Remembering the Fires and Environment

So while Greece remembers the events that occurred over 50 years ago, short term memory loss means that we are forgetting what has happened only a few months ago. Of course short term memory loss can be fought if people try to remind each other of these events. AmericaninAthens has provided an excellent environmental wrap up of last month.

Also doing the rounds is an email alerting people to a recent EU vote in parliament. Parliament voted that the forested areas in the Mediterranean which suffered from the fires should be protected and allowed to regrow. All countries in the Med voted in favour, all except one party from Greece. New Democracy members voted according to their party line, not their conscience and stated that they voted against the regrowth bill because, according to the email, Rousopoulos said 'it is a violation of Greek constitution, particularly article 24. i have mentioned before article 24 which is a toothless article meant to protect the environment, though never enforced. So if the EU bill says protect the environment, and article 24 the same, how can they be in conflict?

The answer is simple. They are not. The government is playing the Nationalism card. It is trying to hide its disgusting actions behind the Greek flag. "What are you in favour of, an EU bill or the Greek constitution?"

Also mentioned is the fact that over 2000 stremmata (Greek unit of measurement) of the Zaharo village, where people died from the fires have been signed over to tourism development. Apparently the plans were already signed off during New Democracy's initial term according to some people. Of course these people may only be saying that to cast doubt and suspicion on the PM Karamanlis who supposedly signed it when he was also acting as minister of culture. If its a lie then that would be atrocious, if true however...

There is an online petition to support the reforestation at www.petitiononline.com/forestgr/
and there is also a website which shows where the parties vote in the EU with regard to the environment at http://www.foeeurope.org/euvotewatch/. Which is also interesting as it shows that New Democracy has consistently voted against the environment. The Communists largely abstain or are in favour, while SYRIZA and PASOK vote in favour of the environment. Interesting tool as it also includes emails of the parliamentarians so you can have your say. Which is one way to act if you want to see change.

Action day: In review

So Blog action day for the environment has been and passed, and was deemed a success in raising the issues facing the planet and the environment. I switched over to watch the special coverage on SKAI, for the most part it was good, but was tinged with traditional Greek sensitivities, namely a fear of self inspection.

I didn't watch it all i admit, but the few blogs it showed, of the local Greek blogs, they showed the state of the environment around the world. Which evoked the question from one of the hosts "Looking at these pictures, Athens isn't doing too badly isn't it?" Another question asked at the guest bloggers on the night was "Can and should everyone in India drive a car" given that the majority of the population there earns less than one US dollar a day, no matter how cheap cars get, its gonna be a hell of a long time before everyone drives a car.

But the problem with those questions is that Greece needs to be asking itself some serious and hard questions of itself! Such as, "can and should everyone in Athens own and drive a car" after all, that's the direction Athens is heading in, how is it going to cope? And instead of looking at the worst around the world, why don't Athenians try to compare themselves to the Best places around the world.

Are We scared? Are we still swept up in nationalism? Are politicians to blame? Our education system... I dont know, but it is about time that we grew up and asked ourselves these tough questions and faced the future. Sure its scary, but ignoring it wont make it go away.

Environmental protection to be stripped away

Currently on the governments hit list is Article 24 of the constitution which sets out the basis for environmental and forest protection in Greece.

The governing party of New Democracy has proposed that Article 24 (together with art. 117.3) be revised, but instead of strengthening it, they want it watered down so much to make it meaningless. In its argument it has stated that the highest court of the land, the Council of State (Sumvoulio tis Epikrateias) and in general the courts often issue restricting decisions with respect to forest areas.

In other words, the courts have ruled against a new project or in favor of the demolition of illegal constructions (afthaireta) in forest areas in favor of forest protection, and this they say jeopardizes the public interest.

It seems that the constitutional reform is aimed at the promotion of projects and interventions in sensitive areas, particularly forested areas, that would go against the established constitutional protection status of these areas.

It has been said that here in Greece there has been a conscious choice of past governments and administrations to deprive administrations the tools, policies and measures that would lead to rational development that would also protect the environment. Currently Greece is devoid of a National Spatial Plan, a National Cadastre (Land Registry) and Forest registry, which would clarify the status of many disputed areas.

To change the constitution and Article 24, 180 of the 300 MPs need to vote on it. Thanks to the governments poor showing it falls well before this number. This of course does not stop it from gathering support from the minor parties, including its old allies the Communists. We wait and see and hope that the correct action is taken.

Blog Action Day for the Environment

Well ok since i have been writing on the environment, i have decided to add my voice (or word) in support of the environment and a better future.

Blog Action Day which is this Saturday October 15th, aims to unite bloggers from around the web and riase the profile of environmental issues. It hopes that every blogger who signs on will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. So you can be an IT blogger and blog about how IT relates to the environment.

