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A morning of commitment, participation and attention to the territory which saw volunteers, associations and citizens gather yesterday morning on a stretch of free beach in Giovino, in the seaside district of Catanzaro, for the day of “Clean Up the World”, the historic environmental volunteering campaign promoted by Legambiente and included in the international initiative “Clean Up the World”. An event that transformed the cleaning of the beach into a moment of sharing and raising awareness about the value of common spaces and the need to take care of them.
Participating were members and volunteers from various Legambiente clubs, including Catanzaro, Ricadi, Girifalco, Riviera dei Gigli and Le Castella, together with some members of “In Cammino – Fitwalking, Trekking, Nature Outdoor”, other local associations and numerous citizens who wanted to give their contribution to the day. A broad membership which confirmed how environmental protection can become an opportunity capable of bringing together different realities, united by the desire to concretely contribute to the care of the territory. The presence of the volunteers also allowed us to bring attention to the problem of waste abandonment and, more generally, to the need to develop greater individual and collective awareness.
Over the course of the morning, a total of over 100 kilograms of waste were collected, with a particularly significant presence of materials linked to consumption and abandonment along the beach. The materials collected include two tyres, a complete umbrella, a beach towel, a floor cleaning bucket, residues of polyurethane foam and polystyrene, a frayed blanket and numerous sanitizing wipes, as well as a large quantity of rigid plastic of different origins and sizes and a plastic funnel. Also particularly large is the quantity of glass bottles, especially spirits, and plastic bottles and cans, some of which are still full and unopened. Among the waste recovered there was also a heavy electromechanical component, paper and cardboard materials, a piece of rigid information poster and a wooden table. A significant figure also concerns cigarette butts, which alone have reached a weight of around 500 grams.
“Days like these should not be understood as a simple act of cleaning, but as a real visual and concrete awareness-raising action. – underlined Silvia De Santis, director of Legambiente Calabria –. The commitment of the volunteers is immense, it constitutes the true driving force of every activity that is organized in the area and has a very strong educational impact on the communities and on all citizens”.
“Let’s Clean Up the World offers us the opportunity to reiterate that environmental protection comes from participation and shared responsibility – underlined the president of Legambiente Calabria Anna Parretta –. Today is not just a waste collection activity, but a moment through which we bring attention to the value of our territories and the need for everyone to do their part. The direct involvement of citizens is fundamental because it allows us to transform a concrete gesture into an awareness message that reaches communities and strengthens awareness of the relationship we have with the places we live in“. “This day also allows us to look beyond the gesture of cleaning and reflect on the fragility of our territory – continued Parretta –. What happened in Catanzaro with Cyclone Harry concretely showed us how much the climate picture has changed. Precisely on our coast, the preventive action of the Municipality, the important work of the Civil Protection and the Fire Brigade and the extraordinary response of the citizens have contributed to avoiding even more serious consequences but we cannot continue to chase emergencies. All our efforts are needed: we can slow down a further increase in temperatures by focusing on renewable energy to protect the environment and lower bills. Mitigation must be combined with adaptation: the key words are prevention and territorial planning”.
The initiative was an opportunity to address the topic of the effects of the climate crisis in Calabria and the actions to be implemented through the voices of the geologist Arcangelo Francesco Violo who highlighted the critical issues linked to coastal erosion and of Luigi Aloisio, mayor of San Sostene, who spoke on the topic of the wind farm, as part of the discussion on environmental issues and the protection of the territory. Our region, according to data from Legambiente’s City Climate Observatory, has recorded, since 2010, 134 extreme weather events that have caused damage, of which 19 since the beginning of this year alone. Numbers that tell us that there has been an acceleration and that we can no longer consider these phenomena as isolated episodes. For this reason we must invest much more in prevention and adaptation, stopping land consumption, securing the most fragile areas, improving water infrastructure and increasing green areas in cities and recovering, especially along the coasts, those natural defenses represented by dunes, dune systems and wetlands.
Legambiente Calabria would like to thank the Municipality of Catanzaro, and in particular the Councilor for the Environment and Ecological Transition, Irene Colosimo, for her collaboration and support for the initiative; to Sieco Srl for support in activities related to waste disposal and to Coco Beach for the availability of spaces offered to volunteers.