THE HAGUE--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 make one blind to the damage to our natural environment and undermine communities," Queen Beatrix said.
Despite the economic crisis, the importance of sustainability is 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.
Quoting the late Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, she said: "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed."
She also praised small scale projects for energy to encourage sustainable production.
Members of the Dutch Parliament (MPs) welcomed the Queen's message. "The Queen's message is a call for sustainability ... as a central theme. Impressive," said Christian Democrat CDA MP Marieke van der Werf.
However, Party for Freedom PVV leader Geert Wilders used micro-blogging service Twitter to ask if the Queen secretly had joined the left-wing green party GroenLinks.
Four years ago, Wilders also criticised the Queen for what he considered "preaching multi-cultural nonsense."
GroenLinks MP Liesbeth van Tongeren tweeted, "Queen's Christmas message struck exactly the right key. There is more to life than just making loads of money."
Labour PvdA party MP Diederik Samsom tweeted, "The Queen is letting everyone know what she thinks of 130-kilometres-per-hour-kill-off-the-environment. Entire Christmas message on environment and nature: lovely."
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