For my part i hope to shed some light on environmental issues here in Greece. Maybe i should start by saying that I am not a Greenie. Environmental concerns took second place behind employment. For me it was far more important that people be employed than looking after the environment. It was only when i came to Greece years ago that i changed.

My parents described to me the Greece they left behind. Fresh water springs in the village and on the road to the next village. Forests full of game where my Grandfather would hunt Minks, foxes, wild boar and wolves. Tree lined streets full of birds chirping.
But when i got here, there were water shortages, wild animals virtually extinct. Forests no more. And the work people were employed in. Electricity from brown coal fired furnaces. Brown coal which is the cheapest and nastiest coal available, guaranteed to give locals breathing disorders and cancer.

So thats when i started thinking about the environment. An environment which has been stolen from me and future generations. Why should a select few, an elite enjoy it where it still exists. Why should these miserable fuddy duddys (elderly) be the only ones to remember the good old days. Why shouldn't I have those memories. Thats when i discovered Sustainable development. Where it isnt an either / or dilemma. As human beings we are smart enough to make decisions where we dont have to sacrifice the environment for a cheap buck.

Anyway, enough said for now, stay tuned, and any questions you have, i will try my best to answer.

Protecting the environment - A government Responsibility

This man is the Prime Minister of Greece, Kostas Karamanlis, nephew of former PM and President Costas Karamanlis. In one of his speeches soon after coming to power three years ago he proclaimed
"We have inherited a government in ashes"
I wonder what he is feeling now, now that he has turned Greece into ashes.

During his three year term this man has been actively trying to change article 24 of the Greek constitution which states that the government has a responsibility to protect the environment and bans the re-zoning of the environment except under certain conditions (click here for article in Greek) He and his government wants to make it easier for construction companies to build in environmentaly protected areas. Just last month in the middle of those fires the government legalised illegal houses built on burnt land. A property developers dream. The BBC interviewed the president of the Hellenic Property Federation, Stratos Paradias who is trying to counter public wisdom that property developers are behind the fires "That's absolutely nonsense, this allegation, because if there is a company which wants to get its hands on some piece of land, to burn this land is the worst way to do it. Once a forest is burnt, according to our constitution, within three months the Forestry Service is obliged to pass a decree according to which this land is reforested."

Yeah right. This government, as proven by the fires, have been absent in the enforcement of these laws, which is not only lax, but non-existent in Greece! The trouble with Karamanlis and Paradias is that they think that they are so smart, everyone else is stupid and no one will know. They are the stupid ones, a WHOLE WORLD is watching this and is expecting Greece to clean up its act.

Nikos Charalambides, director of Greenpeace in Greece placed the blame at the feet of those responsible "the biggest arsonist is the state, which has not clarified the use of land, leaving suburban forests vulnerable to rogue developers. The lack of a national land registry and national zoning laws leave room for doubt about the characterization of land, whether it is forest or not" more elequently than i could ever have, basically because i am angry at these people.

These reports are also repeated on SKY News UK and CNN. For some reason this isn't getting airplay on Greek Media. Do they want to build on this land too? Are their interests at stake? I dont care anymore, the truth however needs to be said.

Elections in Greece, the burning question

Schadenfreude - watching illegal villas going up flames.

This sums up my feelings when i saw the villas going up in flames last week in Pendeli. 13 years ago the suburb was the victim of arson, burning huge swaths of forest. Replanting did occur, as did illegal housing. Some of the land was also divvied up to the journalist pension fund, which explains why it was a huge news item when it went up in flames, and why illegal housing is a non news item. Distraught faces wept on TV as they saw their property burn. They also had the audacity to ask for government funds to rebuild. Thats what insurance is for... whats that? Can't get insurance on illegal villa's? You never tried getting insurance... well excuse me for mentioning the obvious, why should elite lawbreakers get my sympathy?

While Pendeli burned the government finally announced the election date, September 16. So from now until then the TV chanels are going to be full of yelling politicians - Woohoo!
Journalists are also waiting expectantly for the official announcement of the campaign slogans.
Who cares about party platform, policy statements or vision statements on the future of Greece, all we care about are the party slogans so we can chant them on the streets like soccer hooligans, which is what Greek elections are like actually.

But they are also fun and many things, such as the true character of Greece and its citizens are revealed in these days, which is why i will be watching expectantly this whole election process.
Already the dirty politics have begun with the governing New Democracy party blaming the PASOK government for setting the fires to divert attention from the election announcement. Oh yes this is going to be a good clean fight!

