It is not unlikely that, after spending a day skiing the illegal slopes of Bansko, or taking advantage of the new, illegal cabin lift at Bodrost/Kartala, you enter into the ski lodge and pick up a free copy of Passport Scotch's slick The Environment and read about local personalities and how they love riding a bike. Illegal, understand, because these objects were constructed on law-protected nature reserves, and slick, well, because there's nothing cooler than saving the planet, yo.

By the time 2008 was coming to a close, the Environment Ministry had issued an order forbidding construction - for a year - at Kaliakra, Ecobulpack had taken its entertaining recycling campaign on tour to various cities around the country and Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov had announced that, by end-2009, recycling in Sofia would be obligatory. Not to mention the major increase of bicycles seen on city streets, the laying of bike lanes and the re-paving of walkways.

The year did not start out that happily, however: January had not even ended when civil group Save Irakli tipped off media that investor Swiss Properties had started the (illegal) construction of the resort complex Riverside Village, in the southern Black Sea coastal region of Irakli-Emine, an area protected under the pan-European environmental network Natura 2000. Bourgas' Regional Inspectorate for Environment Protection and Waters stopped the construction, but a few days later, builders were back at the site, backhoes going full force.

Construction ban breaches seemed to be a regular occurrence early on, with illegal construction of a lift near Seven Rila Lakes in Rila National Park resuming in late February; a new illegal road and hotel under Musala Peak in Rila National Park in early July; a proposed ski lift and the expansion of the Bodrost ski routes in mid-September; and the illegal blasting (or not, depending on whom is asked) of a riverlike formation of moraines on Vitosha Mountain, to make way for an expanded ski zone, in early October.

Other areas of concern were Strandja Nature Park and the planned ski zone Panichishte-Ezerata-Kaboul.

At Strandja, in early summer, plans for a high-density holiday village in Tsarevo were presented in as much shrouding as possible. Though approved by Environmental Minister Djevdet Chakurov and the Supreme Expert Environmental Council, the detailed master plan for the complex included the construction of roads and a lodge, thus contradicting the Protected Areas Act, Environment Protection Act, Spatial Development Act, and the European Union's Habitats Directive and Birds Directive.

Earlier in the year, on February 15, a roundtable had been held on the project MyCoast, a joint project between Bulgaria and The Netherlands dedicated to starting up an integrated eco-investment programme in the Bourgas coastal area.

Further up the coast, Varna and north of, windfarm projects were proposed, evaluated, sometimes approved and most always met with resistance from environmental activists defending the free flight of avifauna - it so happens that the best areas for wind energy are smack dab in the centre of the migratory bird route Via Pontica. So long, Tweety.

There were protests, regularly, nearly every week in front of the Environment Ministry, or in front of Parliament, or in the streets or in the mountains. People - citizens, whether nature-lovers or just concerned about their country's future - got on their feet and shouted. And kissed, rode bikes, signed internet petitions, used musical instruments and marched, hoping to draw the country's attention - and the Government's - to what was going on - and that they would not let it just be.

In a nation where `the Government', or other powers higher up, is still expected to remedy every woe, the fact that grassroots movements are bursting out and saying "no!" shows that independent determination and thought-out will for the country are starting to be seen as possible, and positive, alternatives.

Part of this activity did became political. On May 18, a new party presented itself: Zelenite ("the greens"), which aims to stimulate civil society to awareness and action, and to work for sustainability in different societies and regions. Its founders are true environmental die-hards, united more by genuine concern for the environment - Bulgaria's, in particular - than winning a lucrative seat in Parliament.

Summer forest fires in 2008 were much less frequent than in 2007 (3527.8ha compared with 42 934ha), with no proof of arson, particularly as related to investment intentions.

The only real heat was that surrounding the buzz words of the year: "climate change" and "global warming". Bulgaria greeted them like one welcomes a pop quiz - with a show of acquiescence yet little desire.

At the December 11 and 12 European Council meeting in Brussels on the topic, Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev "tried" to convince the other countries that Bulgaria had no need of being included in the Europe-wide plan until the year 2020 to fight climate change, because Bulgaria had "already done enough and thus deserved to receive leeway on heating gas emissions because of its furiously developing economy".

The Bulgarian economy invests up to eight times more energy in the production of one euro of GDP European average. Instead of coming up with solutions to reduce energy expenditures, a segment of the Bulgarian business sector is lobbying to boycott the political processes for reducing emissions.

On the other hand, many local enterprises are coming to realise that doing business in a way that respects the environment is not only good for the planet, it is also good for profits: following the success of the first widely available organic Bulgarian yoghurt, tennis champ Magdalena Maleeva has created the Harmonica label to cover and distribute locally produced organic foods, like cheese, eggs, bread and sausages.

Thanks to WWF-Bulgaria, farmers in the Rousse area received instruction in agroecology and organic farming practices in early November.

The Bulgarian Association for Alternative Tourism, too, has started recognising "green" guest houses and family hotels, granting ECEAT certification where applicable, through its Green Lodge initiative. The first awards were conferred in early December.

Things are changing. Things need to change even more. And if it takes making environmental awareness the trend of the season(s), so be it. In the meantime, we'll be taking our canvas bags with us to market.