Greece has 12 million people and is visited by over 15 million tourists a year.
In summer, most Greeks and almost all the tourists visit Greece's well-known coasts for vacations. The footprint of all these people is difficult to stay unnoticed. Despite the efforts of the local municipalities many of the coasts are significantly polluted by waste, and this means that it is not only an unhealthy environment for, people, animals and plants of the area, but it degrades the landscape too. This is a major problem, as it has been proven that the less people are connected with the environment, the easier it is for one to exploit it without facing problems, as people do not care that much.
In addition, knowing from our experience that when people see a perfectly clean coast they almost never leave waste behind, with the environmental team of my school decided to act. We chose the wetland of Vravrona to clean up the waste and hopefully make a new start for this area's pollution.
In a distance of only 30km from the center of Athens, in Vravrona, we can enjoy the beautiful landscape, with its rich history, which has not much changed from the ancient times till today. The large variety of different biotopes in the area, along with the mild methods of exploitation of the place by people, have created an ecosystem of high environmental value.
This wetland is the home of many endemic birds, such as Buteo Rufinus (in Greek "Aetogerakina"), and is protected according to the rules of the EU project NATURA 2000.
The school team spent several hours collecting every kind of waste and fuelling some dozens of bags! Luckily, most of the waste we collected consisted of food packages, so it was not very hard to collect, though other massive objects were also found such as long plastic sheets and electronic devices. One of the most difficult tasks to complete was to remove some heavy objects that were almost submerged under the mud of the area near the sea.
We planned our activity to coincide with the Birds' National Day.
During the event, a photo gallery was shown to the public, and many activities were prepared for children to become more concerned about the birds upon extinction.
It was good to see so many environmentally alert people in the same place, discussing about the different bird species.
At the climax of our visit, the Association for the Protection and Welfare of Wildlife, ANIMA, released endangered birds that had been healed, in front of the public.
It was an impressive experience, to see raptors and other wild small or bigger birds, being released in front of you.
Maybe all this was not a really big event, but as follower of the moto "think globally, act locally" these small actions show the correct direction and train the children and the young people to be ready to achieve really big goals!
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18 Comments
Great initiative :)
Posted 25-11-2015 05:02
Its very impressing to see young people with such initiatives. I have just gathered my friends in order to start our environment initiative too.
Posted 21-11-2015 04:26
Great job!! :)
Posted 21-11-2015 03:28
This is a wonderful experience and a very tasking one. you've done a very good job. thumbs up!
Posted 20-11-2015 05:14
Great job! :)
Posted 19-11-2015 15:49
Greta effort Konstantinos. Beach is one of best places to relax and enjoy our nature but sometimes tourist just left their trash behind. This also happened in my country. Glad that you took a real action to keep the beach clean.
Posted 19-11-2015 12:30
It's every inch a great event. Great job you have done Konstantinos and it is good to know of the National Bird Day in Greece. It's such a wonderful idea.
Posted 19-11-2015 06:28
It's every inch a great event. Great job you have done Konstantinos and it is good to know of the National Bird Day in Greece. It's such a wonderful idea.
Posted 19-11-2015 06:28
Thanks everyone for your kind comments! Even though it was a hard day, it was definitely nice to see the results of the work. The combination with the Bird's National day and the releasing of the healed birds made it even more special.
Posted 19-11-2015 02:45
Well done & nicely reported with good pics. I hope that wetland of Vravrona remains clean by this inspirational drive.
Posted 18-11-2015 12:55
Nice work!!!!
Posted 18-11-2015 10:40
Beautiful mate!!! Action like that can change people mind and heart. I am proud on seeing that happening. Keep it up =)
Posted 18-11-2015 02:13
Meaning ful program ^_^
Posted 18-11-2015 01:49
A very good job accomplished,Konstantinos.Such cleanliness drives indeed have a very good impact on the environment.Thanks for sharing.
Posted 18-11-2015 00:58
Good job !
Posted 17-11-2015 23:39
Excellent effort Konstantinos. I fully agree with you such drives motivates a big chunk of crowd not to litter & take of surroundings. cleanliness is next to godliness.
Nice pics showing enthusiastic crowd.
Posted 17-11-2015 12:32
Nice pics and great job, Ambassador Tsiampouris. Beach clean ups are very essential to protect inter-tidal species. I admire your effort, keep it up and lets save our oceans.
Posted 17-11-2015 04:51
Good job by the school volunteers in collecting the waste and making it clean -making the 'Birds National Day' meaningful and memorable.
I agree with you -local events like these convey very strong message and inculcate attitude of 'protecting environment and protecting /respecting birds and animals'.
Seems you really enjoyed seeing raptors and other wild small or bigger birds, being released in front of you.
Thanks for sharing your exciting experience.
Posted 17-11-2015 04:36