ECOCLUB Blogs™

While international tourist arrivals are falling for a second consecutive year and accommodation rates slashed to bargain levels, the government’s neoliberal agenda includes the long-lease of at least 40 “uninhabited” islands for “tourism development” ignoring the fact that most are considered important bird and marine conservation areas and some are actually located within marine protected areas. In fact some in the government, dreaming of billions of euros in proceeds, would have liked to sell these islands outright. However, for the time being this is not quite legit / allowed by the constitution (money - launderers beware) - although exceptions exist such as a few small private islands (famously Skorpios and Spetsopoula) owned by heirs of shipping magnates, lesser known but richer industrialists and some others incredulously claimed by heirs of traditional goat herdsmen-boatsmen perpetually looking for gullible buyers.

Domestic tourism in particular has taken a big hit, reflected in - among other things - the large losses of ferry operators and the huge number of hotels of all sizes which are for sale and up for grabs by foreign investor funds, offshore schemes and assorted money-launderers.

Other government plans include the abolition of the unemployment benefit paid by the state to hotel workers - the tourism season in most Greek destinations is just 3 months long and hotel employees are usually laid off in October to be rehired the following June - and the selling-off of large state-owned properties for tourism development such as the Afantou estate in Rhodes and the area of the old Athens airport in Elliniko.

Ten airlines, two Indian and eight Chinese, accounting for nearly 3% of global airline carbon emissions (which in turn account for around 1.6% of the total global carbon footprint), still refuse to meet a final, June 15 deadline to report their emissions data to the EU. According to an EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) effective from January 1, 2012,  all airlines flying to EU countries are obliged to cover 15% of their emissions by purchasing emission permits.  The extra charge, with carbon offset prices at record lows, expected to be paid by around 4,000 airlines, amounts to just 10 euros (on average) per ticket (close to the current cost of a ton of carbon) and very small to make flying less competitive than eco-friendlier modes of transport such as rail. It is also still unclear in what ways each EU country will use the funds so as to tackle climate change with the EU’s climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard still calling on EU finance ministers to earmark the ‘modest’ ETS cash for the environment. One more futile (or self-serving) attempt for green capitalism, indeed when the head of the International Energy Agency in 2009 said that the price per carbon ton needed to rise...

  An excellent example of how ecological farm tourism can help revive the real, local economy in Greece. We want more of this, and not at all pharaonic mega-tourism & real estate projects or oil platforms in the Aegean or Ionian.  

  While the E.U. is pressing airlines to cut carbon emissions, and the US and China traditionally trying to block any global climate action measure, an online debate on the burning (literally) and usually swept-under-the-carpet issue of "whether 'sustainable' tourism can include flying" is being held at the University of Central Lancashire, UK on 30th March. Valere Tjolle and Dr Davina Stanford will defend the sustainability of flying while Professor Les Lumsdon and Paul Peeters will oppose it. Details can be found at http://www.uclan.ac.uk/schools/ssto/research/itt/debate_can_sustainable_tourism_include_flying.php and http://www.2343ec78a04c6ea9d80806345d31fd78-gdprlock/FlyingDebateUCLan   For anyone who approaches and understands ecotourism as ecological tourism and not just as elitist nature travel, it is clear that flying is problematic to say the least. I prefer bikes, trains, hiking, public transport, social tourism, accessible for all. Jetting off to a luxury award-winning pseudo-eco resort at the other end of the planet has little to do with ecological principles. But "sustainability" is a different ball game, it is an apolitical term, excellent for use in consultants reports, just like corporate social responsibility. Perhaps a debate on the "corporate social responsibility' of airlines should follow :)  Now, for a truly eco way of flying, Icarus-style, watch the video below, although it's a hoax:       

  When we first read it we thought it was a holiday joke, no it is serious. In one more victory of “The Markets” over common sense, airlines have been cleared by America’s aviation regulators to use twin-jet aircraft (notably the Boeing 777 and 787) over the North Pole, supposedly saving fuel costs and the environment and allowing non-stop flights from Europe to Pacific destinations such as Fiji or Hawaii. It is easy to comprehend the joy of the airlines and of the aircraft manufacturer oligopoly, but what about the effects on passenger and crew safety: there increased ultraviolet radiation in the polar regions, not to mention how many will survive an emergency landing even if it is successful. And how would frequent crossing of the poles impact on the already decreased ozone concentration in the Arctic, which by the way also suffers from radioactive contamination from the tests of the 1960s and 1970s. The commercial and geostrategic scramble for the polar regions (oil extraction, new shipping lanes, search for rare or precious minerals) is gaining speed, and the sensitive arctic ecosystem is bracing itself. With possible temperature increases of up to 10 Celsius during the next fifty years, the resulting...

