Summer hits

We are at the height of the summer. Athens has emptied out and most Greeks have gone to the seaside looking for some cool air. Not that you really have to find cool places: the north wind, even in the middle of August, brings chilly nights. July was the coolest for many years and the endless heat waves that last year aided the dramatic wild fires on the Peloponnese, have until now stayed away.

What cannot be said about the wild fires? Last week Lesvos was also on the daily list of wild fires in Greece. Last Wednesday, between Molyvos and Petra, opposite the Karuna complex, flames suddenly flew to heaven. The inferno didn't last long, but more than one inhabitant of the new Molyvos quarter Molywood (around the complex of Milelia) got a bad fright. Flames were fuelled by the wind and climbed quickly up the mountain. It was clear that they tried to reach over the mountains, towards the harbour at Petra. However it took the fire brigade, helped by a plane and a helicopter just a few hours to stop the flames and extuingish them. In the nights the flames tried to restart another fire, but they were smothered before they could grow into a threatening fire. In the morning the fire was declared to be over.

The next night however in the same area another fire broke out, this time near the reservoir. The fire was quickly brought under control.

Many rumours circulated about the cause. One said it was a farmer who repaired his tractor, which burst into flames, another said it was an arsonist, another said it was a stupid farmer burning some rubbish. It was said that the second fire was started deliberately (now with the investigation a week later, it's certain that there's some crazy person setting fires because these two fires were followed by another 4 smaller fires in the same area. The firebrigade is now on the alert day and night).

You'd better try to forget the fires and enjoy this busy summer month. Friday, the 15th of August, will be Annunciation Day of Maria, after Easter the most celebrated Holy Day in Greece. Days before pilgrims start flooding into Agiasos to pay their respect to the virgin Maria of the famous Panagia-Church in the middle of the village. And if you don't like crowds you'd better stay away from Petra as well, because its white Maria Church on the rock is another favourite destination for pilgrims.

Molyvos is also now full of people. Untill the middle of August the village was pretty quiet for the time of year and all the shopkeepers were complaining. This was not due to the municipality, which offered a full cultural programme, in case people were not satisfied with just sea and sun.

Besides some dance and theatre performances and several exhibitions it's the concerts at the castle of Molyvos that are the highlight of this programm. Last Friday night it was Panthelis Thalassinos who tried to play the stars from Heaven (a Dutch expression meaning playing a wonderful show). It was a cloudless night and the centuries old castle tried to hold its breath, but a merciless cold northwestern wind made the scene freezing cold and more than one in the audience was battling the cold instead of listening to the music.

A pity because Thalassinos' song 'Apo tin Petra sto Molyvos' is an evergreen for Molyvos. It is about a walk going from Petra to Molyvos and then barefoot on to Eftalou (from the first cd of the double album 'Stis kardias mou t'anoichta'). Another song, Karavia Chiotika, is about (ironically enough) the northwestern wind and boats coming from Chios that bring memories from a lost love of a Chiotic girl with a sweet mouth smelling the mastic. Thalassinos' music is wonderful. His music is somewhat melancholic, it mostly avoids the popular Greek rhythm of rebetica, but the music definitely makes you yearn for the Greek islands.

More traditional but popular songs will be performed at the castle by the female singers Melina Aslanidou and Rallia Christidou on the 23rd of August. You probably won't understand all they will be singing (although with Greek songs it's easy: most are about love), it will be an experience to sit under the stars in an old castle, listening to magical music.

The biggest summer hit however was the movie 'Mamma Mia'. In the whole of Greece and in the open air cinema of Molyvos tickets sold out pretty quickly. Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan (the James Bond actor) make the show, along with the merry songs of Abba and stunning Greek landscapes. These Greek images is why the movie is so popular here in Greece. As well as in an English studio the movie was made on the islands of Skopelos and Skiathos and in Pillion (mind you however, some of the beach scenes are filmed in California, Laguna Beach).

