where I will actually arrive tomorrow for the first interview. The alternatives are there and we just need to make a jump of faith to see them (believe you me, I am in no way ready for a 1700km journey but I am willing to take the plunge for the trip itself which will still be incredibly revealing something that I think could be applied to the case in Rosia Montana as well - politicians just need to wizen up and see who is actually supporting them in being where they are).

So if you also want to see the situation in Rosia Montana for yourself and judge by first person account than please feel free to join the camp which will be self organized so hope to see as many of you fine readers and listeners there: http://reclaimthefields.org