The 4th Patmos Ecology Festival took place from 29 October to 4 November 2025. The non-profit organisation Community of Trees organised it again this year. The 2025 festival brought together a week of celebration, recreation, volunteer work, contribution, cooperation, hard work, and deep satisfaction.

This year's theme addressed war and peace in response to the grave events taking place around the world. Cooperation and selfless work can restore nature, which supports peace and love. Self-interest and greed create the foundations for illness, hatred, and war.

As in previous years, the festival extended beyond fieldwork on Koumas hill. A careful programme of parallel events aimed to attract, inform, educate, and inspire the local community. The Costas M. Lemos Foundation supported the festival through the Points of Support programme, which ten public-benefit organisations co-fund. The Municipality of Patmos also provided decisive support. The Rhodes Regional Nursery and Nikos Renesis again supplied many young trees. Volunteers, students, and many other participants gave essential and moving support. Patmos Times again served as the media sponsor.

The festival began on the afternoon of Tuesday, 29 October, with a guided visit to the Patoinos vineyard in Groikos. Oenologist, naturalist, and writer Dorian Amar introduced the group to the world of seeds. He presented the results of ten years of work with the land, from seed collection and care to the growth of dozens of tree species that now stand well above human height. This experience matched the year's theme: the seeds of life.

From the next morning, students and teachers from the Skala and Chora primary schools joined friends and volunteers on Koumas. Natural farmer Nikos Tsompanoglou and the Pernera Vegan team guided the work. The group made and sowed seed balls, opened planting holes, and planted trees. At the same time, photographer Pavlos Nastas installed the photography exhibition “GAIA-GRAPHIES” at the Patmion Cultural Centre in Skala.

The exhibition presented natural landscapes photographed by Pavlos Nastas, Eva Tsagkaraki, and Emily Mesko. Many friends and Patmos organisations attended the opening that afternoon. Chef Gozde Oguz prepared and offered the ecological vegetarian buffet.

The following day, two lectures took place in the small theatre of the Patmion Cultural Centre. Architect and set designer Kostas Matthaiou shaped the theatre setting. Spyros Geravelis, agronomist and Head of Environment and Urban Greenery for the Municipality of Rhodes, spoke alongside Sabrina Dalla Valle, an eco-poet and philosophy professor who travelled from Florida.

Spyros Geravelis examined our separation from nature and our collective neurosis. He discussed the psychological effects of wild nature and of gardens, where people and nature create landscapes that support harmony and healing.

Sabrina Dalla Valle then presented “The Continuum of the Human–Landscape Relationship”. She explained the difference between environment and landscape. She also described how people use their five senses, often without conscious thought, to find balance, orientation, and unity with a landscape.

Their shared practical session took place the next day at the Kalikatsou rock in Petra. It used successive sensory exercises to help participants approach nature through direct experience. Participants described a deep connection with the natural landscape that they expected to remember throughout their lives.

The next afternoon, the festival honoured Giannis Nikolaou, the recently deceased visionary and co-founder of Community of Trees. He was a filmmaker, soundscape artist, and writer. The event recalled his life and work and screened extracts from his films and documentaries. Pianist Emily Mesko performed a piano improvisation in his memory. His work and vision still bring people together.

The same evening also honoured photographer Sebastião Salgado, who had recently died. The festival screened Wim Wenders' film The Salt of the Earth. Salgado's work remains a source of inspiration for Community of Trees. Alongside his art, he devoted the last part of his life to restoring a severely degraded ecosystem in Brazil.

On Sunday morning, the annual five-kilometre race followed the Skala–Koumas–Meloi–Skala route. Many Patmos residents took part.

A well-planned treasure hunt followed. Manolis and Theologos Pentes, Giannis Mikelis, and Giannis Magklis organised it. More than thirty residents moved through locations across the island, solved inventive puzzles, and carried a strong environmental message. One task brought participants to Koumas, where they worked with volunteers and planted trees.

That evening, the winning team received medals, gifts, and mementos. The event's Facebook group contains material from the game. The Alexandros Alexandris nursery sponsored part of the gifts, which included trees and plants.

On Monday, the team completed the planting of 400 young trees on Koumas and gave them their first watering. That evening, Patmion screened two more documentaries by Ioannis Nikolaou. One focused on Eleonora's falcon and its passage across the islets of Andros, which are important ecosystems for the region and for migratory birds.

The festival ended on Tuesday with a celebration in the garden of Pernera Vegan restaurant. Guests shared food prepared during the earlier “Ecological Mediterranean Cooking – Blue Zones” workshop. The participants shared their gratitude and agreed to meet again the next year.

The festival depends on the persistent work of a very small group. Its members give time, energy, and personal resources to a demanding project. They do this because they believe in restoring the Koumas ecosystem and in strengthening environmental awareness within the local community.

We hope the 4th Ecology Festival will lead to more systematic work throughout the year. This work can help the Koumas project continue, develop, and receive support from more Patmos residents. We hope the community will grow, find inspiration, and take an active role in protecting the natural landscape that supports us.

We give our sincere thanks to every person who participated, supported, contributed, worked, and found inspiration through the festival. We thank the funders, partners, volunteers, speakers, residents of Patmos, and everyone who supported this year's work.

Note: The Points of Support programme funded this work. The views and opinions belong only to the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the participating foundations.