Banned : Building on Beaches

One of my favourite things in life, which I’m sure I share with many of you, is simply walking along a beach. There is something so peaceful about the lapping of the waves when the sea is gentle, and so powerful when the surf is crashing in. Both are reminders that nature is our preferred environment and every bit of concrete, glass and steel we erect to enclose and surround nature diminishes our lives a little. I hope property developers walk along beaches and get the feeling that “this is too beautiful to spoil”, that “sometimes the best thing to do to a beautiful beach is to leave it alone.” I don’t believe they do but we can only hope that their eyes will open one day. So many of the world’s most beautiful beaches are now cocooned in concrete, leaving nature only in the sea, and losing forever the feeling that the beach is where we long to be. Under the shadows of the concrete gravestones that are planted on the shore, all joy is gone. Let’s never do that in Bali, enough is enough.