Greek president scolds citizens to do more on environment

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

ATHENS (AFP) — Greek President Karolos Papoulias on Saturday criticized his fellow citizens for turning a blind eye to the environment and demanded a new "social conscience" to tackle pollution.

His comments came in the wake of lethal forest fires this summer in Greece, which killed 67 and burnt out 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) of land.

Papoulias said: "The protection of the environment is a national affair...we must all act together if we are to mitigate its affects." He was speaking during a visit to Lake Koronia, a nature reserve in the north of the country where hundreds of birds died in September after toxic discharges of industrial waste.

Papoulias denounced the indifference of Greece in the past when faced with environmental questions and called...