Tag Archives: climate change

we’re on fire, folks… please don’t visit

27 Thursday Jul 2023

Posted by in sevilla, tourism, travel

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , ,

wildfires

A couple of articles caught my eye this week…

As my home city of Athens burns, I can only watch in amazement as sunseekers fly in

Jetting off to the sun? The adverts are selling you a ticket to climate disaster

We are on fire here in many ways. First of all, yes, wildfires are ripping through the Mediterranean and *checks notes* causing holiday goers all kinds of distress. Or that’s how it’s being played on most media.

My question is, why the fuck are they here anyhow? Do they not read the news? Or even the weather reports? Do they not give a shit about anyone other than themselves? I’ve come to realise that these “sun seekers” are ignorant at best, borderline sociopaths at worst. Of course they are being played by travel companies, airlines, hotel chains who NEED them to keep travelling so badly that they offer crazy deals while bombarding everywhere with their relentless “get away” advertising campaigns.

I mean, airlines were still flying people into Rhodes in the middle of an evacuation crisis due to wildfires. And we’re not just talking about tourists – at least they got to flee to the nearest airport to get home while locals lost homes and businesses and lives. But it’s been clear for months that we are in serious drought conditions here, our forests are kindling, and residents face water shortages, with food shortages coming up soon. So WHY are people still coming here to holiday??

What are we? Nothing to you? Nobodies? Or are our towns and cities just places for you to pretend you are at least temporarily living a better life than the one you actually have?

Sevilla is not on fire, yet. But we have not had enough rain for TWO YEARS. So clearly our resources are very low and already water restrictions have been put into place in various places in Andalucía. Also, with record high temperatures the past month there is a real threat to our power grid, that it can withstand the needs of our residents. OF OUR RESIDENTS. Think about that.

When tourists come here en masse during difficult times they are mostly benefitting airline companies, hotel chains, tour companies… very little trickles down to us. Because think about it… you are here using our precious water (we don’t have enough) and still expect your pool to be filled while enjoying your all-day hotel air-con (while we worry about how our power grid can support us) … and you’re not giving a thought to that? Well, maybe you should. I hope you will.

aircon on! way too soon

27 Thursday Apr 2023

Posted by in health & happiness, sevilla, weather

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, ,

ac 23

This is crazy. Yesterday evening I put on the AC for a couple of hours before bedtime because it had got up to 29º in the living room and I wanted to cool things down a bit before going to bed. This usually doesn’t happen until June ffs. It’s going to be a long and expensive summer.

And we also have water restrictions to look forward to. What irks is that we are already being told to cut back and save water (which of course is understandable and we are) but they’re still pushing for full on hotel and holiday apt occupancy this summer and the tourists can use as much of our precious water as they want. How is this right? Likewise with the AC. Because if the grid fails this summer it won’t be because locals are running their air conditioning units 24-7. Nobody here does that.

I am so fed up with all of this. The politicians keep bullshitting us with promises of Sustainable Tourism (elections are coming up next month) meanwhile ALL their actions point to the complete opposite. Imagine, politicians lying?? The media has even come up with the term Turismofobia which also puts the onus on us. It isn’t a fucking phobia. It’s a genuine concern based on a very stark reality. We aren’t imagining anything here, it is actually happening. So how is that a phobia? Ridiculous.

Between Covid deniers and Climate Change deniers I honestly don’t know how to feel any more. It feels pointless to keep raging against the machine when it seems most people just don’t give a fuck as long as they aren’t immediately affected, can still go out for dinner and take holidays and pretend like everything is normal.

I ain’t gonna lie, these past couple of years have taken a huge toll on my physical and mental well-being. I barely sleep any more, I feel exhausted and anxiety-ridden most days, and I don’t know what the answer is, or if there even is one. But I’ll still keep using my AC sparingly, keep wearing my mask in poorly ventilated public situations, and keep hoping for the best. xx

seriously… WHY?

08 Thursday Dec 2022

Posted by in christmas, seasons, sevilla, spam

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, ,

seriously why

During any particularly cold winter here we still usually get up to 15-17º during the day and never go below freezing overnight. Meanwhile we are in the midst of a serious drought and energy crisis, with the local government asking residents to cut back on their water and electricity usage. Heck, they are even restricting the Christmas lights to 6-11 pm. BUT they have installed not one but TWO outdoor ice skating rinks in the city for the holiday season. What the actual…??? Imagine the cost of maintaining these two completely unnecessary installations. Why the hell should there be ice skating in the south of Spain? Why is our city council adopting this completely foreign concept… and who even knows how to ice skate here? This doesn’t belong here, especially now. Honestly, the mind reels.