With the hands in the rubbish

Paola Alagia, Massimiliano Iervolino. Preface by Gian Antonio Stella. Reality Book Edizioni. 152 pagg. 14€

Review by Roberto Cavallo

I’ve just finished reading the book by Alagia and Iervolino.

I’ve devoured it. Not only because it’s about an issue that I’ve been studying for twenty years, but also because it’s well written. Fluent. It’s seems to be a novel.

When you go back to read a paragraph you found it true. What you are reading is dramatically true. The names, the places, the dates: everything is true.
And with them it’s true the pollution of a vast area of Rome and the connivance of the administrations that let it happened.

“What is Malagrotta? I believe it will become ‘Buonagrotta’* for the service it provided to Rome and to almost the whole Lazio region…” This is one of the sentences of Manlio Cerroni, “the lawyer”, owner of Malagrotta and of many others dumping grounds and waste disposal plants in Lazio. These sentences are extracted from the statements he issued to the Corriere della Sera newspaper and from his auditions in the Commission for the Environment in the Chamber and in the Senate. They are at the beginning of the book.

Then you read the book. You get involved into the story of the “king of the rubbish”, of the politicians who governed Rome, its Province and the Lazio Region and of the place where there’s the dumping ground. And then you arrive at the recent analyses made by the ARPA (Regional Agency for the Protection of the Environment), where it’s said: “the results from the 2010 survey confirm the ground waters contamination observed in the previous monitoring campaign of the site, both for inorganic and organic compounds… On the basis of these results we stress the need of measures for securing the site from the diffusion of the contamination, and we suggest subsequent recovery plans of the site […]. The most important information is not the peak of the 2010, compared to the 2009, but the fact that the numbers of the last year show that the pollution is not decreasing, but increasing instead.”

So you think that maybe it hasn’t really become “Buonagrotta”!

The seriousness of the situation is confirmed by several attached documents, including analyses, graphs, scientific publications about the impact of the dumping grounds on human health, as long as copies of the reports to the Public prosecutor’s office.

The subtitle “the disaster of the ‘partitocrazia’**. The Malagrotta case: the eight hill of Rome” describes part of the book. Because the work by Alagia and Iervolino is not only a denunciation, but also an attestation of the efforts made by the Malagrotta Committee and by its resolute president, Sergio Apollonio. It’s also suggested a regional plan of waste management, which should stress the relevance of the prevention and the waste separation so that, if dumping grounds have to be there, at least they’ll be marginal and not dangerous.

It’s a book that leaves a door open for the hope, because, if “the problem is difficult to unravel […], two points are sure in this story: the citizens, that won’t accepted the decisions made by the top, and Europe, which likely keeps an eye on this situation.

* Malagrotta, which is the name of the dumping ground site, literally means “bad cave”, while ‘Buonagrotta’ means “good cave”. It’s a wordplay alluding to the supposed goodness of the Malagrotta site.

** partitocrazia means a situation in which political parties control all the institutions.

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Prepariamoci! Luca Mercalli's new book

by Roberto Cavallo

Get ready!
With the exclamation mark.
My mother used to tell me this word, when we were waiting for a trip on the mountains.
Luca Mercalli’s invitation, which become an exhortation, doesn’t refer to that kind of mountain-trip feelings, rather to dark days which are waiting for us if we don’t exit the thick cultural fog that enshroud us.

Luca starts his book with ten commandments for the 21st century.The author has not became a mythomaniac but, like a kind of modern Spinoza, tries to be the nature’s spokesman. That nature we should obey to avoid our self-destruction.

Mercalli’s book is composed by two parts and an appendix. The first one is “What we should know”, in which author introduces us some concepts of sustainability, because, actually, “we should know”.

There are biographical references, at least fifty, for readers who are interested in deepening the concepts of intelligent mobility, good waste management and energy saving.

First part paves the way to the second one, Mercalli’s plan B, in which, reminding Lester Brown, accompanies us to choose daily-based behaviors that will help us to survive. Surviving does not mean relying on good luck but, Mercalli tries to convince us, means using the great knowledge potential got together in thousands of years of human history to change the course of our future.

The big surplus value of this book is that Mercalli’s plan B is not a theoretical formula or an academic research, rather an effective report about author’s deeply consistent way of life. He tells us how he installed solar panel for heating water and photovoltaic ones for electric energy, how he built up a big tank to collect raining water or how he got to optimize the energetic consumption of his old house.

His style is light and reading goes on like a pleasant chat in front of the fireplace. Personally I prefer a less-diplomatic Mercalli, like in that chapter in which he tells, with pleasure, how he destroyed with a big beetle his just-bought new house’s flower box. In the same time I can understand that he doesn’t want to receive libel actions as it happened in the past.

The book is fine and Mercalli is a rare consistent and careful man. Enjoy your reading and, quoting the author: let’s wake up and prepare!

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“A piedi nudi nel verde”: an interesting book against the deficit of environmental policy

by Silvia Musso

Are you local administrators, educators or simply parents? Do you think the city where you live is not human-sized? Do you think your children need green spaces where playing and being free? In brief, do you feel a "nature deficit" and would you like to know how to change this reality toward more sustainable urban forms?

A piedi nudi nel verde. Giocare per imparare a vivere (“Barefoot in nature. Playing to learn to live” by Giunti Editore) is a book where you can find useful insights, interesting examples and an extensive bibliography and site links on the relationship between childhood play and nature.