Finally last night it was mother nature that produced an impressive spectacle of light, sound and water. Yesterday early evening the show started above Turkey with a lightning show between the clouds. Hours later thunder joined in, first with a little rumbling but soon with thundering kettledrums. Rain started falling and with some breaks the whole spectacular event ran into the morning of the next day. Thanks to this loud concert I only got to sleep when daylight set in. Then I'd already spread tons of towels under several windows to keep the house dry. With the sound of a steady toc-toc of a leak that sounded like an out of tune triangle I finally slept...

Copyright © Smitaki 2008

Where's the fire?

From the 1st of May until the 1st of October on Lesvos, and I guess in the whole of Greece, it's forbidden to start a fire. This means that you're not allowed to burn your garden weeds, you may not try to burn away the bushes on a piece of land to clear it and you may not make a fire in order to smoke away wasps.

This last thing was done by an army officer who had to control some pipes and found a wasps nest. I'm not sure if he managed to get rid of the wasps but certainly he smoked out the surrounding region: he caused a major fire in Dervenochora, in the district of Viotia. He will face severe punishment and probably serve some time in prison.

In Agias Isodoros on the island of Rhodes a 61 year old resident was getting rid of his weeds in the garden and caused with his garden fire a far greater fire: for 6 days the fire raged through the woods of the southern centre of the island. Smoke was so thick that some 2000 tourists had to be evacuated. Firemen from all over Greece were assisted by firemen from Cyprus, Italy and France. Today the fire is finally under control. That man not only burned his garden weed, he got 4 years in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros. About 5,000 hectares of woodland and agricultural ground were lost in the flames.

A fire on the Peloponnessus caused so much smoke that the highway number One of Greece, from Patras to Athens, had to be closed down and trains had to wait in stations.

Since the big wild fires at the end of last summer, where 270,000 hectares of land were burned, many houses were consumed in the flames and 77 people died, the Greeks this summer seem to be on the lookout for fires. Each day you can read in the papers long lists of where there are fires. The worst hit region is that of Athens, but islands like Crete, Corfu and this week Rhodes also got their fair share.

So now the government is under fire. Last year it was often said that the fires were caused by arsonists. However this year researchers pointed out three main causes that have nothing to do with arsonists: the electricity company (DEH) that has such old fashioned poles in the whole of the country, farmers that burn scrub land in order to make fresh pasture for their animals and finally the most complained about cause, and we cannot talk enough about this, the illegal dumps. Well, you could enter a fourth category: the stupid people that don't think, like the men named above.

Last year, farmers who burned scrubland were positive news. A flat land without scrubs is not such a great fire risk and it was said that this farming tradition should continue in order to prevent fires. Problem is that most farmers make these fires after the summer. From the first of October here on the island in the mountains it is a common sight to see little flames turning bushes into a black charred landscape. In those places in spring sheep will find juicy new green grass. So I'm afraid that I can't say for sure if this tradition, when done in the rainy months, prevents or causes wild fires.

Government as well is blamed for not having done enough in the past winter to prevent wild fires. There was no extra money to clean up woods or for more foresters. There are even victims of last years fires who did not see one euro for their lost houses.

The new 'who-to-blame' this year is the electricity company. They have these poles throughout the country that especially in the winter can turn into firework poles. In May such a pole was the cause of a minor fire along the road from Molyvos to Vafios. Some sheep escaped from the flames just in time and the fire was fought by two planes and lots of firemen on the ground.

We also have such a pole at the back of our garden. In the winter it sizzles and spews sparks, especially when it rains. In the winter you don't care, although I once saw such a pole set on fire and the fire brigade had to come and rescue it. However the pole behind our garden was spitting fire even in May. Then the electricity company came as fast as possible to repair it. But at night the pole still joins the cricket chorus with sizzling sounds.

Each night before I go to bed I check the pole is not spitting fire. I already told the meter reader of the phenomenon, as well as the hotel that is close by. But the pole still keeps on sizzling. That doesn't stop me from having a good sleep each night. Maybe I am as fatalistic as the Greeks are, they are no good at preventing whatsoever. My sister said that I should prepare a little emergency suitcase. I had to laugh at that idea. Before I run away I will of course first try to save the house from the flames.

