“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, but we borrow it from our children.” – Ancient proverb

During the 19th century, people were not aware about what new industrial technology does to the Earth. Taken by the rise in technology, the human species became blind to the damages they do to all living things. According to the first law of nature, these actions caused different and very serious reactions resulting in global warming. 

One big lesson for all to learn: climate change is a natural phenomenon, global warming is not! It is being provoked by the actions of the people. Global warming on the other hand makes climate change happen faster, and be more drastic and extreme. 

If we zoom on the map, the Balkans have suffered severely from climate change these last couple of years. Other than sudden changes in the weather, there have been a lot of precipitations and floods. In Macedonia, climate change will add to water scarcity, land degradation, loss of biodiversity, and natural disasters. Due to the hot and dry conditions, forest fires are likely to intensify and become more frequent. 

Luckily, nowadays science has evolved and found ways on how to protect ourselves from what we already provoked- Global warming. Numerous organizations around the world work on raising the awareness on environmental issues. 

In Skopje, Macedonia, one of the most active youth organizations is Go Green- association for sustainable development and environmental protection. The organization was established in 2010 and focuses on climate changes, sustainable development and youth activism. Its tendency is to widen its activities to a regional level and to form a youth eco-network. So far, Go Green has expanded to Zagreb, Croatia, and soon to Brussels, Belgium. 

During their six years of work, they have completed several campaigns and projects about issues such as waste management, renewable energy resources and alternative transport. Part of the goals includes opening of so-called green jobs by motivating young people to obtain their education and expertise in the field of sustainable development and ecology.  

At present, Go Green is working on improving the formal and non-formal environmental education, but also on waste clean-up campaigns, international events for climate change, campaigning for urbanization of Ohrid and it organizes a Green Job fair.

“World at peace, where people live in harmony with the nature.”-Go Green Vision

On the 22nd of April we celebrate the World Earth Day. Since 1970, people from more than 193 countries celebrate Earth Day to tackle climate change and support environmental protection. In these 46 years, the number of activists grew from 20 million people in USA to 1 billion worldwide.

This year, the Earth Day Network put the slogan “Trees for Earth”, and the goal was to plant 7.8 billion trees for the Earth. In this direction, the youth environmental organization “Go Green” organized, in the Central City Park in Skopje, the campaign “Hug a Tree with Passion”. 

Around 20 young volunteers joined this action and were handing out seed cards with motivating messages to passing people. The messages sent were meant to encourage planting trees, raising the awareness of their importance for climate change: “More O2, Less CO2!”. The trees were donation from the “Parkovi i zelenilo”, and they were planted by the Go Green members together with representatives of the City of Skopje. 

Brankica Vasleva is a first-year-university student and Youth Coordinator at Go Green. This aspiring youngster was also part of the Earth Day activities organized by GG in Skopje: 

“Earth Day is a day of celebration for our Planet and each person celebrates it in his own way. For me, it is telling everyone that I meet "It's Earth Day today!”, aiming at creating a positive spirit of loving the Earth, and raising the awareness that people should take care of it. My motivation is to inform and share our excitement for Earth Day with the citizens and hope that our actions will have an impact on the people that we would meet and talk with during the day.”

This day is an event that became even more important for the Earth, since another significant event happened - the signing of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. 

“Next year, this day will be an even more significant one, since today is the day the fossil fuel era ends and the one when renewable energies begins. 175 world leaders committed to low greenhouse gases, climate resilient societies and we hope that our Balkan region will achieve the climate goals put in its countries’ INDC (Intended National Determined Contributions) -shared Antonio Jovanovski, board member of Go Green.

Everyone on the planet is witnessing history. Our Planet Earth is our only home and it is our responsibility to take care of it. Remember: we do not inherit it from our ancestors, but we borrow it from our children.


By Mila Golcheva

Skopje, Macedonia