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SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT
15 April 2013 Last updated at 07:22 GMT Italy waste campaigner wins 2013 Goldman Prize
Rossano Ercolini began campaigning in 1976 when he opposed plans to build an incinerator
An environmental campaigner, considered to be the driving force behind Italy's zero-waste movement, is one of the winners of the 2013 Goldman Prize.
Rossano Ercolini convinced Naples - a city gripped by a long-running waste crisis - to adopt zero-waste goals.
Other winners include an anti-fracking campaigner from Africa and an Iraqi leading a marsh restoration project.
The awards, called the Oscars of the environment movement, will be presented at a ceremony in San Francisco.
Reacting to the news, the 56-year-old primary school teacher said: "I am a bit shocked because I have been committed to what I do for a very long time.
"I was aware that there was some attention on my work but I did not know that there was international attention looking at what I was doing," he told BBC News.
His first taste of grassroots campaigning was back in the mid-1970s when plans were unveiled to build an incinerator near the school where he taught.
In 1994, proposals to construct two incinerators in his hometown of Lucca led to him focusing his efforts on the issue of tackling the growing problem of waste.
Today, as an organising member of the Zero Waste International Alliance, his campaign to encourage recycling and waste reduction has led to 117 municipalities across Italy closing incinerators and committing to zero-waste strategies.
'Immoral waste'
As well as politicians and business leaders, Mr Ercolini even got the clergy, in the guise of the bishop of Lucca, involved by describing the use of incinerators to burning waste as "immoral".
Naples has suffered from a waste problem for years, with piles of rubbish in the streets at its peak
"There are people in the world that die as a result of a lack of food, while there is another half of the world that is wasting too much."
In 2011, Mr Ercolini secured arguably one of his biggest campaigning successes when Napoli's mayor agreed to adopt a zero-waste strategy.
The city, home to almost a million people, has been gripped by waste management problems - including reports of Mafia involvement - since the 1990s.
The problem reached its visible peak in 2007 when rubbish bags were left piled in the city's streets, uncollected for weeks or longer.
As part of the solution, the city's unrecycled waste, unable to go to landfill or be incinerated, is being shipped to a refuse processor in the Netherlands.
Campaigners are calling for this to be stopped, and the mayor has agreed to do so as soon as it is possible.
Mr Ercolini says that they are maintaining "very strong pressure" to ensure the politician delivers on his promise.
The Goldman Prize winner added that the answer was not to bury or burn the waste, allowing the problem to "disappear" because out of sight was out of mind.
Other winners of the 2013 awards were:
Jonathan Deal, South Africa: led a successful campaign against fracking in South Africa to protect the Karoo, a semi-desert region, valued for its agriculture and wildlife.
Azzam Alwash, Iraq: returned to the country from the US to lead local communities in restoring the once-lush marshes that had been allowed to dry out under Saddam Hussein's regime.
Aleta Baun, Indonesia: organised local villagers to occupy marble mining sites in order to prevent the destruction of sacred forestland on the island of Timor.
Kimberly Wasserman, US: led a local campaign to shut down two of the nation's oldest coal-fired power plants and transform Chicago's old industrial sites into parks and multi-use spaces.
Nohra Padilla, Colombia: organised Colombia's marginalised waste pickers, in the face of political opposition and threats of violence, in order to make recycling a legitimate part of waste management.
martedì 16 aprile 2013
SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT
15 April 2013 Last updated at 07:22 GMT Italy waste campaigner wins 2013 Goldman Prize
SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT
15 April 2013 Last updated at 07:22 GMT Italy waste campaigner wins 2013 Goldman Prize
Rossano Ercolini began campaigning in 1976 when he opposed plans to build an incinerator
An environmental campaigner, considered to be the driving force behind Italy's zero-waste movement, is one of the winners of the 2013 Goldman Prize.
Rossano Ercolini convinced Naples - a city gripped by a long-running waste crisis - to adopt zero-waste goals.
Other winners include an anti-fracking campaigner from Africa and an Iraqi leading a marsh restoration project.
The awards, called the Oscars of the environment movement, will be presented at a ceremony in San Francisco.
