On the 5th of April we organized a round-table discussion in the Köpeci-Teleki house with the assistance of three other organizations: Rhododendron, unDAverde and Mures Community Foundation.

At this event we talked about different changes at Targu Mures and also the climate change. The main reason for this was the following: to present a starting point, a theme for the political campaigns before those campaigns period even begins. Beside the NGO representatives among the guest were also politicians.

The presentations started with a speech by dr. Hajdu Zoltán, the head/director of Focus Eco Center, who talked about the impacts of climate change on Targu Mures. He stated that our city have also fallen in the trap of consumer societies, meaning that it had moved away from nature, leaving smaller and smaller green areas instead of creating new ones, parks, fountains which would help with the pollution and would also make the people of the city much happier. Mr. Zoltán mentioned that not only the leaders of the city should be worried, but also the citizens, they should change their habits, starting with avoiding pre-prepared foods, bottled water and regular use of cars.

The next presentation was Szakács László’s, the president of the Rhododendron Organization, about the green areas of the city, the inefficient tree cut-downs, stating that not only on an esthetic level are trees importants, but also from the point of view of our health. We learned that one cubic meter of leaves imbibes 0.59 C2O and it produces 0.65 kg of oxygen, furthermore it filters 4.5 kg of dust and emits 47 liters of water. His opinion is that now in Targu Mures there are only 9 trees which should be cut down, but most of the trees only needs a cleaning.

As the representative of Mures Community Foundation talked Gál Sándor about traffic, presenting statistics from 2011 when there were 9 accidents including bikers, last year this number was 40.  He says that this isn’t caused by inattention, but the increasing number of bikers. Their surveys show us that most of the teenagers are using cars or are lifted by their parents, because biking is more dangerous. This could be solved with biker roads and the preparation of youth, helping them learn the traffic rules.

Klaus Bithler architect from the unDAverde Foundation talked about the sustainable urban development trends, stating that instead of concrete and other kind of stones we should create water holding areas, like parks and green areas and also we should build ’environmentally conscious’ buildings. The maintenance of these buildings would be much cheaper.

Following the presentations Sóos Zoltán mayor candidate commented on the speeches and said that the current leaders of the city are doing nothing about the climate change, furthermore they try to cut down as many trees as they can. His opinion on this subject is, that the current leaders don’t take this matter seriously and climate change should be an emphasized theme in the city.

Vice mayor Peti András doesn’t think that things in Targu Mures are this gloomy, he says that involving the citizens in the decision-making committee is already a win and he also asks for the help of non-governmental organizations, because he alone can’t stop the provisions ordered by the mayor himself.

In the end, Csegzi Sándor, the counselor of the mayor tried to protect the office saying that Targu Mures is the only city in Romania which is part of the European Climate Foundation thanks to the Focus Eco Center. Besides, in the last few years they succeeded in raising the standards of living here, they created environmentally friendly places, leisure squares like the Weekend or Platoul Cornesti. He also protected the public transport stating that 80% of the city’s population can use it for free.

The atmosphere was tense, the participants only agreed on the matter that there are things in Targu Mures that should be changed, this way making the city more livable for the future generations.