Stanley Johnson writes and wrongs

Our Editor at Large, former MEP and lifelong environmental campaigner Stanley Johnson offers his perspective on the politics of the planet — from climate and conservation to the corridors of power

Where the Argonauts sailed, a new battle begins on Greece’s coast

The European Environment Agency’s latest report on Europe’s efforts to deal with climate change confidently cites Southern Europe as the continent’s ‘hotspot’. So Michael Mitsikos, Mayor of South Pelion, Magnesia, Greece, is certainly at the sharp end of the battle against global warming. When I called upon him in late June in his mayoral office in Argalasti, a bustling agricultural town halfway down the peninsula, the outside temperature was well over 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.7°C). The forecast for the weekend predicted highs into the 90s.

The EEA report runs to over 300 pages. Using my iPhone, I picked out a few highlights from the executive summary. “Europe is the fastest warming continent in the world,” I read aloud. “Extreme heat, once relatively rare, is becoming more frequent while precipitation patterns are changing. Recent years have seen catastrophic floods in several regions…” “They got that last bit right, didn’t they?” Mitsikos replied.

We both recalled the extraordinary storm that hit the Pelion peninsula in early September 2023. My wife and I have had a house in Pelion since the turn of the century. We’ve returned year after year, enjoying the beaches and mountains, the ubiquitous olive trees and, above all, the people who live in the famous mountain and coastal villages. But Storm Daniel, in 24 hours of solid destruction, swept all before it. Houses and cars washed into the sea; coastal resorts were mangled beyond recognition.

Since then, rebuilding has proceeded apace. Seaside businesses have reopened. Bridges and roads have been repaired. Mitsikos has worked his socks off. When I first met him some years ago, he was sceptical about global warming. I doubt if even today he would admit there’s a clear-cut correlation between climate change and the havoc wrought by Storm Daniel. But whatever the precise causes, he certainly accepts the need for central government to “support vulnerable regions in collaboration with the EU and other agencies”.

One side of the Pelion peninsula faces the Aegean. The other – where my wife and I live – looks onto the Pagasitic Gulf. On a clear day, we can have breakfast on our terrace, gazing across the Gulf to the distant mountains, including Mount Parnassus, home of the gods.

Volos – at the head of the Gulf and only an hour’s drive from Argalasti – may be Greece’s seventh-largest city, but to me it will always be the ancient Pagasae, the place from which Jason and the Argonauts set sail across the wine-dark sea in search of the Golden Fleece.

I remember going down to the waterfront village of Milina the morning after Storm Daniel. The Gulf was full of debris, its pristine waters horribly polluted. “We have worked together with the government, with local authorities, with business and the local people to put things straight since then,” he told me in his office.

“Will you bring back dolphins in abundance too?” I asked. These days, sightings of dolphins from our terrace are few and far between. “We’ll try,” Mitsikos promised.

In November 2022, just 10 months before Storm Daniel had done its worst, Mitsikos addressed a World Coastal Forum meeting in Geneva aimed at mobilising international support for the protection of wetlands and coastal ecosystems. I was there. I heard him. He invited colleagues from around the world to come to South Pelion, to the little coastal village of Kala Nera, to discuss ways in which coasts and wetlands – including marshes and tidal flats – might be better protected.

“Is that invitation still on the table?” I asked him. “Of course it is,” he said.

Today, one of the key issues – in the Mediterranean and elsewhere – is the battle against plastic pollution along coasts and in the sea. South Pelion is not immune. Tragically, efforts to reach an international agreement appear to be faltering, despite new evidence suggesting possible links between microplastics and human health that make the issue more urgent than ever.

After leaving Mitsikos’ office, an idea occurred to me. Mitsikos said his invitation to a meeting in Kala Nera was still open. Perhaps he could invite the CEOs of Greece’s main plastic producers to come there too. The aim would be to reach, at a minimum, an agreement between Greek producers (others too?) to rapidly phase out the production – and perhaps also the import – of plastic bottles, even before an international or EU-level treaty is in place.

They could call it the Kala Nera Concordat or something along those lines. If a meaningful commitment to reduce plastic waste could begin anywhere, why not here, on this once battered but still beautiful stretch of Greek coast? Even limited unilateral measures by the South Pelion Mayoralty could be legally defensible and have a tremendous practical and symbolic impact.

Stanley Johnson is a leading environmentalist, award-winning author and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Father of former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Stanley has helped shape major environmental policies in Europe and championed global conservation efforts. He remains a powerful voice on sustainability, climate change and international affairs. He is also a distinguished and prolific author, with more than 25 books to his name spanning environmental protection and global conservation, fiction, and memoir.