Dutch queen Beatrix used her traditional Christmas speech to urge the people of the Netherlands to take better care of the planet.

‘Selfishness and a tendency towards excess makes one blind to the damage to our natural environment and undermine communities,’ Beatrix said.
Despite the economic crisis, the importance of sustainability was paramount, the queen said. ‘The earth which feeds life, but cannot speak for itself, needs a voice. That should be heard in all minor and major decisions,’ she said.
Gandhi
The queen quoted Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. ‘Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed,’ the Dutch monarch said.
She also praised small scale projects to generate save energy and to encourage sustainable production.
MPs welcomed the queen’s message. ‘The queen’s message is a call for sustainability… as a central theme. Impressive,’ said Christian Democrat MP Marieke van der Werf.
But anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders used the microblogging service Twitter to ask if the queen had secretly joined the left-wing green party GroenLinks. Four years ago, Wilders also criticised the queen for ‘preaching multi-culti nonsense.’
The queen’s speech