Uncontrolled and ever-expanding packaged tourism and coastal development, along with overfishing in the Mediterranean is taking its toll on resources and what still survives of the marine wildlife.  [video:http://www.14dd5266c70789bdc806364df4586335-gdprlock/watch?v=jm_Uf0vNh84 640x360] Above is a pleasant to watch, yet informative video aimed at resort staff (but also suitable for schools) in coastal resorts popular with nesting sea turtles, so that the adverse impact of mass tourism can be somewhat reduced. It was produced by the Travel Foundation (UK) and distributed in Greece through the Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles (MEDASSET). The NGO carries yearly assessment of major nesting areas such as Zakynthos, Kefalonia and Kyparissia in Greece, Akamas in Cyprus and Akyata, Dalyan, Kazanli Patara and Samandag in Turkey, and submits these to the standing committee of the Bern Convention at the Council of Europe, so that respective governments are forced to respond and take action. In their annual assessment on Zakynthos Medasset highlight the ongoing threats to the National Marine Park of Zakynthos which was set up to protect one of the most important nesting grounds of the logerhead turtle Caretta. Major threats include an illegal dump, illegal parking lots for tavernas, long-delayed payments of park staff, illegal bars, rent...

A very interesting video on the 99% movement presenting the underlying income inequality statistics can be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/video/2011/nov/16/99-v-1-occupy-data-animation.       The Vision of Humanity website also has very interesting statistical data nicely presented, the following is on income inequality worldwide: http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi-data/#/2011/gini/ Income inequality is increasing worldwide with more people falling below the poverty line. The statistics may be fixed by lowering the line however in terms of solving real problems patience is running out. Time may actually have already run out for the current global economic system, although it may be proven as just one more periodic crisis of capitalism (it is quite protracted though).   Whatever the case, it is important is that it does not collapse on peoples heads, but they start exiting the crumbling structure now, and joining or forming alternatives - local exchange systems, collectives, urban farms, soup kitchens and so on, millions of tiny holes in the current system, until it peacefully vanishes as no longer relevant.   There is nothing really stopping us but inertia and perhaps fear that cunning people will exploit the situation for their own sake. This is a chance we have to take. In Greece, where we are becoming bankrupt in slow...

Deceitful King Sisyphus was condemned by Zeus to eternally carry a boulder to a top of the hill with the boulder rolling down again. Sisyphus has been interpreted as representing vain politicians, aspiring for eternal glory and eternally failing. Epicurus on the other hand praised the virtues of a pleasant, just and detached - including from politics - life. On the second day of a general strike in Greece, it seems we have to choose whether to follow Sisyphus and the illusion of capitalist abundance, or Epicurus and his doctrine that "natural wealth is both limited and easily obtained, but vanity is insatiable". Compared to what lies ahead, life in Greece until 5 years ago seemed quite good for the vast majority of the population (with the exception of immigrants), reflected in us reaching the top 20 of the Human Development Index at the time. However not all was well however, as a result of history, geopolitics and other factors, the two major parties (New Democracy & Pasok) had created a bloated bureaucracy and a clientelistic state, with a large unofficial (untaxed) economy, funded with EU grants and international loans, with draconian and complex, unenforceable laws, tax evasion and money laundering. The...

Remembering the way tabloids were treating Athens in the run up to the 2004 Olympics (which always are, like all mega-events, a mega-waste)  a certain schadenfreude could be expected from Athenians, but on the contrary they feel a sense of solidarity with Londoners and the UK tourism sector who seem to be experiencing the same effects of neoliberal globalisation - high youth unemployment, social injustice, racism, police brutality, increased crime, all leading, mathematically, to riots. I have found the reaction of the London Greens (here and here) interesting and measured, while a post in Red Pepper also seems to put the finger in the wounds. Let us hope that neoliberal government policies will be reversed soon, both in UK and in Greece.

"Invisible wall" a short documentary about tourists, refugees and immigrants in Agathonissi, Greece, a tiny, formerly sleepy, island close to the Turkish coast.