Monday 2 July 2007

Speechless

I could write about the forest fires of the past few days-305 fires in 3 days-which consumed large amounts of the precious little green left on this rugged land.
I could write about the bitter squabbling of the politicians, firemen, and forestry department on all media, on who's fault this disaster is.
I could write about the ugly pictures of burnt carcases of forest animals caught in the inferno.
I could write about the findings of incendiary devices at the scenes where the fires started.
I could write about the temperature rise, the flash flooding, the landslides, or the unbearable smog. Threats looming over us, after we failed to protect the forest surrounding the concrete maze of Athens.
I will not!
I will quietly mourn the deep scars we inflicted on our host land!
Mourn the death of dignity in this country!

11 comments:

The Real Mother Hen said...

Take Action, like going green..

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry. How devastating it must be for everyone.

Epimenides said...

mother hen - the only green I can go in this place, is green with envy of civilised countries!

hollygl - it's not nature I'm sorry about. One way or the other it will recover! It's us (Greeks)who seem to have completely lost the plot here!

Kate said...

I'm sorry this has happened - it's especially discouraging when fires such as these are human-caused. Arson or carelessness, do the investigators know yet? Is Athens filling with smoke from the fire? The Neola Fire here in Utah is also raging out of control in the Uinta Mountains. Wildlife, livestock and three people dead so far.

Epimenides said...

I've heared of the fires in Utah Kate. It's really saddening! The difference, however, is that when there's an inch of forest burnt in Greece, there's the "clear and present danger" of opportunists rushing to claim the land and buils it up! We've already lost 70,000 acres of forest that way already in the past 15 years!

Anonymous said...

This kind of thing is happening everywhere, EPI. While there are no clear "evident" fires and stuff like that here... there's A LOT of other stuff going on...

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that's messed up. Do you have any kind of protected land status that could be used to prevent these opportunists from snatching up freshly burned land?

Epimenides said...

Sure, David! We've got the legislation. Unfortunately, some people seem to be above the law! :(

Rebecca said...

Hi, Epi. Really sorry to hear of the devastation going on in Greece. Seems to be going on all over the world...land demolished, political shenanigans...all boils down to human myopia, to be kind, stupidity to be more real.

Epimenides said...

Yes rp! There seem to be disasters everywhere. It's amazing!

Michelle said...

That was a very well written bit of being speechless.