Paris Demetriades
Another scorching summer is drawing to a close, at least on the calendar, and while the risk of major fires hasn’t vanished, we can hope that as the weather cools and the rain returns, we’ll move away from the extreme danger of deep-red alerts. Complacency is never an option, not ever, but at least we seem to be past the most critical stretch. The SOS period, that is, when the Director-General of the Ministry of Agriculture, the State’s chief coordinator for fire prevention and response, would probably be better off not being halfway across… Australia. Just saying.
From distant Australia, we turn to the equally distant United States, from where, in recent days, experts arrived to tell us why nearly half of Cyprus went up in flames at the end of July. Their verdict? Two cigarette butts. The questions around the largest fire in modern Cypriot history (two lives lost, hundreds of homes, buildings, and cultivated land destroyed) are many, serious, and deeply troubling. And they will dominate the public debate for a long time to come.
In the midst of this annual nightmare that strikes Mediterranean countries every summer—note, I’m not saying this to excuse anyone—combined with a climate crisis worsening far faster than scientists first predicted, I want to focus on one question, simple but critical: Are we planting the trees we should be planting?
I honestly wonder: Especially in our cities, why aren’t mayors and officials dedicating themselves almost entirely to tree planting? Do we realize how quickly the situation spirals out of control? Do we understand the countless problems caused by a lack of greenery and the immense solutions and benefits that would come from serious, widespread tree planting? I know the issue ranked high in the campaign promises of mayors in major cities, but a year after the elections, the pace of planting is far too slow.
History offers a stark reminder. Cyprus has faced prolonged, severe droughts before, to the point that entire areas were almost abandoned. Today’s technology and know-how may spare us from such extremes, but that’s no reason for complacency. The new, cooling, shady trees we need to plant must be countless. They must be everywhere. And addressing this issue should be treated as urgent, not optional.
