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Date of publish: 15 Ottobre 2007 10:42
Author: Panayiotis
Tags: blog action day environment
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Although usually I am very sceptical about world action day that are usually inspired by Bono :) for the reason that they are usually exploited by people or corporation in order to disguise the reality or some other times we are active for a day and then think we have done what we had to do and we do not take real action.
Yesterday I want mountain biking at Ymittos mountain. The mountain in the east of Athens. There is a beautiful forest there that run the danger to be burnt twice this summer. Two fires on its foothills. But the proximity to Athens brought all the fire brigade mechanism here to put the fire down. I was also there as a volunteer. What I saw was the tragic lack or organisation by the greek state and immense quantity of garbage on the sides of the highway.
It is no just matter of state organisation. We all know that there is not such a thing but we just admit it. But the biggest problem is the majority of the citizens. Indifferent, self-centerted and without culture. Just throwing whatever everywhere, do not care for people with mobility problems, parking everywhere and building on burned land. Last year 1,700 houses were built illegally on forest land but the greek state does not take measure against them and nobody talks.
Ymittos was safe but unfortunately beautiful Parnitha did not have the same chance. It was a protected National Park. Around 60% became ashes. After that a big movement of citizens asked from the governement to take care of environment. The result was not any great as after the destruction of Parnitha around 1,700 square kilometers burnt most of them in the Peloponese.
So we only blame the state? After the Peloponese fire I went a trip to my hometown. On the way on one side there was a burnt forest on the other someone had just threw the leftovers of a house along with windows with the glass, he just prepared the next fire! The glass is still there!
So what I want to say is that our indifference destroys the world. Are we too busy with pursuing profits? Are we damn by watching TV? Whatever the case we should wake up because "The roof is on fire!"
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Date of publish: 17 Ottobre 2007 13:32
Author: Panayiotis
Tags: blog action day environment
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Just some stats I Found at Technorati.
Posts that contain Blog Action Day per day for the last 30 days.
But please note that in the above results only the blogs monitored by Technorati appear and of course if the phrase Blog Action Day is translated it is not counted and also some people may opted for a different title.
Anyway the intresting part is that we see a king of reflection on world blogs. How so many people from different countries synchronize on same day. But blogs are good but real action is the question. As Ghandi said Hands that help are holier than lips that pray |
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Date of publish: 22 Ottobre 2007 14:58
Author: Panayiotis
Tags: bicycle environment
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Hi everyone,
Though a rainy weekend it was a time of cycling action. On Saturday there was the big demonstration of cyclists asking for our rights (I am a cyclist myself) something taken for granted in most European countries. As we all see Athens is a city where car drivers rule. They are dangerous, the cars make noise, occupy space and of course pollute. The thing is that most movements are not longer than 3 kms so bikes could be used.
The last years we see a rise of cyclists in Athens but the Mayor and the Ministry of Transporation do not take us seriously. One of our reactions are the big cycling demonsration with participation of over 2.000 cyclists every time. So far we have achieved to let us in the green line of metro. So on Saturday we also asked to be free to enter at every metro line and we also asked for cycle ways. There has been a study where and how to make cycle ways but the Mayor neglects to apply it. So we took paint and made them on our own.
On Sunday there was the cycling tour or Athens organised by the Mayor. It is nothing more than a communication tric. The motto of the tour was "We make space for bicycles, the environmental friendly vehicle" and so on but 3 days back Mr. Kaklamanis said that is dangerous to make cycle ways in Athens. So most of us participated on Saturday and snobbed the official event on Sunday. Instead, personally I took a long and extreme ride on Ymittos, the paradise of the athenian mountain biker.
Hope that some time we have more cycle ways and better attitude towards cyclists so that you can also bring your bike
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