This year’s summer evolved into quite a peculiar summer.
In Greece, it began with a rainy June and continued with a scorching July. Beyond the initial high temperatures, the first major fires started. And all of this led to a tragic August, where the entire country was burning… whatever had remained from previous years.
Certainly, this summer doesn’t resemble the classic, carefree, and calm summers we were accustomed to.
For the first time, I found myself, in the midst of summer, wishing for rain to start!
On my vacation, I reached a point where I felt ashamed for being in a place that wasn’t “burning” (perhaps because it had already burned in previous years), while fellow humans had their vacations ruined due to the fires. Their lives were in danger, their property was destroyed, they didn’t have fun, they didn’t pass their time carefree and relaxed, they didn’t breathe clean air, they didn’t swim in clear waters, and their summer turned into a survival struggle for their lives.
I felt immense sorrow for the animals that burned, were endangered, stressed, and frightened. I mourn the ecological destruction happening worldwide, not only in Greek territory, and I wonder if it will ever stop. If we will give nature and the environment a chance to recover.
I fail to understand why we don’t protect our home, our planet, and instead destroy it, as if we hate it or don’t live on it!
We are experiencing one of the most peculiar and challenging summers. I see the Earth and its ecosystem being threatened like never before.
Only a few of us gather all the materials washing up on the shores. Most people pass by them as if the Earth isn’t their home.
And all of this reveals the true cost of our failure to take care of the environment.
Perhaps we haven’t realized that this planet hosts us, and only because it continues to provide us with what it wishes to offer, are we here. If it stops giving, life will cease to exist.
It is in our common interest to act and implement practices that will ensure the sustainability of our planet. This experience reminds us of the need to learn from our mistakes. We must directly contribute to the preservation and development of the environment, which is our home and the source of our lives.
When you love, you take care of; you don’t destroy!
And yet, we are destroying ourselves, not something foreign or separate, as we might think…
*Photo by Valentin Salja