ΑΤΗΕΝS – Hundreds of wildfires that swept across Greece in the summer of 2021 were either deliberately set or somehow tied to companies wanting to put up more turbines, including on islands, most Greeks believe.

Showing conspiracy theories abound – many Greeks think the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t real or that vaccines are aimed at changing their DNA – a survey showed wild ideas about the fires too.

That came in a poll conducted for the Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Ministry by the Athens think tank diANEOsis and Metron Analysis wound found 70 percent of respondents said the fires were the result of arson and more than half thinking it was done to get more wind turbines installed.

While Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that a key reason for the fires during a brutal heat wave was climate change, most Greeks don’t think that’s true, a key thought of conspiracy theorists who think it’s a hoax.

The survey, conducted in April on a sample of 2,000 people, showed a lot of confusion over environmental issues, the destruction of natural resources important to only 2.5 percent of respondents, and 1.3 percent for climate change.