Croatia will never cease to amaze me.
Some things you would expect to be huge stories barely get a mention, and then other causes grab the national media for weeks.
The latest surprise relates to the very little media coverage which exists on one of the most important aspects of tourism here – the future of the Adriatic Sea. Without the pristine Adriatic, Croatia’s tourism offer would be severely diminished, and so it was more than a little alarming in some quarters to hear the government unveil plans to start drilling for oil and gas from 2015, in various locations, including off the coast of the island of Brac.
I wrote a Google News article about it which was widely read, but there has been relatively little coverage of an issue which has the potential to bring great wealth but also great destruction to the country’s precious tourism industry.
It seems that some people are very concerned, however, and I came across a Facebook page called Clean Adriatic Sea Alliance recently, which describes itself thus:
CASA is a united group of citizens for preservation of the Adriatic Sea. Opposed to oil drilling in the Adriatic! Let’s get #AdriaticMillion supporters!
Description
The goal of this page is to show support both within Croatia and internationally for the preservation of one of the world’s most beautiful bodies of water, the Adriatic Sea | Jadran!
We are committed to No Adriatic Drilling!
Find us on Twitter: @CleanAdriatic
Note: We welcome comments and support freedom of speech. However, please keep your discussions/comments civil, free from insults, and as vulgar-free as possible! We reserve the right to remove comments.
I contacted the page and asked for a little more background.
The reason I started the Clean Adriatic Sea Alliance (CASA) Facebook Page was due to hearing news that the Croatian government had plans to drill for oil in the Croatian Adriatic. This was very troubling for me on many levels. I often explain my Dalmatian heritage and the importance of the Adriatic Sea to the culture, by saying to friends: “I have the waves of Adriatic Sea flowing through my veins.” This news puts that culture at risk. I also find the news troubling for the many negative effects that offshore oil drilling places on the environment.
As a citizen of the world, I find it my responsibility to protect the environment that gives us life, and I wanted to provide a place for citizens to speak out on this issue. As time goes by, more and more people travel to Croatia. I have encountered many people that have told me it has touched their lives in a very special way. This also gave me encouragement to start the social media presence. As a solution to boost the economy, I find it a very narrow plan that benefits only a select few, but hurts many more that have invested in the country’s tourism, fishing, or ecology. In terms of oil’s future in energy consumption, it is a very antiquated product that I fear could leave Croatia behind, while people continue to move forward, and make choices outside of petroleum in their daily lives.
Check out the Facebook page here.
