President Karolos Papoulias’s visit to fire-ravaged Mount Parnitha has demonstrated that there is indeed some concern being shown on the part of the state about Greece’s major ecological problems.

If nothing else, we know that the head of state cares and citizens must now just hope that this interest trickles down through the rest of the state apparatus.

Papoulias’s visit could be interpreted as sending a symbolic message to the government, which the people of Greece have been trying to send for years: “Take a serious interest in the environment. There is no more margin for evading the issues, nor for makeshift solutions. The future of this country lies on the slopes of Mount Parnitha and the hills of Ileia prefecture. It lies in the waters of the Asopos River, Lake Koroneia and Kifissos River. The land on which we inflict scars today will reap its vengeance tomorrow.”

This land, this country is the one represented by the president, and he is performing his task in an admirable way.