The two authors, the philosopher of science Albertina Oliverio and developmental psychologist Anna Oliverio Ferraris, have been engaged years in the defence of urban environments to meet the needs of any citizen, especially children. We contacted them to figure out through their observations what the book specifically is.

Which is the aim of the book and its main target?
«These days lifestyle is not suitable for children growing needs. While activity is essential to children wellness, obesity among youths is dramatically increasing due to sedentariness. Children are exposed to several stimuli that accelerate their growth preventing them to spontaneously develop their mental attitude through games. There is a relationship, scientifically proven, between the lack of free playing in childhood and anxiety and depression in adolescence. If these days children play much less than a few decades ago, is because meeting spaces have slowly disappeared, roads have become very dangerous, parents are more concerned and anxious than their grandparents were and in consumer society children are considered just like small adults rather than kids. With this book, we speak to teachers, administrators and citizens. It is important to give children back those spaces and those times they need. Too many children today are overweight because they move little and obesity is increasing among adolescents. Too many children are not engaged in anything could give them pleasure and which contribute to the development of sociability and intelligence. Children build up their personality interacting with peers, taking initiatives and using imagination. Playing together is learning to make decisions, solve problems, exercise self-control, regulate emotions, respect the rules, find compromises, all in a cheerful and optimistic atmosphere».

In the book you refer to a kind of commercial communication that often degrades outdoor life, play and movement. Are there special forms of communication and media which may convey environmental sustainable messages concerning childhood and education?
«Media could send this kind of messages. If they do not, it is because they just follow business. Think of the incredible number of commercials broadcasted every day, even in children programs. It is good to know that in several European countries inserting commercial advertisements in children programs (from Norway to Greece ...) is not permitted because of the power of persuasion and manipulation that may have commercial messages. But advertising is not the only guilty. Many entertainment programs send messages morally harmful or full of anxiety trying to keep viewers "glued" to the screen. Gossip broadcasts are offensive to children: many, however, watch them with their parents».

Among the numerous stimuli and examples presented throughout chapters, in several occasions you refer to the importance of citizens involvement in cities administrative life. What do you mean by that?
«Children are citizens like anybody else, even if they do not vote. But they cannot defend their rights, so adults have to be strongly involved in their welfare, women in particular. Experience teaches us that when women have public administrations roles, children's civil rights are safeguarded. Northern European countries, where women hold political offices as an equal to men, we find the highest attention to children and adolescents as well as the largest number of initiatives to make cities more "green" and livable. Even in Italy we have some good cases, but there is still not a widespread awareness of these issues».

Envi strongly recommends reading this book we can call "militant": it is a text full of relevant messages for a sustainable present and future of our children, that we hope can be spread as much as possible.

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“MENO 100 kg, ricette per la dieta della nostra pattumiera”

by Roberto Cavallo
Edizioni Ambiente, 2011

Emanuela Rosio's review

How to explain to children the European strategy on waste reduction? Perhaps remembering the actions of a grandfather they did not know. That grandfather, who spent hours hunched over a step to straighten the nails from the rafters and then put them off depending on the size in a Nutella jar.

An image that more than any other explains one of the European strategy 4 “R” to reduce our impact on the environment. The R of reuse, that reuse of objects that imply great creativity, innate in the past rural world.

Roberto Cavallo's book strenght is in this skill to make concrete a difficult subject, transforming it in daily acts. A problem to solve that becomes a common word that involves everyone. The waste management that metaphorically becomes a diet problem. As in summer before you go to the seaside. To follow a diet means to start thinking to what we throw away figuring out if these things are really necessary or if we cab change our behaviour and reduce also our bin's size. A light reflection that touches our future, that interrupts for a momentthe festivities of the Titanic to question the route, to say that maybe there's still time to divert from the iceberg that is waiting for us.

So let's ask what are disposable things, what are the products we buy and if there are some less impactful on the environment. Almost like a game that touches all the rooms of the house. And so in the text, we find the advice on cleaning products do it yourself, on homemade yogurt, on home composting to be done in the garden, how to reduce and reuse everyday objects.

The book flows slightly, taking over the theatre play called the same in which ideas become concrete suggestions for changing your buying choices, with jumps into the past of the author's family and references to current legislation and Roberto Cavallo's professional experience (President of ERICA soc. coop, services company that designs and realises environmental communication campaigns), alternating between descriptive and didactic parts.

The book can be of interest either to those are seeking advice on waste reduction, or those who are looking for a book able to evoke past times with great effectiveness, especially in terms of ability to transmit images and sensations described in minute details.

The book can be purchased at the discounted price of 12 euros (instead of 14) until September 5th by sending an email to amministrazione@cooperica.it. The book will be in all bookshops since September 7th.

For more info: ERICA soc. Coop. www.cooperica.it.

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Environment from limit to value. A political experience

by Roberto Cavallo

The pages of the book by Renzo Penna “Environment from limit to value", subtitled “political and administrative experienc "(Editori Riuniti University Press) are 540, but when you have finished them you realize that they could have been even more and you would not feel hard to read.

The tone that comes from the pages is the typical one of those who approach environmental issues: enthusiast!

I met Renzo Penna while he was in charge at the Province of Alessandria as Councillor for the Environment, accompanied by his skillful staff and I immediately understood the cultural approach that he wants to give to his political mandate, and perhaps the main ingredient of his suffered, but resolute resignation.