Election Fever spawns feverish humour

You might have heard the saying "Fact is stranger than fiction", well it appears that this is one of those situations. The Minister of Transport and Communication has released an official press release regarding the timing of the imminent elections - precise date unknown.

Roughly translated it reads;

"You're asking me? Can't you see? Can't you hear? Aren't you listening?
Why are you asking me?"

Fantastic! Thats what i say.
The man is obviously a clown, the question is, "Why is he still there?"

This follows on from a recent law which 'legalises' over 3000 stremmata of land and brings them into the city plan. By legalising these illegal houses and property the government has effectively green lighted continued illegal housing and as a consequence, the burning of forests (and the death and destruction it causes) upon which more illegal houses can be built and eventually legalised. If there are no ramifications for these actions, why shouldn't they continue to burn and build? It's cheaper than being legal.

One point you may have noticed is that they bring these newly legalised property into the city plan. But surely you ask yourself, first comes the plan, then the building. Unfortunately this is not how things generaly work. Buildings go up first and then public services and utilities are taken to the buildings. That's why Athens sometimes appears to be jumbled up. Roads that suddenly narrow from 2 lanes to one half, plots of land that are 40 square meters next to another which is 100. Some roads with footpaths, others with telephone poles. That's all because city planning has not had a chance to be implemented, with the exception of a few suburbs (such as the Olympic village and land set aside for civil servents [judges, military/police officers] etc). All this haphazard building of course raises the cost of public utilities as these haven't been budgeted for, nor planned in the most efficient manner which takes this issues into account.

We may not have the most organised of cities, but at least we have a funny government we can laugh at - thats something to wipe away our tears.

Don't worry - Its the forests fault

Parnitha before


Parnitha now


In a dramatic turn of events, the Minister of Public Order Byron Polydoros announced over the weekend that the fault of the forest fire was a direct result of the forest being there and that it was growing wild, too closely together and it was too green.

Well i for one am glad that its been solved - pesky forests - growing as they please!
Though perhaps, if we give him the benefit of the doubt, what he might have wanted to say is that there was no Forest Management system in place. Well at least i hope so.

The President of Greece said that it was a day of mourning, he asked the nation to consider what legacy will be left to our children if we continue to disregard nature. The Prime Minister in turn promised that Parnitha and all the areas struck by fires will be re-forested and he emphasised "I say it and i mean it" which makes me wonder about the other things he said...

Cynicism blooms as promises are made

A pro-government newspaper Eleutheri Ora had as its headline today 'Parnitha re-forested with
apartment blocks and maissonetes. ' The reason for this cynicism is because its an Election year.
What's this got to do with anything i hear you ask. Well unfortunately elections in Greece are a time when general amnesty's are given.
For example, to help pedestrians - cars parked on footpaths were fined in Athens. When Dora Bakoyianni became Mayor of Athens, the first thing she did was to give a reprieve to all those who had been fined - end result - everyone parks where they want, don't pay the fine and wait for the next reprieve.

The same goes for illegal houses/bars etc. A famous cartoonist (Kyr) showed a house being built on the Acropolis with the caption "No worries, some politician will come along and make it legal"

In another example of blatant transgression of the laws, Greek Media Magnate Kyriakou apparently extended the training ground of his team onto the grounds of a large park in Athens. Opposition media SKAI tv together with the local pensioners association and Boy Scout troup organised a re-planting on Public Property. Angered by this, Kyriakou called in the police who wielded their truncheons on kids and eldery who were planting trees on public property.

But enough cynicism, lets hope for the best.

Meanwhile concern has also been raised over the plight of the last remaining red deer of Greece. People's reaction to this was

"What, we still have deer in Greece!?!?"

Well apparently we do. Again we hope that something gets done.

Politicians point fingers while Greece burns

Picture from leading newspaper Ta Nea- http://www.tanea.gr/

As Athens woke up this morning to the smell of burning fires and witnessed their cars covered in a fine sheet of ash, the reality of events began to settle.

While i was writing yesterdays blog, politicians came out and announced that recent upgrades will ensure no power outages or restrictions and no-one had to fear the fires as everything was ready. Hours later a major power station in the region of Macedonia, overburdened by electricy demand, blew its fuses sending a casquede effect down the lines, plunging the whole of northern Greece into a blackout.

Meanwhile the fires increased in intensity and numbers jumping to over 300 flare-up according to government news media. Of the 22 fire fighting planes, only nine were capable of flying and of those, two returned to base for maintence. Politicians who were previously telling everyone that everything was under control began to realise that we were now facing the most devastating fire in a decade. People whose houses were under threat from the fires appeared on tv to plead for firefighters to make an appearance to save their homes, firefighters in turn blamed understaffing (They claim that there are 4000 positions to be filled in their ranks). The government blamed the opposition for years of lax management. The opposition blamed the current government for not implementing any change, and the Communists... well they blamed the dominant two party system and the imperialist capitalist system and advocated a fundamental change to the political system.

