On January 3 I took my wife, along with my parents, to visit one of my childhood “safe places”: Moraira and Javea, in Alicante’s White Coast.

Alongside Ibiza, always my favorite, Moraira’s beaches have a very special place in my memory.

While it has grown a lot in population and housing developments, being a “prime real estate” area (and therefore rich town), they have made a pretty good job keeping it nice and beautiful.

After a walk in the marina, a visit to my beloved Portet beach, and going to the cliffy Cumbres del Sol, we ended the day trip by having a delicious artichoke and squid paella by the beach in Javea.

Definitely it is the water, that transparent Mediterranean water, with yellow sand beaches, what makes it special (the Mediterranean pine trees don’t hurt, though ;-). A water depleted of the explosion of marine life that I experienced snorkeling as a kid. A water that, at the rate we are going, will not stay crystal clear and beautiful for too many decades.

Environmentalism: so much talk and so little action. Yet, instead of waiting for governments to “do something”, it’s all up to us. From overfishing to waste dumping, it all happens because we allow it either as direct actors looking the other way, or as indirect consumers.

Let’s save the lakes and mountains, the beaches and forests… or we will be depriving future generations of resources and, most importantly, of beauty. Because who wants to live in an ugly world? Who can find luxury in the dessert?