Yeah, because anyone who deals with environmental issues sighting beyond the electoral mandate and interpreting the essence of sustainable development – the one caged by the Brundtland definition of leaving their environment at least in the same conditions in which it was inherited - is likely to be misunderstood.

And that's what we read in the pages of Renzo Penna; of that environment that perhaps for a while has been a limit for him, but that has suddenly turned into a value: the value is much more than the price, because you cannot buy the value is can buy, you cannot sell it, you cannot discount!

This is the feeling that takes the reader who reads the chapters of the Water, sailing firstly the Orba river and its contract of the river, then from the Tanaro and Bormida rivers, overcoming the tragic events of chemical pollution of ACNA insdustry and the flooding of 1994.

The value of human health and life, infinitely superior than the profit, is what characterizes the dramatic chapter on Air and the paragraph on asbestos.

I find again in the pages of the chapter on waste the real footprint left by Renzo and his administrative experience, that I had the fortune to live professionally. The stubbornly insist on wanting a provincial waste plan based heavily on waste reduction and materials recovery through door-to-door waste separate collection, beyond the political difficulties, makes Justice to Renzo Penna for having pioneered the EU directive that calls Member States and local authorities to set their own programs and plans.

The imprinting of the councilor Penna does not stop at his pages, but fortunately it is directly on the territory, so much so that according to the latest official data of the Piedmont Region are at least thirty municipalities in the province that recycle more than 65% of its municipal waste and some municipalities such as Bassignana or Castelletto Monferrato that have greatly reduced their waste to landfill and throw only 65 kg per inhabitant per year, just that if everyone does this, the Province of Alessandria wouldn’t have problems of urban waste management.

I would like to close with a small editorial critic. I saw better the chapter “Ecolavori” (Green jobs) as the closure, after the chapter on energy because Ecolavori has been and continues to be a unique experience at the national level, as I think unique was also the administrative experience of Renzo Penna that is so well described in the book I invite you to read.
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Warming by a comic for the good of the planet

by Annalisa Audino

It is a mixture of music, ecology, art, sketch and literature the eighth appointment with the annual anthology of the Italian independent comic strip curated by Claudio Calia and Emiliano Rabuiti within the project Sherwood Comix, comics section of the Sherwood Festival, the greatest musical event in Veneto organized by the Italian free radio, Radio Sherwood.

The 2010 edition of the anthology, in comparison with the past years, has enriched from the environmental theme: in some cases it constitutes the pivot of the histories, in others it’s the beginning for an ample discourse. In general, after the summit in Copenhagen, concluded with a disappointing hole in the water, and because of the numerous tensions that characterize the world, it prevails with a pessimistic vision, between the distressing one and the sarcastic one, of the relationships between man and environment.

A common point is surely the wish of the authors to overheat tempers and to communicate to all what they think, but above all what is happening. The text in fact talks about economic crisis, wars, paranoia’s, racism and violence: all elements of a heating of the global tension on the surface of the planet on which the authors of this volume have wanted to express with their histories and their sketches in a comic strip contribution.

The unpublished authors are 28 and from the cover of the volume, created by Joseph Palumbo, the message is clear: it is necessary to get angry and to get overheated about the Earth to be able to do something. The subject on the front page in fact, in the headline, has the terrestrial globe in flames, both for the anger caused by certain information and for the real global overheating. The outlines of the continents, contrasts of white color and dark ones, suggest the image of a world consumed inside itself same and blocked eyes of the subject instead they don't do anything else than to express the anguish of the powerless.

It is impossible to describe every single comic strip and the message that it brings. The histories are various for subject and thematics, over that for used artistic technique: they pass from the perspective of single characters as the laborer of Rosano described by the ink of Cristina Spanò, to the adventurous stories on the today life as the character of Sarah Bartoletti, author of Mirabilis Japala, that as a new character of Giono, fights the urban degrade grafting infesting seeds of plants, or the "sold researcher" of Kyoto Hotel (Tones Bruno) that in the name of money he tells nuclear energy as a progress and a clean energy. There are also thematics, such as the omofobia, the interceptions, the water's privatization, the black tide of the British Petroleum, the summit in Copenaghen, reported with irony in Climattivista of Zerocalcare, or the drug and the impact of this on the environment.

That is to say that the book has to be read, both for those who love comic strips and for those who want to be abducted in a book that contains passion and energy themes that are actually important, proposing them in instantly honest and sincere testimonies of the reality and avoiding the error to use the printed paper as an empty occasion to promote their own points of view without proposing concrete actions. More...

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Waste prevention: launch of the first European guideline

by Alessandro Ferrua and Silvia Musso

The waste prevention is among the priorities for a sustainable development and it is time to take action, with the purpose to face the problem of the waste overproduction and to change old habits. How? In many Countries there are many experiences and good practices addressed to waste reuse and reduction.

Some of them are shown into the guideline for waste prevention, Quantitative benchmarks for waste prevention, published by ACR+ (Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and sustainable Resource management), an international network of members who share the common aim of promoting the sustainable consumption of resources and management of waste through prevention at source, reuse and recycling, formed by local and regional authorities and by national networks of local authorities that represent about 1,100 municipalities.

