Casita Verde founder Chris Dews: "We want people in Ibiza who are intelligent, not just rich"

The ecologist and environmental campaginer, Chris Dews, is famous in Ibiza as the founder of Casita Verde near St Jose, which he started in 1993. Chris and teams of volunteers have transformed the place into a model for living with minimal environmental impact. He dreams of one day doing things on a much grander scale on a different site, and has his eye on the vacant land next to Cafe Mambo for a project he calls EcoLandia. As a young man, Chris spent many years in the merchant navy. He ended up in Ibiza quite randomly when he needed to get out of the UK at short notice and found the last flight left in his local trave agent was to the white isle. Chris is an original thinker. He certainly isn’t against partying on the island, but believes you should earn the right to do so after a hard day’s volunteering. Tourism doesn’t need to stop but should be totally redefined.