A Better World

I surf the net these days in order to learn what's going on in my country, beyond the much talked about economic crisis (at least in these summer vacation days let’s stop sucking on this candy!). If, that is, there is something else of interest in the media. And somewhere hidden among the enormous and innumerable articles about the economic crisis, I discovered certain stories that spoke about the environment. Titles like: “The Danger of Water Shortage,” “Mountains of Garbage,” “The Danger of Coastal Floods by 2070 has Tripled,” “An Explosion of Pollutants in our City,” “Rise of Temperature: The Country in Serious Danger of Desertification,” and “Extreme Climatic Changes” started me thinking.

The fact that most of the above articles concerned only our country puzzled me enough, and I wondered what we Greeks are doing to protect all our beautiful areas. And being that, until now, our behaviour is so selfish, what then we must do to protect ourselves. Because, let’s not forget that nature will have her revenge as we are slowly beginning to perceive. And then, I wondered, what do I do to protect the environment? What do I do in order to acquire ecological conscience? And still, what efforts do I make to wake-up those around me? Well, my efforts are inconsequential if you stop to think about all that is needed.

So, many of us wonder what is to blame. What is absent from us Greeks that brings us close to an environmental swamp. The answer, once again, is education. And this is where our country falls short. The kids in school do not learn to love and respect nature, because the Ministry of Education judges that it’s more useful to fill us with insipid knowledge. It is not, however, just the school that is to blame. It’s also the family unit that gives bad examples to kids on environmental issues.

And, I’m not really saying that if I and a neighbour recycle, things will get better. But, if I try, and you, and you, and this one, and that one, and all together, then surely we can accomplish a lot. Certainly we young people must try harder in our quest for a better tomorrow.

Earth calls SOS … let’s not ignore it!