Climate change is obvious to anyone over twenty five years of age; things have certainly changed since I was a kid. It’s December and the temperature this evening in Athens is 20°C (mornings and afternoons are way worse. Under normal circumstances 15°C would have been considered a very mild evening). At the same time, northern Europe is covered in snow. These temperatures do more than just seem extremely weird for human beings. Take for example my lemon tree: totally confused and blooming, four months before its time (to my knowledge lemon trees bloom between the spring and early summer; definitely not in December). By extension it might be the case that these temperatures affect the whole chain of life; from insects to trees, mammals and fish in some way or another. I would like to believe that nature is resilient enough to cope with this imbalance, but somehow I think it is not.

Just back from a trip to Kythira, my usual destination whenever I get the chance to get some time off. Here’s a picture I took that I find more or less representative of the state of nature on the island during Spring — it’s every bit as beautiful as this HDR photo alludes. Kythira was forested to a very large extent in the 1950s and despite several ‘wildfires’ since then it still boasts a very impressive natural scenery — especially considering its size and location (typically Hellenic islands are barren, dry and very rocky).

Sadly, and even though Spring is by far the most beautiful season in Hellas, the weather these past few days was not that great. The pic was taken during a very short sunny spell on Tuesday afternoon which was soon followed by a massive group of dark, ominous and fast-moving clouds; as you can probably imagine: it was quite windy.

For more of my pictures of Kythira check this page. Click on the image for a larger version.