Last week I wrote about water and hesitated to write about fires. Because often enough when I write about a drought, it will sometimes rain and when I write about high temperatures, they will drop the next day. So when I write that until now Lesvos has been so very lucky in not having any big wild fires, I touch wood (a Dutch tradition, say, to turn the evil eye away). And mind you, careless Greeks (and tourists of course) and thoughtless smokers: we must keep Lesvos out of the fires!

Copyright © Smitaki 2008

Climate Neutral Flying

Weather can be cruel. From a comfortable 36°C, temperatures early in the morning and at night dropped suddenly to 15°C. In the daytime it was a poor 10°C higher. They're such cold nights that we have to creep back under the covers. Even some showers visited us, but they brought only a meagre amount of water. That's how the island slowly slips into autumn, the time for trips to the woods.

Lesvos is a pretty forested island. The centre of the island is covered with extensive forests of pine trees. Around the highest mountains you will find some more mixed woods, like with royal chestnut trees and sculpture-like old planes. September and October are the months that you go to the forest, not only because the cool temperature invites you to walk, but also for the chestnuts, the mushrooms and the pink cyclamen that will soon appear.

Lesvos has always been covered with woods. The Petrified Forest, with the sensational sequioas that were petrified by a combination of volcanic eruptions, rain and fire, are the oldest example. Then came the oak trees that they used for building ships and later they used the acorns for the leather tanneries. Nowadays there is no longer any wood industry. There are some wood cavers in Agiasos but for their furniture they use wood from abroad. There is a small industry of utensils carved out of olive wood because these days much of the island is covered with olive trees. The pine trees are protected. To cut a pine tree on your own land you must have a pretty good reason to obtain permission.

The most wonderful forests are found around Anemotia, Parakila, Chalika, Olympos and Agiasos. In Uganda you can walk in climate woods, which are planted to compensate for CO₂ emissions. What's the connection between a climate forest in Uganda and a forest on Lesvos? Well, if you like the environment and you want to visit a forest in Lesvos, you can help a forest in Uganda by flying climate neutral. To fly to the island you buy yourself a ‘Green Seat’ in the aeroplane.

The Foundation Face (which in 2006 became the foundation ClimateNeutral Group, which works with this GreenSeat-project, carried out some environmental forest projects like planting 9.000 hectares of trees in Uganda. Why there? Because it was the cheapest place to do it. Typical Dutch. Spend as little money as possible and don't look around for other problems. It's easy to see what happened in Uganda: some small farmers were thrown off their land, compensated not at all or just a little, and some businessmen could stuff their Swiss bank accounts.

The businessmen got rich and the farmers try to recover their lands in the forest. They cut the trees in order to make charcoal and then the land is free again to grow vegetables. In this way a big part of the climate forest has already disappeared: ‘farmers in Uganda cut a big part out of a Dutch CO₂-forest’ (headline in the Dutch paper The Volkskrant on 6-11-2007). It's probably not enough that we dump our poisonous waste in Africa but Africa will probably also become our CO₂ dumping place.

But that's not really the thing that disturbs me. I keep on being disturbed by the term climate neutral flying. You can't fly climate neutral. An aeroplane discharges an enormous amount of CO₂ that helps create the greenhouse effect. So if you take a flight, you polute the planet and you stimulate air traffic. It's easy to buy that off with a little money. I would say: try to take as few flights as possible. Nowadays there are plenty of Dutch people who take flying holidays two or three times a year. Is that eco-conscious?

And I have an idea as well for the Foundation Face/ClimateNeutral Group: I know an area of thousands of hectares that needs new forests and maybe you'll get even some money when you plant trees there. The advantage of the place is that it's in the middle of a tourist country where there are a lot of flights. The CO₂ discharge can be gulped down immediately by the trees. And when the tourists really have to fly climate neutral, the aeroplane can make a small detour so that each climate neutral passenger can control their own CO₂ tree. You'll find that soon you'll be able to sell climate neutral travel to people who want to visit this climate forest. Also because the region is known as the cradle of our civilisation. There's even already a famous museum that can be situated right at the edge of the climate forest. The only enemies you will meet are some property developers and the nature. The property developers are easy to bribe with projects of building hotels for the climate neutral tourists. And the danger of fire is easy to stop with good management of the forest.

Copyright © Smitaki 2007