A Green Earth for our Grandchildren’s Grandchildren

As a 2007 Muskie fellow at the University of Louisville, Alona Dorosh studied public administration and took courses in non-profit management and project planning.  Now home in Moldova, Dorosh is putting those skills to use while leading an environmental awareness initiative.  With funding support from the ECA Alumni Small Grant Program and Project Smile, Dorosh implemented a series of environmental trainings for students and teachers in Moldova.  Participants learned about the negative effects of non-biodegradable waste and had the opportunity to make their own reusable cloth bags to reduce the amount of plastic bag waste in their community.

Q. What gave you the idea for this project?
A. Great things start from small ideas… [mine started from] a simple article that I found on a web site. It described all [of the] harmful effects and negative consequences of using plastic bags and packaging. Those figures and facts shocked me and made me think about some concrete actions that we all can do to have a greener environment.

Q. Why is environmental advocacy important to you?
A. We all live on a planet that is not ours. It belongs to our grandchildren’s grandchildren; therefore we should care about their future, not only about our current needs. 

Q. How did your study in the US affect your professional goals and your ideas about environmental advocacy in Moldova?
A. Upon my return home, with more knowledge, experience, and personal and professional skills and abilities acquired in the field of non-profit management, I realized that I can do more because I wanted to move forward from [my] current habitual job … and explore new areas, for example environmental work.

Q. What are your plans for environmental work in the future?
A. Together with my colleagues from the National Center for Sustainable Development we plan to extend our project on sustainable ecological education and advocacy in schools throughout our country. Moreover, we intend to organize a series of activities focused on rural women’s empowerment to develop their abilities in environmental advocacy at grassroots level and to increase their civic participation in solving ecological problems in their local communities.