The Vama Buzăului Eco-Chapter

It is already more than 2 weeks ago that we had the Vama Buzăului Eco-Chapter report presentation at the town hall of Vama Buzăului. Things are becoming ever busier, hardly time for a good report.

There will be substantial updates, however we are in a collaborative public/private engagement, we need to govern communication and next step planning very well.

For now, I just want give you some impressions of a great event, visited by 300 people, of which 250 from Vama Buzăului and 50 appreciated guests from outside Vama Buzăului.

The core of the event-day was the presentation by Erwin van Maanen, ecologist, presenting:

Building an ecological sustainable future for the municipality of Vama Buzăului in Romania: An EcoChapter

This event is about a proposed future for the people of Vama Buzăului and their municipality which includes the localities of Vama Buzăului, Acriş and Buzăiel, with a combined total of 3500 people.

With 250 people in the town hall we reached 7% of the population, but indirectly, through direct 1nd line connections of those present, we can assume that we effectively communicated with virtually the entire population.
We will be planning follow up ‘’town hall’’ debates but then for each locality individually (so Vama Buzăului, Acriş and Buzăiel). With that we hope to be able to speak to 20% of the entire population directly.
This event was about 2-way communication, to propose a future, but more importantly to listen …
We think we had an effective session, with plenty of debate, critical, but positive and very constructive and supportive.

At one point we asked people who supported the initiative to raise their hands. With some encouragement, people tend not to want to be the first one, there was a massive raise of hands …
However, of course, we also asked who did not support the initiative … and with some more encouragement to not be shy… one hand went up …

… a courageous hand hanging silently and lonely in the air …

we have unfortunately not captured this beautiful, almost poetic sight …
The lady with the hand was handed a microphone and spoke in English, stating that in fact she actually would like to support the initiative but that she believed that the people themselves wouldn’t have the capacity and the belief that this future for Vama Buzăului can happen.

This now is the crux … futures don’t happen because people do not believe in it … because they are not empowered …
This summarizes the crux of the initiative … it is about empowerment … helping the people of Vama Buzăului create their own future … we are working on it.
To close, below are some pictures, more reports will follow.

If you have any questions, comments, remarks, suggestions, we are always please to receive your email!

From left to right: Huub Drabbe- Economic and Commercial Counsellor Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; Tiberiu Chirilaş – mayor of Vama Buzăului; Mark Koops, Building the future in Vama Buzaului.

Erwin waiting for his turn to speak … care este viziunea ta penru un viitor durabil: what is your vision for a sustainable future?

People taking their seat in the town hall for the presentation by Erwin van Maanen: Building an ecological sustainable future for the municipality of Vama Buzăului in Romania: An EcoChapter

Horia Halmagi (left), Dorian Lungu, just before the start of the presentation and public debate.

From left to right: Monica Ardeleanu, Horatiu Radu, Lucian Andrei, Giulia Valentini, Luca Fornaroli, Gérard Doedée and Tiberiu Chirilas are Building the future in Vama Buzăului, holding the Green Building Council pre-certification for the first house in the Valley21 Joint Venture.

The Valley21 Joint Venture house is getting there …

Gérard Doedée in a room with a view …