Χρόνια πολλά, ειδικά σε όσους γιορτάζουν!
εδώ έχω τον χάρτη με την διαδρομή στην Ελλάδα:
maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=bg&ie=UTF...76,19.753418&z=6
Βλέπω ότι έχει υπολογίσει και 2 καράβια από νότια Πελοπόννησο για Κρήτη, να υπάρχουν αυτά;
Η φώτο παρακάτω είναι από προηγούμενη επισκεψή του στην Ελλάδα (ναι, πέρασε και από Πάτρα! )
Θα ήθελα να τον συναντούσαμε σαν ποδηλάτες-ισσες Πάτρας.
Όποιος μάθει νέα του καλό θα ήταν να ειδοποιήσει, μην τον αφήσουμε και περάσει έτσι από την Πάτρα.
Απ'ότι είδα στην photo gallery από την περσινή έπισκεψή του στην Ελλάδα, περίπου το 90% των φωτογραφιών του δείχνουν ότι η Ελλάδα είναι μια απέραντη χωματερή... δυστυχώς δεν έχει και άδικο...
Αν κατάλαβα καλά, το βασικό του θέμα είναι η ανακύκλωση, και ένα από τα συνθήματά του είναι: " IF YOU DON'T RECYCLE, REcycle "
Η σελίδα του:
vyacheslavstoyanov.com/en
εδώ οι εντυπώσεις του από την Ελλάδα:
Report about the Greece coast expedition 2009 ( EN )
Greece on a bike in the frame of the lens. ( 4800 km for 39 days)
Greece – such a fairy place. The impressions for it are generated in my mind by beautiful and scenic pictures in a let’s say 9 by 15 format. The longing to see in person the landmarks famed by the names of the ancient civilization, as is Olympia, with the first stadium in the world that became the grandfather of “Olympiad” or Sparta, known for the legends for people with inhuman physics, the power and will of manliness, one of the few symbols, which make us work from dusk till dawn, saving money throughout the year, so that we can enjoy our short “Greek” experience. The Greek history has already turned into a tale and a tourist attraction. Now this ancient civilization looks like a myth in regards to the lazy and shapeless bodies losing all connections with the historical Greek past. Does the crystal clear water with the lounges on the beach or the historical ruins painted in the pictures give us a true perspective for the country which considers itself for one of the most desirable tourist destinations in Europe? And how does Greece look in the camera’s frame? It becomes clears from the first day. By crossing through Macedonia I found out that Bulgaria is not the dirtiest place in the world. In brotherly Macedonia the situation is the same as the one in Bulgaria, the only difference is that there are more concentrated and bigger improvised junkyards, as if trashcans are not created yet. The possible reason for the improvised landfills is due to the huge garbage taxes, which the country collects. Instead of encouraging the people to throw away their trash at the designated places by using humane methods,
making the impoverished population pay, the government ruins any desire in the people to be outstanding citizens and forces them to look for an alternative solution – the nature.
My observation regarding the concentration of dumps is that they are mostly at places where cars can stop or slow down. Such are crossroads, the offices where road taxes are collected and of course the emergency stops on the roads. At none of these places was I able to find a trashcan. The most impressive was a place high in the mountain where next to the water fountain, in spite of the existence of trashcans; it was turned into a junkyard. The people that were selling organic honey and other natural products to the passerby, who were stopping to have a sip of water, sat in the midst of the junk pile and tried to convince them in ecological thinking. Neither them, nor the travelers were impressed by where they were in fact, as if that was something completely normal.
As far as Albania, which I went through for a day, I was not able to collect objective information for the damages from a single use package. My impression for Albania was generated from the poverty, the smell of garbage and the nasty kids, who were throwing rocks at me. I’ll investigate this country thoroughly during my next expedition around the Mediterranean coastline, which will start in March 2010.
Greece, right from the border, welcomed me with open arms. At all of the customs, not only here at the Greek one, I have gone through as an absolute transit, no matter how many people were waiting on the
line. When the saw me with my bike everyone was letting me pass by and gave me a tap on the shoulder. I was expecting to see Greece as a European country, but I was not able to. Right at the customs and for the first kilometers I saw an unbelievable amount of garbage on the streets.
I was hoping that the reason for the trash was just the border of the countries. As a rule, the customs are seen as “neutral waters” and are usually turned into landfills due to the reason that neither the border patrol, nor the passing people comprehend what’s happening around them, as if there are signs “throw away here” and “here” is unspecified. After a couple of days of travelling, I found out that even in Greece there is an issue with the garbage, which is well masked in the nature. I specifically went through mountains towards the west coast of Greece, where there are no tourists, so that I can make an objective comparison of the damage caused by the human culture. That’s how I got my first threat from a local, who saw me taking a picture of the trash. In the midst of leisure life, I found aggression. But this did not stop me from continuing my investigation.
When I reached the west coast, where the tourist aorta goes through, the landfills became something absolutely normal. The trash was fully covering the side of the road and looked as piles of snow in the 35 degree heat. I have honestly never seen that much garbage by now. Weirdly enough, the tourists that go through these places should be highly cultured; they are usually from Germany, Austria, France, Italy, etc. I was completely sure about the fact that most of the garbage is brought by the tourists that do not care how Greece will look behind the camera. When you’re not at home it’s allowed? And what does home mean?