The first European guide on waste prevention is a good tool for local and regional authorities, especially considering that by 2012 the Members States have to acknowledge the New European Directive 2008/98 that, into the waste hierarchy puts the prevention at the first place.
The book has been edited, in its Italian version, by AICA (International Association for Environmental Communication), with the support of Gruppo Hera, SMAT Torino and ERICA soc. coop.

This guide belongs to the contributions that together AICA and ACR+ want to give to improve the information exchange about the waste management.

«It is – Roberto Cavallo, president of AICA, stresses – the third works translated in Italian that follows the first, about the management of WEEE and the second about organic waste. As the previous volumes also this guide, is enriched by several Italian good practices, both to better contextualized the guide’s topics, and to underline that in many case also Italy can show good examples of virtuous waste management systems».

The guide can vaunt, in its Italian version, the contributions of two famous experts: Edo Ronchi, President of SUSDEF (Sustainable Development Foundation) and Paul Connet Executive Director of AEHSP (American Environmental Health Studies Project) who wrote respectively the preface and afterword to the book.

The guide will be officially launched on Friday morning, July 2nd at the water treatment facility of SMAT in the municipality of Castiglione Torinese, few kilometers far from Turin. After the SMAT managing director’s greetings, will speak, the Environmental Assessor of Province of Turin, Roberto Ronco, the national waste management expert Mario Santi and AICA president, Roberto Cavallo.

Moreover also the businesses will have their own space thanks to the participation of Filippo Brandolini, Herambiente president and of Marco Acri of SMAT, who will speak how their companies behave towards the conference’s main topic.
Following the visit to the facility and the aperitif.

The guide will be sold during the conference at the launching cost of 25 Euros. For ones who desire to buy a copy, it will be possible to book it also in the next months. The guidelines will be printed just on demand booking them to the following e-mail address: segreteria@assaica.org. This is also a small contribution aimed to prevent the resources overconsumption and the waste production.

For the occasion it will be also possible to watch the AICA’s exhibition “Communicating Public Water”, that collects some of the best Italian campaigns to raise citizens’ awareness to the use of public water, a water that is secure, free and that doesn’t produce any waste. More...

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When the library becomes environmental

by Paolo Ghiga

A library dedicated to the Earth and the environment in which you can consult and borrow books and publications on the topics of environmental culture, biodiversity, water, soil and constituent part of the environment. This business of fledgling Environmental Library of the “Amici della Terra Toscana” (Friends of the Earth Tuscany), inaugurated on Saturday 27 March last, in Florence, in via Giano della Bella 22.

Friends of the Earth represent in Italy the Friends of the Earth International, environmentalist network among the most important in the world, present since 40 years and in 66 countries, with over 1.5 million subscribers and over 5,000 local groups organized.
Friends of the Earth, composed by five associations and 79 clubs nationwide, are autonomous and self financed. They are recognized by the Ministry of the Environment and promote sustainable development since 1977 at every level, pursuing the protection of the environment and cultural diversity, biological and ethnic, starting from Democrats. They focus on climate change, the people who inhabit the tropical forests and their natural habitat, the nuclear safety and sustainable agriculture, in a commitment to 360°. They also provide services to public bodies and private companies through environmental education projects, organize excursions and trips.

The creation of library has been the fruit of the work of five years, leading research and cataloguing of what turned out to be a unique collection in Italy dedicated just to one field, an ambitious and highly communicative project, able to provide answers to the thirst for eco-sustainable knowledge.

On the site www.amicidellaterratoscana.it, under the heading "library", you can consult the catalogue and the online-booking and request of titles are possible writing to the e-mail address biblioteca@amicidellaterratoscana.it, or calling +39 0552280450. The consultation of the catalogue is easy, thanks to the attention shown in design dedicated, like browsing the entire site, attentive to the contents and with a graphic sober and in line with the Association's educational intentions.

This decision opens a strongly innovative front: a service and a place of training and dissemination dedicated entirely to the environment and addressed to professionals, but also to newbies who for the first time approach environmental and natural issues. In the wake of this initiative we hope that by the time also other ATD fora organise a service with this goal. Currently, the library is open to the public two days a week, by appointment only: on Monday, with time 14: 00 p.m. and Thursday from 10: 30 p.m. For friends of nature of Florence and around it is an indispensable appointment. More...

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Denied right to environmental information: voices from contaminated Russia

