Changes in climate in my own country Slovenia in my home town Ptuj
My home town is Ptuj, a nice small town on the river Drava. There is a lovely mediaeval castle on a hill. One can also see an artificial lake on the river, the largest in Slovenia. My grandmother told me a lot about the river and life in Ptuj fifty years ago. There were only two bridges over the river, a railway and a motorway bridge. Drava’s stream was fast in some places and rolling slowly in others, but the best place to cross it was at Ptuj. Drava had been navigable from ancient times. It had carried heavy cargo on many rafts for centuries. Drava had made flat country, ideal for agriculture, with many vineyards on hills behind it. Nature and climate had offered everything for a good living. Important Roman town Poetovio was founded in 69, it was a much larger and famous town than Ptuj nowadays is. It had had from 40.000 to 70.000 inhabitants in Roman times, it has 17.000 now. The Drava had made Ptuj important and rich, but there have been big changes on it lately. Consequently, the climate in Ptuj has changed. There are four lovely bridges over the river now. W e have nearly no industry in the town, interesting countryside, historic places, thermal springs, a well-preserved mediaeval old city, a lovely library, rich museums, many new stores. But many orchards and vineyards are grown over, you can even see harmful new plants, for example ambrosia. A new hydro-electric power plant was built on the Drava in 1978. There were natural possibilities given , the ground offered a slope of 29 m between Ptuj and state border with Croatia. A high dam was built near Markovci, a nice village famous for “kurents,” good ghosts in fur masks, bringing fertility and chasing away winter from the beginning of time. And there was a dam. Fields and farms were divided in two parts. Trees and pastures disappeared slowly in the lake behind the dam. Ptuj has got a large lake! The power plant in Formin was important, but we were not aware of the harm it has done to nature. The countryside near Ptuj changed a great lot, the life changed, too.
My granny has lived in Ptuj since 1964, she lived in Ljubljana before that. Fog was a common phenomenon there, but not in Ptuj. Now it is the opposite! There were lovely summers in Ptuj and snowy winters, temperatures very low, snowy cover was creaking under your step … Now we have even hotter and windy summers in Ptuj, foggy winters with little snow. The Drava has had its highest waters every year in June. It flooded large areas, and it brought fertile minerals to its plains. But the river has caused great damage, too. My mother and her brother were keen on discovering the secrets of the Drava on its banks and small branches. The river was a kind of “ Mark Twain’s Mississippi” to them. There was an island in the middle of the flow, too. Children could find first snow-drops and other flowers there. Variety of plants and birds was very rich in spring and in summer time. In late autumn geese, ducks and even swans flew down to the river. They stayed for a while and left for warmer southern places. My grandmother told me there was a big flood in June 1965, many people had to help others in need. Houses, farm animals and people were in danger. The water reached even up to first floors of the houses near the river.. That was the last flood in Ptuj. No floods, this is improvement! Not necessarily. There used to be many ducks on the lake, Ptuj used to have its own “ Swan lake,” more than 150 swans stayed for winter. People were bringing food to the birds and admired them. One day I saw hundreds of ducks laying dead on the water! What had happened? They had eaten some sowing seeds on a tractor, deadly for the birds. And then came the so-called bird’s plague and all the swans were gone! What is more, there were numerous fish sorts in the Drava. They are not edible any more.
The Drava is not navigable any more, it has been conquered, you can drive a motor boat on the lake, you can enjoy sports, lovely views, you can watch many sea gulls etc. Ptuj has a sea of its own! We have got used to heavy summer storms and hails, to very strong winds, to dryness, to mild winters. We have got used to a dam. Below the dam there is a very interesting moist area, Sturmovci, you can find unusual groups of plants there. Some years ago, some university teachers from Vienna visited to observe nature. Nature is the same as it was there before the lake, only small parts are preserved. But we have progress, we have electricity, we have the largest lake in Slovenia, we have water refineries … It is true that the lake is becoming shallow, full of mud, full of harmful materials. The climate is changing, changing every day. We have big quantities of water, but not for drinking, not any more. Nature could fight back one day… It is nice to walk around the lake in winter, we have nearly ten degrees Celsius in January, we used to have minus ten. But will we stay healthy, can we accommodate to climate changes? Birds cannot, plants cannot. What about people ? How much time have we got ? It is high time we understood that we are a part of nature too.