From e-Kathamerini
EU gives Athens trash warning
A European Commission official warned Greece yesterday that Athens needs to sort out its waste management problem quickly or risk finding itself in the same position as Naples, which has run out of places to dump its trash.
Speaking at a meeting in Athens on the environment and sustainable development, the Commission’s director-general for regional policy, Jacques Poncet, told Greek officials, including Environment and Public Works Minister Giorgos Souflias, that they need to act fast.
“The situation in Athens is at a crucial stage,” he said. “If you do not want to find yourselves in the same position as Naples, you must take action soon.”
The European Union took action against Naples earlier this year when hundreds of thousands of tons of rubbish piled up around the Campania region as authorities ran out of places to dump the trash. Many residents resorted to burning their garbage instead, releasing harmful dioxins into the air.
Poncet’s call was backed by Giorgos Kremlis, a spokesman for the Commission’s Environment Directorate-General.
“It is important that national and regional waste disposal planning is updated to take account of climate change and the new technology that is available,” said Kremlis.
Athens has until now relied on its only landfill, which serves the whole of Attica, in the northwestern suburb of Ano Liosia. However, the landfill is effectively full and alternative solutions are being sought.
A government committee yesterday rubber-stamped plans to create three new landfills at Fyli, Grammatiko and Keratea, where the trash will be processed and composted.
The members of the committee are due to meet today with Poncet and Kremlis to discuss the project.
Skopelos and Virgin
-by Skorda
when first you see it
across the water,
rising round and new above the mountain.
Open your mouth and swallow
while youth holds its roundness near,
and you are running fearless in the dark.
Hold it inside, it is still warm
and you will need its light,
there, inside you.
Down the road of time, somewhere
after you’ve aged, traveled,
Explored, discovered.
And the dust around your doorway
has been pounded hard and smooth under your feet.
When you find yourself growing weary and bored,
when your eyes see only ruins,
and your heart is empty.
You may believe, in your exhaustion,
that this is truth, at last.
That the mystery has unraveled,
leaving no wilderness to explore or tame.
All secrets have been shared,
the frontier has dissolved.
Know then, with these thoughts,
you have been swallowed.
The warm belly of the beast
comforts with confining darkness
and lulls with rhythmic sounds
Murmuring to you,
Curl up and sleep,
just go to sleep.
Shake your head,
stretch your legs,
do not sleep now.
Remember what you know.
You swallowed the moon,
you hold it inside you.
Not as a magpie hoarding shiny things,
or wearing the moon for beauty
or bartering the moon for wealth.
You swallowed the moon for this moment.
When you will walk to the water’s edge,
open your mouth, release the moon
and let its light build you a pathway
across the wine dark sea.
©Skorda 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
time to clean it up
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