Hundred square meters of shame! 

On the 23rd of September we continued season’s initiatives with a coastal clean-up in Flisvos, Paleo Faliro.

Like all other initiatives the goal was not only to relief the seas but also to meet new volunteers with the same passion for the environment. Let’s not forget that together we can achieve so much more!

The turn out was inspiring. We met many new coastal volunteers and, of course, some familiar faces always eager to join our cause.

What we came across was disappointing; we could not imagine the quantity of litter hidden in a 100 square metres in a tourist area!

In these types of initiatives we always hear the same feedback: “Who creates all this rubbish and why isn’t the government/municipality resolving it? “

The answer is simple. Just look at any item of rubbish that we collect and you will see who put it there. It is us. Simple everyday items dumped in the sea or recklessly “forgotten” on a bench by the beach. These are the things that make up the millions of tons of waste that circulate through our marine and coastal environment. There is no “villain” who comes and sabotages our environment. It is us.

Governments, local authorities and shop owners can only ever follow the will of the people. Of course we should always push for them to improve and evolve. But sipping on a takeaway coffee (and let’s not forget that our daily habit of two or three “frappes”  is a point of pride for us Greeks) while blaming the state (or whoever else) is an image we come across all too often..

Demanding someone else to resolve the consequences of our mistakes rather than considering correcting our own behaviour  first is what sets off this unending cycle.

Time to put down our “frappes” and take a good hard look at ourselves.