by Silvia Musso

Ulitsa Sadovaja has been just published. It is a book wanted by the Italian voluntary association “Mondo in Cammino” and edited by “Carlo Spera editore X MIC”, editor aimed to sustain works to denounce and raise awareness about the topic of nuclear.
The authors, Elisa Geremia and Veronica Franzon, are two young researchers who spent one month in Novozybkov, one of the Russian cities most contaminated by the explosion of the nuclear reactor of Černobyl in 1986. This passionate book, developed from their experience of research, contains many different voices who have found a space to express themselves. The situation of this town of the Russian province is introduced throughout the experiences of its witnesses, people who live there and have to daily face the risks leaded by radioactivity in a mixture of clashing feelings, such as resignation, anger, hope, indifference. Throughout the point of view of the anthropology of risk – the analysis of human behaviours and cultural constructions in situations of risk to overcome the limits of “technical” definitions of disaster given by geologists, physicists and engineers – the authors try to answer to some questions: why have not 40.000 inhabitants of the town been evacuated? What does daily contact with radioactivity mean? How is the contamination linked with the local culture and inhabitants’ habits? The situation they saw is characterised by a bad institutional and environmental information: «In the libraries of Novozybkov – the authors underline – there are ten years old reports. The press offers a specialised magazine, but it focuses most on pensions and indemnities. Medical information are difficulty found. In Russia “ecology” is still an unknown concept; in Novozybkov you speak of environment and you study the nuclear disaster of Černobyl as an event that belongs just to the past. There are no reflections and just empty memories and abstract commemorations remain. The State indifference, the weakening of international interests and the obscurantism of disaster’s consequences are making the story of Černobyl over», against the real awareness of radioactivity among the population.
Many hints are in the book: from the host project of children from Černobyl, to radioprotection courses for students and teachers – sort of environmental education to teach how to manage the daily life in a contaminated area – organised, with many difficulties, by local and international associations, to the environmental communication on nuclear in Russia, Europe and Italy.
About this last topic Massimo Bonfatti, president of “Mondo in Cammino”, claims: «Inside the contaminated areas the minimization of nuclear risks matches with the lack of attention towards the existing pathologies, interpreted as bad consequences of wrong stiles of life and not as immunodeficiency». About the right of the citizen to environmental information again Bonfatti says: «The discussion on nuclear has different points of view. “Mondo in cammino” thinks that it should be a favourite point of view: the citizen one, who has rights, duties and legitimacy to participate to the debate and choices. Democracy, transparency and information are main rights for citizens. And in nuclear these rights have been denied for 50 years. May 28th 1959, at the beginning of the programme “Atoms for Peace”, the World Health Organization adopted an agreement (law WHO 12-40) with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that subordinates the WHO to the decisions of IAEA, the main promoter of commercial nuclear. This agreement has allowed that all the dates, known by WHO, about medical consequences of nuclear disasters of last years have not been communicated. The agreement WHO/IAEA denies the right to information, founding principle of democracy».
To fight against the lack of information about nuclear question, “Mondo in cammino” is involved in the organisation of a raising awareness campaign sustaining the petition for the autonomy and independence of WHO by IAEA.
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Cristina Gabetti: TV, books and ... herself to promote eco-conscious behaviour

by Francesco Rasero

It was recently presented in Turin (Italy), in the hall "Punt e Mes" in Eataly, the new book “Occhio allo spreco – Consumare meno e vivere meglio” ("Eye to waste - Consume less, live better"), written by Cristina Gabetti, environmental journalists and correspondent on "Striscia la Notizia", a popular Italian tv show.

The presentation was attended, in addition to the author, also the patron of Eataly, Oscar Farinetti, and the vice-director of the newspaper "La Stampa", Massimo Gramellini, author of the preface, which emphasized as an added value of the book is «the way in which the author urges us to adapt our lifestyles to the changing world with a smile. Taking the news as an opportunity to finally be happy».

The book is a collection of reflections and suggestions for an environmentally sustainable way of life, to "save money, live a healthy life and to protect the environment", written in simple language but concise and direct, result of the experience of television author. At the end of each chapter, there is even a check-list containing small daily gestures "to watch in the office/at home/outside the home.

There is talk of environmental sustainability almost 360 degrees: from zero kilometers and seasonal products to solar panels, from waste-free shopping to the rediscovery of old recipes of his grandmother, from detergents do-it-yourself to barter and reuse, but also advice to the wider radius, such as "know your neighbours" or "cultivate your inner resources." Finally, the book incorporates some of the services aired on Canale 5 in recent months and invites for further insights through a number of "links" listed in the notes.

Strong point of "Occhio allo spreco", in addition to the approach mentioned by Gramellini, is then the author's positioning herself as a self-testimonial in support of the contents of the book. Cristina Gabetti, in fact, lives firsthand the experience citing: cultivating a small vegetable garden along with the entire family, it makes the list for spending and goes to walk in their high street, uses public transportation for most of her movements , wears clothes that have several years, of winter is in the house with the sweater and does not use the air conditioner in summer, drinking tap water, buys products on tap, is part of a Group ‘supported agriculture, etc...

After the presentation, Envi.info has exchanged a few thoughts with the author.

With the rubric of "Striscia" you brought to national attention (and, perhaps, "national-popular") the themes of environmental sustainability, starting from small everyday actions. Therefore can be the television a good teacher? Based on your experience, do you feel that it is an effective tool to communicate environmental issues to a large audience? Not run the risk of simplifying or even trivialize certain subjects?
«The society is a sum of individuals and when you bring attention to the power of individual actions and the dynamics of cause and effect-that is within the walls of the house, down the street, at work or in public-the question doesn’t change. In this light, the resonance of eco-conscious measures can be exponential. The healthy habits are effective to 360 degrees and who incorporates them into its daily who fails to behave differently depending on the circumstances in which he is. The change starts from inside and my effort, in everything I do, is to motivate people to try new paths, set lifestyles updated to the times we live. The power of TV is reaching a wide audience and, in a few minutes, every week, I can provide enough information to indicate possible paths and suggest solutions. The feedback that I receive through the site of Striscia la Notizia (by my page people click and write to me) is very encouraging: people transposes and act! Trivialize not depend on the medium but how you use it!».

