EcoWorldly

Part of this week’s EcoWorldly cycling series: Cycling and its importance in countries around the world.

Bicycling as a sport, whether it is for participants or spectators, has always held a special place in the hearts of Italians. Professional bike races, including Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France are followed passionately by the Italian people. This mass interest in cycling as sport helps to make Italians among the world’s most knowledgeable consumers of bicycles. Everything you have ever heard about bicycling in Italy is true. The weather, roads and cities are all perfectly suited for bike touring. Each of bicycling and walking itineraries throughout Italy is carefully crafted to blend the best that our country has to offer by taking the active traveler off the beaten track.

A growing number of Italian citizens look today at alternative mobility as the solution to a stressful way of life.

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“Our world is in the grip of a dangerous carbon habit,” UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon Ban said in a statement to mark the celebration of World Environment Day today. “Kick the Habit” (the ‘carbon’ habit) is the international slogan for the event that promotes a movement towards a low carbon economy. World Environment Day, conceived in 1972, is the United Nations’ principal day to mark global green issues and aims to give a human face to environmental problems and solutions.

Not only humans but also art works seem to participate at this global fight against pollution and carbon consumption. It was early this morning in Rome when joggers and dog walkers alerted the police because around 150 statues across the city were wearing anti-pollution masks over their mouths!

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We’re at the beginning of June and it’s still raining. Despite this unmerciful weather, summer season is coming and Italian coasts are preparing to host bunch of tourists from around the world. Such as every year, a list of best beaches is revealed by the Blue Flag Programme, responsible for monitoring popular public beaches, resorts and marinas throughout the world. Criteria such as water quality, amenities and general safety, as well as nearby cultural attractions are all taken into account before a “Blue Flag” is awarded.

This year the Blue Flag programme, owned and run by the independent non-profit organization Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), has declared Italy’s nicest beaches can be found in the Tuscany and Marche regions, with each region boasting 15 awards. Overall, 215 beaches in 104 Italian communities received a “Blue flag”, eight more than last year and 14 more than in 2006. While last year many southern Italian beaches failed to gain the coveted symbol because of problems with waste disposal, this year they have had greater success.

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Last week I was in Florence to visit the fifth edition of Terra Futura, the national meeting-exhibition of the “good practices” of sustainability. The goal of this event is to bring the whole society towards a process of global sensitization. 500 expositive areas and more than 4000 companies showed visitors a lot of products and services, which have been made according to the sustainability’s principles. A free exhibition with a calendar of cultural events including conferences, seminars, workshops and laboratories focused on many themes: energy, water, pollution, recycling, architecture, and economics.

Among others, interior design and fashion departments were on show in Terra Futura.
Where better than in Florence? Fashion and clothing have been representing a must for centuries here and the city hosts the world`s biggest men`s fashion event: Pitti Immagine Uomo. Every year in January and June, many Italian and foreign designers arrive in Florence to participate to this cool show, calling a very big attention on the city.

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“Nasone“, the typical fountain of Rome

“Ti Voglio Bere” (”I want to drink you”) is the name of a project realized in the city of Torino to promote the use of drinking water. The similarity with the overused sentence “Ti voglio bene” (”I love you”) remind us we should appreciate more this basic element that arrives free in our houses.

Water is a public good even if the market wants to persuade us of the contrary. Water is not a drink as well as air we breathe is not a perfume. It’s a right we have to protect.

Italy is the main consumer of drinking water in the world. For us, there is no problem: not many households keep soft drinks or beer ready in the fridge, but everyone’s always got water. The only two beverages that you see on most Italian tables are water and wine.

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Europe is pushing to help solar power spread and Italy is reacting by going forward quickly. The country’s demand is rising even if a large part of Italians are quite doubtful about the advantages of installing solar panels on their homes. The lack of a national strategy, together with an insufficient information, is impeding the use of alternative energy and producing confusion about prices, productivity and maintenance costs.

Despite that, is very surprising what can be done locally. I recently learned about an ecological cemetery in a small town near Milan, in the north of Italy.

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I’ve just seen Gomorra, the movie recently came out in Italy and based on the bestselling book Gomorrah: Italy’s Other Mafia, by Roberto Saviano.

Never before south of Italy has been so popular on media and newspapers like in this period and not for good news! Naples, a city long defined by both its loveliness and its squalor, is collapsing for a garbage emergency linked to the local mafia, the Camorra.

Where is the connection between rubbish and Naples’s crime system?

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It has been estimated that 100,000 tonnes of garbage currently sits on the streets of Naples and the city’s surrounding region.

What’s the background to this?

How has it been allowed to happen?

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Whether you’re traveling to Italy or trying to reduce waste, you’ll benefit from knowing that Italians don’t do takeout.

Styrofoam containers do not biodegrade well; plus they come from petrolium-based chemical feedstocks. They’re just plain bad for the Earth and they’re not great for your food either.

I lived in Italy for more than a year. Once, some American friends told me of their attempts to get spaghetti to go. The waiter had looked confused, so they mimed out “bag” and “box.” The waiter smiled weakly, nodded and took their plates to the kitchen. After a minute he returned and, thinking these people were crazy, handed them their spaghetti in a plastic shopping bag. Read the rest of this entry »