The biggest problem connected with nature conservation in Latvia is the fact that a few well-educated, socially active and vocal people make use of a fine-sounding slogan (everyone, it seems, loves nature) and of activists who know little or nothing, but who are ready to listen to the nonsense voiced by their idol, in order to “push” interests that sound appealing yet create serious problems for Latvia.

A major problem for the forestry sector in Latvia – with the support of the media and of well-trained public relations specialists, people who stand far from the sector have been turned into its “experts”: people who care neither about the country's development, nor its security, nor its defence, nor the regions and employment, but who are always ready to sneer at these matters (since they do not have to deal with them themselves – others will surely see to that). The main task of these people is to restrict, to obstruct, to ban, to criticise, to prattle on (and so forth), wrapping it all neatly in the thoroughly worn-out veil of the public interest.

The forestry sector is reproached for its heavy investment in publicity, while it is forgotten that a great deal of time and resources has to be spent explaining elementary things — and that the very people making the reproaches have had a hand in deliberately misleading part of the public. If you spend a while on social media, you will see that a large proportion of people who are supposedly visible in the public arena and supposedly educated express their position on forestry matters only once the “leader” has given the command, or by quoting that “leader”. They have no knowledge of their own, and hardly any of them are embarrassed by that, because it has all been fed to them. At the same time (what a surprise!) these people are always first in the queue to accuse someone of authoritarianism — while gladly walking on its leash themselves...

A doctor of biological sciences is not a doctor of forest science, and the same can be said of doctors of chemistry and of deputies of various ranks. Freedom of speech is a great value in Latvia, only... we hear what happens in places far away and not so far away when freedom of speech is too tightly bound up with a lack of knowledge. Unfortunately, we can see this clearly in Latvia too: the so-called environmental activists, for example, do not care and, it seems, have never cared whether the people of Latvia have work and financial security, whether there are still people living in Latvia's regions, far from the projects of central Riga, whether the Latvian state has enough money for security in the current geopolitical situation, or... In their view, all that should be taken care of by others — others who will be vigorously obstructed on the pretext of anything green. Something in this situation is askew... Green thinking should not be tied so closely to poverty and outright foolishness.