How was the book "Occhio allo spreco" and what audience is it addressed? Your experience can be (in addition to the smile cited by Gramellini) the value added of the volume?
«I wrote the book for my televiewers and for those who want tips and content to set new lifestyles. It directed indiscriminately at all, because it is easy and cheerful. I am assuming that we have more time to be pessimistic: it is time to act, and experience teaches me that when the action comes in a proactive way, from a genuine desire to be in tune with their time, the path that follows becomes exciting. Positive thinking is necessary not to stop in face of obstacles, which are many. Deal with the fear of not overcoming them is much more tiring than thinking we can make the jump. Sometimes slams the nose, but that's how life is». More...

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Crossmedia, environmental picture and climate creative

by Alessio Sciurpa

The excellence of environmental communication were awarded today in Turin (Italy). The VI edition awards ceremony of the AICA Prize was the opportunity to listen to the experience of the music band Motel Connection, their meeting with the Polytechnic of Turin and with a new ecology point of view, which have resulted in the cross-media project H.E.R.O.I.N. awarded today with the AICA Prize "Communicating with citizens improves environment. Communicating the Green Innovation ".

Robin Hammond's experience in the satellite link from South Africa, was awarded the Special Prize "Communicating the Kyoto Protocol," the photographer who has made for Panos Pictures the reportage on Tuvalu, a small island in New Zealand almost completely submerged because of the effects of climate change. But also an opportunity to explore a preview of the new project of the Open University Professor Joe Smith "Creative climate", which will be presented during the upcoming COP15 in Copenhagen and through that will explore the contributions of many actors, perceptions and communication of climate change during the next ten years, between 2010 and 2020.

A particular thanks goes to all those who have made the event possible: the City of Turin and the event sponsors Piedmont Region, Amiat and Erica soc. coop. More...

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AICA Prize 2009 - Edition VI

Friday, December 4 at 11.30 a.m. at the Hall of Columns of the City of Turin, Piazza Palazzo di Città, will presented the winning campaigns of the VI edition of the AICA Prize 2009 "Communicating with citizens improves Environment".

The Motel Connection to the complete: Samuel, Pierfunk and Pisti, withdraw the prize "Communicating with citizens improves Environment. Communicating green innovation" for the project H.E.R.O.I.N. - Human Environmental Return of Output/Input Network, cross-media project between music, comics, video game and the environment.

Will also be an opportunity to listen Robin Hammond, photographer, who has created for Panos Pictures the reportage on the island of Tuvalu, which won the Special Prize "Communicating the Kyoto Protocol". By videoconference from South Africa, will tell us about his experience on the island of Tuvalu, and with its population, one of the first examples of global environmental refugees, forced migration as a result of the effects of Global Warming.

Professor Joe Smith instead of the Open University will be awarded the Career Prize "Beppe Comin" and will be an opportunity to listen to his remarks at a few days to the climate conference of Copenhagen.

The awards ceremony will take place with the support of Piedmont Region, AMIAT, ERICA soc. coop. and the patronage of the Municipality of Turin.

Free admission subject to availability. For info and credits: Alessio Sciurpa - info@assaica.org More...

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A sustainable communication prize, not just in words

Announced today the winners of the AICA Prize of environmental communication 2009 "Communicating with citizens improves Environment”. The prize that highlights from six years the best actions of international environmental communication wants this year, just days before the Climate summit in Copenhagen, give a concrete signal. Two of the three winners will participate in videoconference.
Such choice allows to combine the savings in CO2 emissions, that air travel will inevitably leads, with the commitment in providing excellence in the field of environmental communication, without sacrificing the quality of contents for the public who will attend the award ceremony.
On the morning of December 4 with the support of Piedmont Region, AMIAT, ERICA soc. coop. and the patronage of the Municipality of Turin, will be awarded:

AICA Prize "Communicating with citizens improves Environment. Communicating green innovation", Motel Connection for "H.E.R.O.I.N. - Return of Human Environmental Output / Input Network" project;

Special Prize "Communicating Kyoto Protocol", Panos Pictures for the photo reportage on the island of Tuvalu;

Career Prize "Beppe Comin”, Prof. Joe Smith of the Open University.

The appointment is at 11:30 a.m., December 4 at the Sala delle Colonne of the City of Turin, Piazza Palazzo di Città, 1 – Turin (Italy), Free admission subject to availability.

Info e-mail to: info@assaica.org
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Environmental communication on local level: the importance of a relationship "of trust"

by Silvia Musso

Yesterday, October 29 at the Caffè Scienza of Ecomondo (Italian environmental fair) there was talk of environmental communication, taking as inspiration the publication of the book " Environmental Communication practical guide for public administrations", edited by AICA in partnership with Erica soc coop by Flaccovio publisher.
Have discussed about the theme the author Roberto Cavallo and the CONAI Deputy General Director Walter Facciotto, with journalist Gabriella Lepre as a moderator.
Cavallo has briefly outlined the structure of the book, which will be published on next year: after a theorical introduction, it will focus on practical examples from the experiences of those involved in the communication process. To complete the work there will be interviews to local environmental communication actors or people who for various reasons have followed advertising campaigns linked to environmental issues.
From this starting point (Cavallo has read some book passages in preview, citing among others the former environment councilor of Rome Municipality, Dario Esposito, the President of Federambiente, Daniele Fortini and the President of Kyoto Club, Beppe Gamba) the discussion focused on certain aspects, including the importance of the Code and the relationship with the territory.
Walter Facciotto has underlined that, through communication, the government should establish a relationship of trust with its citizens and not be limited to mere advocacy, and information. «There are many books that speak of communication, including communication and environment -said the CONAI Deputy Director - This practical guide is different because of its concreteness and the ability to translate a number of direct experiences in a book aimed specifically to public administrators».
Cavallo has yet mentioned the etymological root of the verb "communicate", reduce the distance between transmitter and receiver of messages.
The meeting was closed spoken about communications due to the reduction and prevention of waste, in view of the "European Week for Waste Reduction 2009" (EWWR 2009), highlighting how the feeling of helplessness of the individual facing a wide problem like this, it is to be addressed and overcome on communication level. More...

