Bellona’s new man in Greece, Ilias Vazaios, has an important, but difficult task ahead of him: To convince his countrymen they need to act now to save the planet.
ATHENS: - The recent forest fires were a clear indication of Greece’s climatic vulnerability. Forest devastation, which caused major property loss, will also bring about an increase in temperature and flooding risks to the Greek metropolis. Just to see this issue being mentioned as part of the public discussion, is a big improvement for Greece, says Ilias Vazaios.
The young Athenian is appointed by Bellona as their advisor in Greece as the environmental organization, founded in Norway, is expanding its engagement to ten new European countries. Among the others are Spain and Poland, but according to Vazaios, Greece probably needs the extra push more than others.
Vulnerable country
- Greece is one of the countries in the world that is most vulnerable to climate changes. It has one of the longest coastlines in the world with all its islands, while the country itself is very dry. At the same time, while other countries already have concrete plans to construct CCS ((CO2 Capture and Storage) pilot plants, Greece hasn’t even found a location for storing CO2, says Vazaios.
He calls his country “the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy sources” because of the climate and geography.
- But not much has happened in the development of new technologies to take advantage of this. Instead, the country is planning on building two new lignite (brown coal, the most polluting way of producing energy) plants by 2016. With this in mind, it is important that Greece moves forward with CCS. The country has to be more proactive, says Vazaios.
Mentality change
He has seen a change of mentality in his fellow Greeks the last years. The fact that the Ecologist Green party got one mandate in the 2009 European Parliament elections is one of the positive signals.
- All of the political parties now include the environment as one of their important causes and the larger companies have also started focusing on it. Now we have to make sure this change of mentality becomes a lasting one.
He thinks the new generation of Greeks are the ones to turn to.
- The younger part of the population is more willing to discuss what we can do to help the environment. It’s up to us to show the way for the rest of the population, says the 28 year old.
Seminar in Athens
On the 24th of September, Bellona will host an event in Athens in co-operation with Eurocharity.
Among the invitees will be politicians, private energy companies, environmental activists and the press.
- We are going with a top down approach. Our goal is to create a discussion in Greece about these matters and we want to begin with getting the attention of the leaders. It’s time Greece starts thinking more seriously about CCS, says Ilias Vazaios.
By Aslân Farshchian