A story about love for nature and hope for a world filled with love by Nika Kos, 25 yr, Žiri Slovenia
I live in a small village, surrounded by green meadows and trees, with a beautiful view of the lower-lying areas. Since childhood, I have loved nature. I remember how, even in elementary school, I couldn't understand how some people could just throw trash into nature. Many times, while walking across the bridge I took to school, I would notice litter that people had discarded into the river. Honestly, I still don't understand it today. When I see this, I feel disappointment, confusion, sadness, and anger.
Because of my interest in travel, I decided to enrol in a high school for tourism. There, I became even more aware of how people harm nature. Mass tourism, discarded food, food and water consumption, the fashion industry, plastic pollution, air travel, and all the waste–all of this is destroying our planet. I think it was in high school that I felt the most fear, anxiety, despair, and danger about global changes, as I felt that people weren't taking these issues seriously enough and weren't trying to change their habits.
My passion for protecting nature then led me to study environmental protection. However, alongside this study, I experienced even more of these emotions – fear, anger, and frustration – as I became acquainted with even more problems and understood them better. I saw how complex these issues are.
Nevertheless, I also found hope, as I realised that there are solutions and that we can make things better. Hope also comes from the people I meet (more and more every day) who care, and together we are changing the world.