Greece

In the spring of 2009 I studied abroad in Greece. In 2007, the professor leading the program I participated in, had been in Greece with a group of UW students. The group had been caught in a rural village and had to evacuate because of the close proximity of local fires. Our program's objective was to gather enough film to piece together a documentary in regards to the Greek fires of 2007.

I believe it was estimated that about 20% of Greece's land was burned during the fires. Tons of conspiracy theories were floating around, much involving governmental influence in the fires due foreign interest in much desired wild forest land intended for potential development.

I feel that sharing of my experience is relevant to our blog simply because it is a story of environmental degradation and the displacement of peoples. Although my focus was more on the health disparities that arose because of the wild fires while in Greece, I have come to realize that people, especially those in the rural areas, were greatly affected; traditional ways of life were disrupted leaving behind ashes of what once were virgin forests above Athens and burns on skin of what once were wrinkles of knowledge.

I nailed an interview with Malcolm Brabant of BBC news. Brabant took two other group members and I to the hills of Athens where we witnessed blackened ashy trees covering what was once virgin forests. According to Brabant, with their vast vegitation, these hills served as an 'air conditioner' to the city, especially during the extremely hot summers. Conspiracy theories especially revolved around this particular area as some of the ruined land was now being paved over and thought to have construction start soon. The land has been said to be used for construction of a 'suburbia' away from the city.

One of our group members focused on the harm on animals, particularly farm animals. This quarter in ANTH 211, we've been focusing on humans attachment to nature; nature, I feel, also includes our attachment and also need of commitment towards animals. Many people lost their fair animals in the fires, what wasn't lost was definitely displaced as former inhabited lands were no longer available.

Not related to the fires, but definately related to mans need to exploit natural resources, while at the island of Naxos we noticed mointains being carved in for marble. We had ridden small motorized vehicles around the island and came to a point where we saw a huge slab of a mountain carved off. At the moment, we observed at how cool it looked and perhaps how much money all of the marble was being sold for. Today, I look back and think about the people who live in the area and lives that have been disrupted because of the continous degradation of the mountain. I also think about the landscape, what was once an island inhabited by only Greeks and their traditional ways of living, is now being raped of its resources for possible foreign markets.

My trip to Greece was very momorable. I went there as more than just a foreign student, but as a human being wanting to gain the very Greek perspective for the fires in 2007. The fires of 2007 were of great catastrophe to the Greek people. Individual stories we heard were very touching and exemplified lack of governmental action and support, yet the resilience of the Greek people. My highlights in this post tie into the mission of this blog in the sense that it presents environmental catastrophe and the use of natural resources for man's purposes. Man's purposes too often ignoring the well being of those less fortunate including animals and people of low income or unequal representation in governmental and foreing business interactions.

Finally, it's environmental catastrophe/degradation that brings to a halt people's ability to cultivate and grow their own foods in their own lands. In turn, not being able to grown native foods in native lands brings to a halt traditional ways of living.