The drought is also laying siege to France and someone has decided to switch to de facto streets, plugging some golf holes of a club in Toulouse. An undoubtedly symbolic gesture to raise awareness of the climate-related crisis.
A gesture that, however, causes discussion.
Cement in golf course
The protest is led by Extinction Rebellion climate activists. On the night between Thursday and Friday, some of them entered the Golf Club de Garonne, giving free rein to their anger.
So several holes were filled with concrete, some greens were damaged and even flags and beaters had a bad time. All documented by a couple of shots published on the various social profiles of the group. That 2022 is a long summer also in France.
The worst drought in history is recorded across the Alps, according to numerous studies. In much of the country, restrictions on water consumption have been introduced. In the most affected areas it is forbidden to water gardens or wash cars.
But golf courses are exempt from the country’s watering ban. Activists call golf “the leisure industry of the privileged” and have seen fit to act in their own way. When the work was finished, a sign with the following question was also planted in the green.
“This hole drinks 277 liters of water a day. Do you think he drinks too much? ” To answer it is up to the director of the club, Nicolas Astier, ready to file a complaint. “Those who have done this are people who are not well informed about our way of using water.
We only water the greens, an area equivalent to half of a football field. ” he told the Liberation newspaper. Toulouse is a city in France, the capital of the Occitania region (department of Haute-Garonne). Crossed by the Garonne, it is located in the southwestern region of the country, about 100 km away from the Spanish Pyrenees and more or less halfway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
It is the fourth most populated city in the country after Paris, Marseille and Lyon. According to the 2017 census, the city of Toulouse has 479 553 inhabitants (compared to 390 350 in 1999), which reaches 1 360 829 (against 964 797 in 1999) in its metropolitan area also the fourth most populous in the country (INSEE ).
The municipal territory of the city covers an area of 118.3 km². Cultural center of Occitania, it has received the nickname of the Pink City for the dominant color of the ancient buildings and has two sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the Romanesque basilica of Saint-Sernin (the largest Romanesque building in Europe) and the Canal du Midi.
Its inhabitants are called Tolosani (Toulousains) and the symbol that appears on the flag of the city is the Occitan cross. The city’s motto is, in Occitan, Per Tolosa totjorn mai (Per Tolosa, more and more).