Firefighters clock out - Volunteers clock in

Meanwhile the mayor of Parnitha, home to the last vestiges of green forest in the Attica basin, Athens lungs so to speak came out and pleaded for HELP and pointed out that finger pointing can be done later, but that he needed help NOW, before it was to late. Help did come. Apparently as the firefighters shift ended last night they abandoned two water tankers, these were commandeered by some 50 volunteers, some of them army, who went out by themselves to fight the fires.

Already at the sites of two fires evidence of foul play was found. At one a warning flare was found and at another a petrol jerry can with 30 shotgun shells. Some of the morning media have already pointed the finger at building companies who have been eyeing these green areas for building development for a number of years.

Right now Greece is asking for help from its neighbours in fighting these fires, unfortunately when the fires are quenched i fear that the same complacency that existed before will return. Sure much finger wagging will be had, voices raised on the television and a number of good plans raised, but if those who are at fault don't step up and admit fault nothing will change.

And to whom do i point and wag my finger - Well the fault is our own. Sure some can say that the government is corrupt and inneficient, or that many of the firefighters were only chosen according to whom they voted and only wanted a job where they were not expected to do anything. And those poor 'innocent' people who appeared on tv and cried for their houses to be saved, houses which were built not ten meters away from the forest (In Greece it is illegal for houses to be built any closer to 50 meters from the forest) - sure we could blame them, or even cheer at some sort of cosmic karma, but that's too easy.

We are to blame because we do not DEMAND from OUR government accountability, even NGO's such as WWF who have been pointing out the lack of fire breaks and proper forest management seem to be content to just point things out but do not follow up. No one does.
Partly its our own greed. "Atrocious that houses are being built where forests used to be, but if i save up, i too can own a house there..." Another part is our own complacency or lack of fight, the current system has been so ingrained in us that we don't believe we can fight it.

That being said action should be done by the government, they are the only people who can legislate after all. Do what Spain does, ban any building on burnt areas for 20 years, that is a first step. Do what Australia does - educate children on dealing with fires and the law. I never lived near a forest yet i know what i should look out for if i live near a forest.

The forest fires are still burning, while this is tragic i hope that this will be a catalyst for change.

Here are some pictures from local newspapers;

http://www.e-tipos.gr/

Greece burns - Civil servants take the day off

Record Highs

This week has seen record tempratures all over Greece. Last Tuesday the temprature hit a whopping 47C degrees in the centre of Athens! In an effort to fight the heat all the air-conditioners were put on max which contributed to the high tempratures.

Living in a concrete city like Athens only excacerbates the high tempratures. Green gardens in front of apartments have been built over to increase the inside apartment space in many suburbs. A culture of car dependence (car showing off) means that many have bought the latest luxury/sporty car and drive it everywhere, even if its to the local shop for some milk, just so they don't have to walk and to show off. This too increases the temprature highs.

This has also caused a strain on energy supply, the government is informing everyone to shut off all non-essential appliances in an effort to reduce energy use. Greece imports a lot of its energy from near-by countries such as Bulgaria, Italy and Turkey. I should also mention that Greece is far behind in reaching its commitment to renewable energy, such as wind turbines etc.
A recent wind energy park proposal on an island is being faught by nearby residents citing concerns that it would impact tourism. Another dirty coal burning plant scheduled to be shut down is still operating, not because of the energy it produces, but the locals who are dying at the age of 50 because of the pollution the dinosaur of a plant produces, demanded it be kept operational for the jobs it supplied. And since they die earlier because of it, the least the government could do is give them government jobs.

The government has also ordered that public services cease at 12:00 midday. This is so that energy consumption can be reduced. Unfortunately many left and forgot to turn them off, meaning that nothing was achieved. That sort of sums up the public service actually.

Greece has also been struck by at least 75 seperate fires. The government is calling on other governments to help them combat the fires. While many of the fires may be accidental there is a lot of cynicism in the country regarding them. Many blame the excessive smoking which goes on and people just throwing their cigarette butts out the window. A greater majority however blame the citizens and builders. Previous fires have cleared large sections of wooded areas where it is illegal to build. After the fires, no wood/forests, building becomes no problem!
Penteli which still has some forest left was the site of major fires a few years ago. Now it is becoming heavily populated by houses and apartments.

Why haven't the media brought it up you ask and bring it to public attention?

I don't know. Of course what many Athenians cite is that many top rated journalists have bought houses there, so really they should know first hand about whats going on. But there are some very nice houses up there now, wouldn't have been possible without the fires...

...and so it goes.