This is a letter that appeared in The Athens News in response to some of my articles, where I had mentioned the ruin of the countryside, and also had ranted on about the wreck of the archaeological site at Dion:
"I find Penny Turner's articles profoundly depressing, irritating and offensive. it seems the only thing she encounters on her travels with her companinon George is rubbish, rubbish dumps, pollution, rude and lazy people and once -beautiful landscapes and destroyed archeological sites.
I never encountered anything analogous to the circumstances she gloomily describes. In fact, throughout the years i have found quite the opposite: generosity and extraordinary hospitality, some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, the most pristine waters anywhere - sublime swimming coves and delicious mountain springs.
I am a firm believer that one finds what one expects, which is largely conditioned by one's disposition."
Ioanna Kopsiafti
This kind of letter is enough to make you tear your hair out and then slit your wrists. However I`m not going to kill myself because Ioanna disagrees with my view of Greece. Instead, I am making a repeat of the 1000 mile ride I made in 2004, in order to annoy her even more, by chronicling the changes in the Greek environment that have happened since then.
This Ioanna has, as she said, walked the length of Greece. No small achievement. Especially since she made it even more difficult for herself by walking the entire distance with her eyes tightly shut -as many readers wrote in to Athens News to say.
She thus managed to pass various world famous environmental catastrophes without seeing them. She then felt herself qualified to state that Greece is not under attack by the forces of ignorance and greed, and that only an annoyingly, depressingly Greece hating misery guts (me) would even suggest that it was.
So first: a couple of photos of things Ioanna MUST have passed on her way up Greece on her way to Turkey, but which she didn`t SEE. presumably because she was, as she says she is, conditioned by her disposition to ignore unpleasant things.
She had to cross the Axios River..right? this is the view from the bridge used by pedestrians... . I wish I was blind to this kind of thing.. how much pleasanter it would be.
Next Ioanna MUST have walked past Lake Koroneia to get to Turkey. How come she didn`t notice it had dried up? Even Mr Papoulias, not a very environmentally aware president, was so shocked by what has happened to this lake (previously the 4th Largest in Greece) that he made all kinds of frantic noises "Something must be done at once!" he said. Of course nothing has been done.. but he did say it should be.
If a person who has actually been where these things are happening prefers not to see them and therefore to avoid having to do anything about them, how much easier it must be for most people in Greece (who live in the big cities) to deny what is happening. Especially when they have someone like Ioanna to reassure them that all is as it should be in Greek Nature.
Ioanna will be relieved that she won`t have to read my articles in The Athens News any more, because, in tacit agreement with Ioanna and her ilk, The Athens News isn`t going to print my stuff any more..They say it`s not the kind of thing they need.
And if you go to The Athens News website you`ll begin to understand why:
ALAPIS CARES it proclaims. And what exactly is ALAPIS? This is what they say about themselves:
"Live the natural life with Alapis. The Alapis Group was created by the merger of Veterin SA, Lamda Detergent SA, EBIK SA and Elpharma SA. The Group is involved in the manufacturing and distribution of pharmaceuticals and parapharmaceutical products, veterinary pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and detergents. At the same time, it distributes small animal accessories, medical equipment and health equipment products. »
And what, you may further ask, has a company like this got to do with Athens News?
Exactly!
No wonder my remarks about the dangers of uncontrolled use of agrichemicals and my finding it suspicious that ex Minister Kiltidis ordered local authorities to use chemicals to control Marchellina hellenica in urban areas when there had just been a high court decision that the use of chemicals to control Marchellina hellenica in urban areas was unsafe and illegal went down like a cup of cold sick!
Anyway. I want to state here and now that I am making this journey because I HATE - not Greece- but what is happening to it. It is because I think it is so neccessary to our well being that the beauties of the greek countryside are NOT destroyed that I am trying to alert people to the dangers and to try to save something for those who come after us.
By refusing to look at what`s happening we collude in its loss.
And there is so much beauty that should not be stolen from us, but will be if we don`t stand up and protect what`s ours.
All olive groves were once like the photo of an olive grove.. now you can go 50kms in olive growing areas and not see one like that.
Once, not long ago, every time you got up early you could see mountain views which would bring calm to your psyche. Now more than 10% of such landscapes are burnt, and looking at them brings acute anxiety, not peace.
You used to be able to find frogs everywhere. Now at least 1/3 of Greece is threatened with desertification and frogs are disappearing. FAST.
I don`t think any of us (not even Ioanna) wanted all this to happen.
BUT to do something to stop it, we have to stop being in denial.
A friend of mine says we should just enjoy what`s left- just admit that we are the last generation to see this stuff-that its too late to save it.
Sometimes, especially when I read letters like Ioanna`s, I am tempted to agree with him.
Usually though, I believe that most people, if they knew what`s going on, would try to stop it.
So if I provide the data, will you provide the protest?
Below is Banksy`s comment on global warming. Exactly the right artwork for the Denial denial page I thought.
