It’s not just about drilling. It’s about a way of life.

Opposition to hydrocarbon extraction is meaningful not because it defends the existing model of production, but precisely because it challenges the need to perpetuate it.

If business as usual continues, with ever-increasing energy consumption, the expansion of tourism, more transport, more construction and an unrelenting pursuit of higher returns, then rejecting the exploitation of a potential domestic gas deposit appears contradictory. Why reject domestic natural gas production while continuing to consume imported gas?

This contradiction, however, does not invalidate the environmental argument. On the contrary, it brings its real meaning into focus: changing the source of energy is not enough; we must reconsider social needs, production priorities and the mechanisms that determine energy demand.

This is a far more radical proposal than simply replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. It challenges the assumption that economic growth is automatically synonymous with social progress, regardless of the environmental cost, the quality of employment and how the wealth produced is distributed.

In Corfu, for example, opposition to hydrocarbon extraction cannot be justified in the name of tourism growth. This is precisely why the reaction of the dominant players in the tourism sector, along with those who follow their lead, including smaller operators, is unconvincing. Instead, the real objective should be to reduce energy and water consumption, improve public infrastructure, diversify production and limit dependence on an economy that depletes its natural resources.

There is, of course, one crucial condition: the transition cannot be imposed as austerity on the many while the accumulation of wealth and the overconsumption of the few remain untouched. Otherwise, environmental policy risks becoming yet another mechanism for perpetuating social inequality.

Opposition to hydrocarbon extraction is politically stronger not when it promises that we can carry on living as we do today without drilling in the Ionian Sea, but when it argues that this very way of life and production must change.

If this point is not brought to the fore, proponents of hydrocarbon extraction will be able to portray the opposition as marginal and eccentric, set against supposedly widespread public support — support that is often confused with ignorance or indifference. They will also exploit the contradictory stance of tourism-sector players who treat the environment as their own “backyard”, to be used as they see fit. Exactly as happened with rubbish. As long as it’s nowhere near me, I don’t care — even if it’s just ten metres away!

GIORGOS KATSAITIS