The planet is our home, and not the territorial boundaries of our house, village, town, or our country. Why do the same people that keep their home clean, come to Greece and treat it as a restroom? “I am here for a little bit, and it is not mine” – that’s the thinking of the people who are to blame for the junk on the roads and shores, coming to enjoy a unique natural phenomenon found in the territory of Greece. Along the way I met a lot of bicyclists –tourists, who in spite of the rough Greek roads, came by bikes so that they can enjoy the nature and move around. It was hard for me to get used to the barriers. I was looking for a way to stop thinking for the hardships and the litters of sweat that were coming out of my body. The consciences is blocking all difficulties in the sense of stress, putting us back in the rails of our “normal” state. But without difficulties there is no progress. I channeled myself in a different direction, comparing the climbing of hills with the marital duty. You just tell yourself “I have to”, clutch your teeth and sweat as if you’re having sex, up to the high point of ecstasy where you get a real orgasm when you start going down on it. After a couple of days it became fun for me to go up the hills and I was bored when biking in a plain. This had me thinking that we should not link the carrying of baggage “trash” in our heads as stress, and to channel our thinking in a direction where it will be fun to throw it away in the designated places, instead of carrying it in our head as something dirty, gross and smelly. When you see it as a type of game in the conscience of every one of us, it will gradually enter the subconscious freeing the conscious for more important things.
Mostly pollution in Greece is caused by tourists, more than the carelessness of the locals. I think there are enough trashcans and containers, not only on the beaches, but also on the roads. But the laziness and the tourist’s occupied with having fun self, do not give him the right to turn the place into a trashcan. We should have in mind that there is a lot of trash in the sea, not only on the shores.
The dirtiest place is on the west coast from Igumenitsa to Kalamata. The smaller villages manage to take care of the streets’ and shores’ cleaning, but where there are tourist attractions; it’s hard to control this. The trash is composed of the usual suspects such as mineral bottles, soft drinks and plastic cups. I have seen locals that go to clean the beaches on their own initiative, so that other tourist can go there. It’s certain that Greece’s income comes not only from olives, but also from babysitting their tourists. The capital Athens is dirty as well as the bigger cities. There have always been places that are seen as the “face” of the city. Usually those are the central streets and boulevards, where it is clean, but the back yard is dirty. This concerns not only the city part, but also the private houses. I have seen expensive villas with a helicopter platform and with a landfill in the backyard. The contrast is mindboggling. I visited a couple of islands so that I can compare their state with the continent, but unfortunately the situation was the same. Where it is interesting for tourists, it’s a
junkyard. In comparison to the Black Sea shores, the Greek shores are far dirtier and this is not caused by sea currents that bring in the trash, but from stupid tourists. People are very weird, usually spectators - chickens. We voice out absolutely everything, which we consider unjust, hoping that this will be enough for someone else to care for besides ourselves, instead of adding a helping hand to the problem with our actions and to become peace makers in this war of elemental culture. Our trash became a part of our lives, like a wet diaper, which is at the same time irritating us and is gross to touch it, so that we can change it. And when they start talking about it, we blush as if they are commenting on our genitals with dropped down panties. We are children of nature. That is so! But is Mother Nature obliged to change our diapers? I believe she is capable of creating “Noah’s Arch” rightfully in which there is not enough space for everyone.
In the developed countries people spend billions every year for cleaning up trash, encouraging the people in one way or another to throw it away in the designated places, investing in a complex infrastructure for collecting it. One of the ways which Germany introduced is the concept for wrapping.
On all of the packages, mostly the single use ones, they increased the prices so much that people realize that garbage has its price. The plastic bottles became more expensive than the glass ones, which are reusable. Manufacturers were compelled to become utilizing reusable packaging since the
one time use ones were not in high demand. Trash disappeared from the German roads and streets literary in a couple of months. Do you know of the island of plastic bottles in the Pacific Ocean, with twice the surface of the state of Texas? Similar islands exist in other places. Maybe it’s worth it to turn our attention to the brilliant concept that Germany undertook and use it as an example instead of submerging ourselves in a junk yard!?
My previous biking expedition on the banks of the Black See with the project “Recycle,” turned out to be fruitful and quite useful. During my tour I made an observation and a research of the problems related to the throwing of trash, and the damages caused by it, specifically caused by a single use wrapping. For my astonishment I was pleased by my work to find positivity and enthusiasm by the people living on the shores of the Black sea from the former “Soviet bloc” including Turkey. In general people were interested in my adventure more, than the commonplace trivial trash. But during my travel journal and reports from which I made cocktails with one part garbage, one part liqueur from positive thinking and a healthy lifestyle, with two parts of adventure, I served everything with an ice cold water of overwhelming facts. With my actions, I was still able to touch the people’s perception, slowly changing their views. From various points of the Black Sea I continue to get thank you notes for the disappearance of some of the improvised landfills and appearance of trash cans, where they were necessary following my reports. Followers have also emerged which continue my doings. I did not expect that my research will lead to such strong progress. Generally I am a patient man and
was ready to wait. I imagine what might have happened if a 1000 people like me were carrying the message in different parts of the world. Would the world change? I do not think so! The views must change, instead of waiting for a miracle from the messiah! Or am I wrong?
