Photo credit: thienzieyung

During the past few months, and under high pressure put by the European Union, Greece has started to adopt a greener policy. Among other measures and actions, eco-friendly plastic bags were introduced into the market, bio-eco products were widely advertised and each municipality planted more flowers in their area, also encouraging citizens to ‘green’ their homes.

But one of the biggest issues, reducing the use of cars at the city centre, is still not given proper attention. On the contrary, steps are taken to produce more parking spaces. That measure is totally against all efforts to persuade citizens not to use their cars and prefer the public means of transport.

The worst action of all was the destruction of a park in Athens so as to produce a big parking space. The municipality in charge cut down forty trees of the wide-leaf family, which produce big amounts of oxygen. The park was transformed into a huge flat area for cars.

Such actions discontinue projects for a greener city. Forty trees may not sound like a big number, but if this action is not condemned then soon it will be another green park and then another. Not to mention that the more parking spaces produced, the more people rely on their private cars. It is not only a matter of how many trees are left in the city- which alone is a major issue- but also a matter of whether citizens are encouraged to use the public means of transport.

It should be added, however, that the majority of citizens were against this action, and demanded that green parks are preserved. This is not enough though, as measures against the environment should be condemned by really boycotting parking conveniences and using the public means of transport.