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AICA Ecomondo 2009 special

by Silvia Musso

Thursday, October 29th, at 2.30 pm at the Caffè Scienza of Ecomondo (Fiera di Rimini, Hall South), AICA organizes the debate “La Comunicazione Ambientale per le Pubbliche Amministrazioni” (The Environmental Communication for Public Administrations), in collaboration with E.R.I.C.A. soc. coop.
Inside the Communication Sciences, the Environmental Communication appears to be a recently branch and, therefore, lacks a precise codification. The same terms that constitute the expression -"communication" and "environmental"- are difficult to define, since their semantic areas are large and heterogeneous. They are, in fact, polysemic nouns, which can take on different nuances according to different disciplines or contexts of application. Yet, in recent years, there has been a gradual increase in the availability of environmental information.
For this reason, AICA is preparing a volume specifically devoted to Environmental Communication for Public Administrations, which is intended as a practical guide that can provide some insights for understanding what environmental communication campaigns in the public sector are and how they work.
Behind posters, brochures, meetings, educational activities etc.. there is, in fact, a complex system that synergistically combines the work of many professional (technical and communication experts) and stimulates the dialogue and the confrontation among citizens and different stakeholders.
Walter Facciotto, deputy general director of CONAI, talks on the issue with Roberto Cavallo, AICA’s President and author of the book “Guida pratica sulla comunicazione ambientale per le Pubbliche Amministrazioni” (Practical Guide on Communication for Environmental Public Administrations, to be published by Flaccovio). Moderator is Gabriella Lepre (Science Editor of the Giornale Radio RAI).

Furthermore, inside Ecomondo 2009, on Friday, October 30th, there will be the national press conference launching the first official edition of the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR). The appointment is at 12 am at the stand of Federambiente (Sector B3, stand 26).
Speakers are: Daniele Fortini, Federambiente’s president; Pinuccia Montanari, component of the Osservatorio Nazionale Rifiuti (National Waste Observatory); Roberto Cavallo, counsellor ACR + and AICA’s president; Roberto Ronco, Province of Turin’s Environnement Councillor; Graziano Delrio, Mayor of Reggio Emilia and referent of Rifiuti 21 Network; Federica Rolle, Italian National Commission for Unesco; Stefano Ciafani, Legambiente, Paolo Hutter, director of "Eco dalle Città” and CONAI, as the main sponsor of the initiative.
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BOOK REVIEW: The environmental communication: systems, scenarios and perspectives

by Emanuela Rosio

Ravenna (Italy) - Wednesday, September 30th, Popolo Square, in the event Ravenna 2009 - waste, water, energy. Sustainability and Innovation, cities and regions, was presented the book “The environmental communication: systems, scenarios and perspectives” by Erik Balzaretti (Member of AICA’s Scientific Committee since 2003) and Benedetta Gargiulo; Franco Angeli Editor.
The authors were interviewed by Patrizio Roversi with Andrea Atzori, Director of the Consortium of Padua Basin 2, which promoted the book. During the event, Patrizio Roversi has done a nice example that highlighted the relational feeling, that environmental communication of a local nature can develop.
The example has been the introduction of the door to door service to the home of nonagenarian mother. This change has meant that the nephew had to explain to grandmother how to separate their waste, and that the old lady asked the help of a neighbour in the tasks of bringing the materials to the containers. And even on the refrigerator of the old lady there is a part for the indications on medicines to be taken and on the other side which materials give for collection, day by day. All this stems from a new form of dialogue between generations in which young people, with more environmental sensations, helps the elderly to return to the old habit of not throwing anything away, and obliged the neighbours to talk and interact also just to decide where to put containers.
From the nice environmental communication example of Roversi, we passed to the book, which has the undoubted merit, of turned into theory many concrete experiences of environmental communication. The text presents a first part on the environmental communication history and a brief overview of its evolution over the years. The book starts talking about environmental communication as social communication, and then the needs to introduce elements of assessment and monitoring of the outcomes of communication campaigns. Communicating environmental issues means in fact achieve measurable goals, especially when the campaigns are in support of local services.
In the second part will provide more operational guidance on new tools that can be used also through aggressive marketing actions, and that leading to direct contact with the population.
The communication is in continuous evolution, and the strategy change with the society to which they are addressed, bearing in mind that if on one side is important not to be too negative with messages, on the other side it is important reach the public directly and engage them.
At the end of the book, two in-depth on the evaluation of the effectiveness of the actions of environmental and web communication by Mimma Cedroni and Francesco Pira.
I Recommend the text to all those who want to deepen the theory of environmental communication, and make a leap forward in the analysis of new tools, and certainly those who have always made environmental communication in practice, pointing out that innovation in communication must always be the winning weapon.
Thanks to Erik Balzaretti for citing AICA in the history of environmental communication. More...

