Views: 2

The President of the European Commission says that nuclear energy is strategic for Europe. Next month will mark 40 years since the very serious accident at the (formerly Soviet and now Ukrainian) Chernobyl plant, when a radioactive cloud larger than the entire Iberian Peninsula was released and drifted across the West as far as the United States. The radiation was equivalent to hundreds of bombs like the one in Hiroshima.

This March also marks 15 years since the explosion at the Japanese Fukushima plant. On that occasion, the origin of the accident was an earthquake followed by a tsunami. The tsunami disabled the cooling systems and the high temperatures melted the reactors, eventually causing lethal explosions. At the same level as the previous accident.

We are currently experiencing a wave in which the far right once again defends nuclear energy and, as can be seen, some politicians with little memory and a very short-term outlook are being swayed by pressure. Identifying nuclear as green energy is as big a mistake as thinking that supporting it will help democracy. They are the same big electricity companies as always.

There is a fine line between loving and possessing. Some people fall in love with Menorca, buy a part of it and try to bend territorial regulations. To build villas disguised as farm buildings, to use water that we can no longer afford. To possess a piece of the island and subject it to their own criteria at the cost of making it lose its charm.

Some people become passionate about the island and carry out activities in areas and at times of extreme fragility, which translate into significant losses. Passing through spaces or climbing cliffs when they are full of nests, systematically stepping on dune areas… these are actions that seriously affect natural values. When done unconsciously, they are irresponsible. When done knowingly, they show that will to possess above that of loving.

People who love the island understand that we must equip ourselves with limits. Because today we are many more than a few decades ago. Because nowadays, anything becomes a tourist product. Because now an area can be filled with people through a viral social media post. Fortunately, there are organised groups that understand this and help guide the most unaware people.

The balance that has been preserved in Menorca can be read in the mosaic landscape we have, where farmland is combined with patches of natural vegetation, indicating coexistence between food production for humans and refuge for wild flora and fauna. A landscape that is a gift to the eyes and that can be improved without undoing it.

If you want a flower, you cut it. If you love a flower, you water it, observe it, delight in it… and leave it for those who come after.

That is the difference. A short-sighted vision that does not consider the collective interest ends up justifying theories that ultimately ignore medium- and long-term scenarios, the needs of future generations, and the eventualities that always occur over time.

Nuclear energy belongs to the unsustainable vision. Wanting to possess Menorca implies consuming it, not enjoying it. We must love the flower.

 

(This text is an adaptation of the original article published by Miquel Camps, as coordinator of territorial policy for the GOB, in the Menorca newspaper on 16/03/2026).