Green Options

Albania Aims to Build the Largest Wind Farm in Europe

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is visiting today Albania to sign energy deals worth more than euro 2 billion for the construction of an undersea gas pipeline linking the two countries, a regasification plant and a large wind farm. Italy’s energy deficit and internal problems in building new infrastructure make Albania an attractive option for sourcing electricity.

Last week Europe and Africa met in Florence for the “Interdependence Days“, an event promoted by a bunch of associations (among the others Legambiente) and supported by Regione Toscana.

A two-days workshop about poverty, media, environment and cooperation with the African states. An opportunity to dig into the political, economical and social reality of Africa so unknown and misunderstanded by the old country.

Italian and African speakers [...]

Travelling from Italy to Central America takes a long time: an intermediate stop in France or Spain and many hours flying over the ocean. But when you arrive on one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean you forget to be tired.

Wandering the streets of central Rome and taking in the breathtaking ruins and archaeological history can be somewhat of a challenge when trying to keep cool in 30+ degree heat. In summer time tourists love to discover the city centre walking or looking up to the Colosseum from the back of a horse carriage.

Now animal rights activists are trying to ban this practice. The group, Ente Nazionale Protezione Animali (ENPA) says that traffic, pollution, heat and heavy carriages expose the horses to health risks, especially during this hot season. According to the association, about 90 horses carry tourists to see the city’s landmarks on busy streets full of speeding cars and motorbikes.

With high oil prices, dwindling fuel supplies and a growing pressure to reduce global warming, governments are looking for brilliant ideas. Why don’t consider the sea? Waves are a powerful source of energy and in the last years a growing attention is producing a wide range of prototypes. Machines of various shapes and sizes are being tested in last years to see how they could capture waves and tides to create “marine” energy.

A new experiment comes from Michele Grassi, researcher at the department of math at the University of Pisa, in the centre of Italy, who built a prototype of a wave-trapping machine.

Look for your swimsuit!

Sunday 6th of July Italy will participate for the third time to the “Big Jump“, a campaign by European Rivers Network (ERN) to inspire a reconciliation of people with their rivers.

The Italian NGO “Legambiente” has organized many events to celebrate this national meeting on the Po River, the country’s longest river (405 miles long). The Po’s waters flow through the Val Padana, the plain that stretches across northern Italy from the French border on the west to the Adriatic Sea on the east. Many Italians live in this fertile expanse, some of the most heavily cultivated land in Europe: here is located the city of Turin, headquarters of Fiat, the automotive conglomerate, and some of the country’s most beautiful and historic towns.

I know, in order to improve the quality of our lives the first step to do is to respect our cities, our neighbourhood and people around us. While we run up and down to full every empty space of our days, the Italian cultural heritage takes a rest to tell us about ancient families and artists, old palaces and frescos. Rome, Florence, Venice and other historical cities that today have to face many social challenges: urban blight, social degradation and abandoning of public spaces. Italy spends hundreds of thousands of Euros every year cleaning up historical monuments that have been defaced by writing or graffiti art.

To face urban blight and raise a common sense of respect Florence launches today a new idea: ten black angels passing through the city centre in order to guarantee decorum and educate people. Starting tomorrow, the group will go around the city talking with citizens and tourists, seeing that they respect the cultural heritage and don’t leave their garbage everywhere. The ten angels are citizens from Senegal living in Florence for a long time; they have been chosen and trained for this project by the consulate of Senegal and the council administration of Florence.

The FAO’ Food Security Summit, recently held in Rome, gathered together the international community to discuss about the state of poverty around the world. In 1996 the Millennium Goal aimed to cut by half the number of hungry people by 2015, then estimated at 800 million; today the goal is not only far from the original prediction but other 50 million are suffering. We need more food, we have to increase the production and Europe is starting to look at GMO cultivations to face this global crisis.

A worrying alarm arrives now from the Italian Farmers Association (CIA): mass amounts of food is sitting and rotting in their fields because sale prices don’t cover all of the costs of production. The result is a 1.5 million of tons wasted every year and 4 billion of Euro frittered away. All this with rising costs for Italian consumers and farmers.

With escalating oil and gas costs and growing French electricity imports, Italy is changing is stance on nuclear power. The re-elected Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi promised on his campaign to recommit the country to nuclear power and an heated debate is now popping up from north to south.

The general impression is there is still strong local opposition for three main reasons: high construction costs, projected build times of one to two decades and no identifiable Italian community willing to see a nuclear reactor built in their neighborhood. Italy has also failed to resolve the issue of what to do with nuclear waste. A proposed dump in Basilicata region was shelved in 2003 after thousands of demonstrators staged road blocks, marches and hunger strikes.

Italy’s failure to apply EU directives is not only related to the garbage emergency in Naples. A recent article by Fulcro Pratesi, President of the environmental group Wwf Italy, makes a plea to save one of the most enchanting Italian cities from degradation. Summer is coming and big cruise liners are devastating the Venice lagoon creating a health hazard for residents.

Tourism has been part of the life of Venice for centuries; however, in the last years, the city has faced grave problems due to the tremendous volume of tourists each year. Residents say that whereas the centre of Venice was once full of shops selling ‘real things’ but now most shops sell souvenirs such as Merano glass and carnival masks.