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Zadoorian and the cult of the reuse

by Eleonora Anello

For the lovers of the reuse and the good fiction we suggested you an event not to be missed: Friday, September25th, the literary festival Collisioni will host in Alba (Piedmont, Italy) Michael Zadoorian, Armenian writer of Detroit, disciple of Carver. Envi.info will attend the evening to go into with the author of "Second Hand", a novel published in the United States in 2000 and immediately became a literary case and arrived in Italy last year, the junk culture.

Who are the junkers? We can speak of a real philosophy of life? This is a movement?
Perhaps none of this. Rather than a lifestyle that often becomes an obsession. Indeed the issue of reuse is closely related to environmental issues. In fact, a purchase spared helps to produce a smaller amount of waste and then is good for the nature and the environment. Besides, why buy new goods when those that we still work?

While Anneli Rufus and Kristan Lawson in "The Scavengers' Manifesto", a book that we presented in a previous post, talking about “scavenger”, Zadoorian prefers to use the term "junker", who is fascinated by frippery, from the old things, from what some call the refuse. Think instead that the objects used are imbued with a singular charm. In addition and without any doubt, bring together two worlds: the past and the present.

Nothing new for the United States, where the Garages Sale are a real tradition. In the weekend, especially in provincial areas, families exhibit everything they no longer use in the garden of the house to be sold to hardcore collectors, to lovers of vintage, to fanatics of the reuse or simply to curious that they will give a new life to the forgotten things.

The cult of the reuse against the globalization of a frenetic consumerism of the accumulation that enslaves so many people and is highly destructive to the environment promoted by a sliding book, that dealing with lightness of important themes. A cultured and refined way to do environmental communication. More...

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“COLTIVARE LA CITTÀ”: urban agricolture

By Alessio Sciurpa

The development of urban agriculture, the spread of roof gardens and vertical gardens among others, are some of the symptoms that underlie the need inherent in the inhabitants of large urban areas to retrieve a contact with nature, agriculture and the food genuineness that is linked to them. As already noted Lester Brown in his Plan B 3.0, so Andrea Calori in his “Coltivare la città, giro del mondo in dieci progetti di filiera corta” (Growing the city, around the world in ten projects of short chain) by heading to this trend, gathering for the first time in a single volume experiences of urban agriculture from various parts of the world, some recent, other outstanding for years. What do a Bronx immigrant, a woman from a suburb of Osaka, a farmer from Senegal, a baker of Monaco and a Venezuelan driver?
Each of these people is the protagonist of stories related to food. Each belongs to groups and communities, more or less formalized, we are organized to sell or buy food which is consumed near the place of production.

The book recounts experiences that arise in different contexts with different modes of development linked by a single thread. How long has required the its preparation and from where did the idea?
The drafting of the book itself was very fast, but this was possible because we have on our shoulder some fifteen years of work on the relationship between city and country, through activities rooted in university research at the “Politecnico of Milan” (Italy) and related to the participation the world of movements and social networks. In particular since 2000, we initiated research on a city or institutional initiatives with strong spin part in the environmental, social and economic development and capable of producing practical policies for local development self-sustainable. From these, we have improved the experiences of agro-food chains short-involving local and give new impetus to urban agriculture. Altreconomia, who knows our work, we proposed to write a text, since the topic does not exist publications. The drafting of the book itself took three months working full time, during which we first selected the projects most important to us, and then rebuild them as much as possible in detail, even interviewing players directly. Finally we tried to tell the selected projects through real stories, with the intention of making them accessible to everyone, even those who do not deal with the issue of short chain in terms of academic qualifications.

Why talk about it today?
First, to restore the right proportion: the global market has made us believe that the whole world is nourished through a model of intensive monoculture production which is very distant-in time, space and trade-from the moment of consumption, but the data FAO tell a different story. The work of small family farms and methods associated with those of short chain feeds are third world population, with peaks that reach 90% in the African population case. Secondly, because we are particularly interested in the reality of Milan, who thanks to the presence of a suburban agricultural park, it offers in terms of short-chain, unexpected opportunities.
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eart number zero out now!

by Silvia Musso

As of today free download available at the link, eart the new environmental media of AICA (International Association for Environmental Communication). The issue zero is in Italian and partly in English and features works by Sabato Urciuoli, a young designer and landscaper from Turin (Italy). In the future issues of eart a young artist will be asked to interpret the relationship between man and nature.

Have a nice reading. More...

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The Scavengers' Manifesto

by Alessio Sciurpa

After “Mongo: Adventures in Trash” of Ted Botha, another book exploring the deeper link between the society and its waste. "The Scavengers' Manifesto" offers eco-minded people a framework for adopting scavenging as a philosophy and a way of life.
Destined to become the bible for a bold new subculture of eco-minded people who are creating a lifestyle out of recycling, reusing, and repurposing rather than buying new.An exciting new movement is afoot that brings together environmentalists, anticonsumerists, do-it-yourselfers, bargain-hunters, and treasure-seekers of all stripes. You can see it in the enormous popularity of many websites: millions of Americans are breaking free from the want-get-discard cycle by which they are currently producing approximately 245 million tons of waste every day.
In "The Scavengers Manifesto," Anneli Rufus and Kristan Lawson invite readers to discover one of the most gratifying (and inexpensive) ways there is to go green. More...

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