CLIMATE activists from Extinction Rebellion(XR) said on Sunday that they had plugged holes on 10 golf courses in Spain to protest at the sport’s excessive use of water.
“Just one hole on a golf course consumes more than 100,000 litres of water a day to maintain the surrounding green,” XR said, quoting figures from the Ecologists In Action group.
The holes were filled during the night at courses in Barcelona, the Basque Country, Ibiza, Navarra and the Valencian Community to denounce ‘the waste of water during one of the worst droughts Europe has ever suffered”.
“Golf has no place in a world without water,” said a XR statement.
Some holes were blocked with cement and signs were left saying: “Alert: Drought! Golf closed for climate justice.”
Areas on greens leading up to holes were filled with young plants.
“In Spain, 437 golf courses are irrigated every day,” XR said, claiming the quantity of water used represented ‘a consumption level higher than that of the populations of Madrid and Barcelona combined, for an entertainment enjoyed by 0.6% percent of the population’.
And it denounced ‘the irresponsibility and sheer cynicism of letting this type of elitist pastime continue as Spain dries up and the rural world loses millions due to the lack of water for their crops’.
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