Sex, Sex, Sex - Raping the planet, one step at a time

Disclaimer. If you came here for sex and boobs, go back to your caves, get your eyes checked on a doctor or simply reread the title.

Back in 2009 there was an advertisement.

A job offer to "The Best Job In The World". An opportunity to become a caretaker for the islands in the Great Reef Barrier in Australia. Around 35.000 applications flocked from all over the world. I was one of them. The salary was huge, the chance to experience such beauty and exotic locations and being responsible for them even greater.

But what is the Great Barrier Reef (GBR)? Here are some brief facts.

It is the largest coral reef system in the world. It is considered one of the most beautiful places on earth as well as it's biggest living organism. It was declared a Natural Wonder of the Earth in 1981 and a world-heritage site. It is massive, around the size of Italy, comprising of around 3000 reefs and 900 islands that stretch over 2300 kilometers off the coast of Queensland, Australia. No wonder it can be seen with a naked eye from space.

I wish one day i visit that place.

So what is the problem? There are three mainly. One is that climate change is slowly eating the reef. The global warming effect causes the ocean temperature to rise, which causes coral bleaching and makes the fish and organisms migrate elsewhere since their preferred temperature and environment is disturbed. That leads to loss of biodiversity and chain deaths that greatly affect predatory carnivores from fish to birds.

The other one is pollution. Simply put the coastal area close to the GBR is used for farming. Tons of fertilizers pollute the soil and decline the water quality due to runoff and cause eutrophication, an effect that ends up killing the fish due to depletion of oxygen.

Pesticides, ship wreckages, mining and over-fishing are the other reasons and they are pretty self-explanatory.

Do you see any link between all these? They are all linked to human activity. We are effectively raping the planet. We are destroying our own heritage in the name of money and power. Oil spills, coal mining, fake reports that try to divide and mislead the public.

Tony Abbott of the Australian government announced in 2013 that the reef was not in such a poor condition so they intended to construct a massive coal factory nearby for a massive 16 billion dollars. It sounds like death by a thousand cuts to the reef. Some might say that i am talking bullshit but i am writing a scientific paper based on these assessments and strategic management of the reef. I am not going to supply all the information because that would be impossible, but i would be happy to answer any of your questions or concerns. I also found out that the main driving force of Australia's income is tourism and that it is more important and bigger than the coal industry. The Cost-Benefit analysis might show an advantage to the coal factory initially but when the reef is destroyed in the long run it will lead to devastating effects not only in the country's physical beauty but also in its economic power and income.

These statements were sort of pulled back during 2014 and there was a new assessment going on about the management and the plan to sustain the reef until 2050. If you want to read more and try to sign petitions or make a difference, head up to GetUp!

I am pretty sure you can find Nemo here!

I got so angry reading about all this. Do not let them rape our planet one step at a time. Do something about it. It is time to make a difference.

Good Weekend Sweden!

Destination Uppsala - The journey begins

Pack your things and move here.

Like seriously.

The weather is crap. I admit. But i expected it to be worse actually. It's the 23rd of August and i'm sitting here in my cozy new house preparing for a beer in the Norrlands Nation. And i am reflecting on what i saw so far today. Let's make a recap of what to expect.

I sat there on the single-gate terminal of Kalamata, waiting for flight 438 to commence boarding. Around me there were mostly swedish people, exactly what i expected of them too. Polite, low-profile but very loving with their children. There was also a guy that looked like the last samurai making changes in a 3d house in some sort of program. Blondes, blue eyes, generally skinny and tall.

I chatted a bit with some greek people i met there and i did not even think that the moment i stepped my foot outside i was an immigrant, that there was the point of no return.

The aircraft was an Airbus 319 with around 138 passengers and was like 99% full. Pretty impressive for a town of 60000 people like Kalamata.

I sat next to a swedish couple that were cuddling during the whole flight while i was watching outside the window, watching half of the Avengers movie, eating some half-baked wannabe bread with strawberry, listening to some music.

When i heard about the upcoming landing i dropped everything i was doing and was staggered from what i witnessed from the window.

Breathtaking landscapes, vast forests with tall trees, a lung of fresh air and escape from normality, so wild yet so tamed and peaceful. There were no wolves in this picture, apart from a few ravaged pieces of land attacked by mankind.

Then we landed at Arlanda Airport. It reminded me of an older version of Eleutherios Venizelos airport of Greece. I saw a big Ethiopian airliner and thought i would be scared to fly with it. Our aircraft actually made a very annoying noise from the left engine, but the flight was one of the smoothest i have been in. Thanks Cap.

I went at terminal 5 to pick up my luggage, they arrived around 10 minutes in and i was the only one left since i had to exchange my money into SEK from Euros. The old lady in the cashier seemed annoyed and confounded that i had only an ID card and not a passport.

I took the wrong turn, fired up my trusty tablet, sent a few messages and went outside to the welcome committee. Two girls, one swedish and one German, joined later by an Australian one. I took the necessary info, got to the cafe next and picked up my first Swedish filter coffee for 35 SEK. Quite cheap for an airport compared to our prices if you want my opinion.

My first fika!

So i met two exchange students, Phillip from Singapore and Maddie from Midlands in England. We had some friendly banter and then proceeded to the van that would take us to one of the nations to get started. They call the vans shuttles actually.

We got in and there we were, like 10 greeks, waiting in line for an internet account (which i did not need), a temporary ID student card, some information, a welcome package and a telephone sim card.

I signed up for the shuttle to take me home, then went a small walk into town to pick up a bus refillable card. You cant buy tickets here, nor pay with cash. So buy a ticket!

The town was staggering, the architecture of the buildings, giving a medieval look to the town. The streets were clean, bike lanes in both ways, a couple of beggars a stark contrast to the misery of Athens.

The whole town is like this. Breathtaking.

I bought my ticket, went back to the nation, and got in with some people into the shuttle to drive us home. All but me disembarked in Flogsta. I only remember one Bulgarian woman and one from Australia, Perth, where my favorite band, Pendulum resides. A dude called Alexander was driving us around, he is originated from a small swedish town of 5000 people, but he also has greek roots, from his uncles side methinks.

He told me some stories about the Flogsta scream and how it was used to relieve stress from the exams every Wednesday at 10 pm, but now they do it every night, while he also made fun of the stress factor since everything is way too "xalara" here.

So he dropped me at my new house, where an old lady with memory issues opened the door and had no recollection of my impending arrival. She was polite and nice, i showed her an email that confirmed my room and started unpacking. A nice room, a clean house.

Now i m all set, about to go for a beer. Because i can.

Laters! Welcome to Uppsala!