Reacting to the news, the 56-year-old primary school teacher said: "I am a bit shocked because I have been committed to what I do for a very long time.
"I was aware that there was some attention on my work but I did not know that there was international attention looking at what I was doing," he told BBC News.
His first taste of grassroots campaigning was back in the mid-1970s when plans were unveiled to build an incinerator near the school where he taught.
In 1994, proposals to construct two incinerators in his hometown of Lucca led to him focusing his efforts on the issue of tackling the growing problem of waste.
Today, as an organising member of the Zero Waste International Alliance, his campaign to encourage recycling and waste reduction has led to 117 municipalities across Italy closing incinerators and committing to zero-waste strategies.
'Immoral waste'
As well as politicians and business leaders, Mr Ercolini even got the clergy, in the guise of the bishop of Lucca, involved by describing the use of incinerators to burning waste as "immoral".
Naples has suffered from a waste problem for years, with piles of rubbish in the streets at its peak
"There are people in the world that die as a result of a lack of food, while there is another half of the world that is wasting too much."
In 2011, Mr Ercolini secured arguably one of his biggest campaigning successes when Napoli's mayor agreed to adopt a zero-waste strategy.
The city, home to almost a million people, has been gripped by waste management problems - including reports of Mafia involvement - since the 1990s.
The problem reached its visible peak in 2007 when rubbish bags were left piled in the city's streets, uncollected for weeks or longer.
As part of the solution, the city's unrecycled waste, unable to go to landfill or be incinerated, is being shipped to a refuse processor in the Netherlands.
Campaigners are calling for this to be stopped, and the mayor has agreed to do so as soon as it is possible.
Mr Ercolini says that they are maintaining "very strong pressure" to ensure the politician delivers on his promise.
The Goldman Prize winner added that the answer was not to bury or burn the waste, allowing the problem to "disappear" because out of sight was out of mind.
Other winners of the 2013 awards were:
Jonathan Deal, South Africa: led a successful campaign against fracking in South Africa to protect the Karoo, a semi-desert region, valued for its agriculture and wildlife.
Azzam Alwash, Iraq: returned to the country from the US to lead local communities in restoring the once-lush marshes that had been allowed to dry out under Saddam Hussein's regime.
Aleta Baun, Indonesia: organised local villagers to occupy marble mining sites in order to prevent the destruction of sacred forestland on the island of Timor.
Kimberly Wasserman, US: led a local campaign to shut down two of the nation's oldest coal-fired power plants and transform Chicago's old industrial sites into parks and multi-use spaces.
Nohra Padilla, Colombia: organised Colombia's marginalised waste pickers, in the face of political opposition and threats of violence, in order to make recycling a legitimate part of waste management.
Assegnato a Rossano Ercolini di Capannori il premio internazionale Goldman per la sua campagna ambientale
di Riccardo Chioni
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| Rossano Ercolini con i suoi studenti delle elementari di Capannori |
Spesso, iniziative individuali intese a salvaguardare l’ambiente tendono a passare inosservate, anche se pur a passi di lumaca queste riescono a cambiare il mondo, come nel caso di Rossano Ercolini, insegnante toscano che ieri ha ricevuto a San Francisco il prestigioso Goldman Enviromental Prize.
L’insegnante elementare di Capannori, 57 anni d’età si trova in California dove ha ricevuto il premio consistente in 150 mila dollari, oltre alla proiezione globale della sua immagine di ambientalista di base che si è ispirato proprio a San Francisco per avviare il suo movimento Zero Waste a protezione dell’ambiente e dei cittadini.
Per l’Europa la soluzione alternativa e sostenibile alle discariche negli anni Ottanta era stata la realizzazione di inceneritori, ancora funzionanti che ogni giorno immettono nell’aria diossina e fumi nocivi.
La campagna del maestro Rossano Ercolini è iniziata quando ha appreso che a qualche kilometro dalla scuola di Capannori dove insegna sarebbe stato costruito un inceneritore: un segnale che ha suonato il campanello d’allarme per la salute dei ragazzi e dell’intera comunità.
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| Rossano Ercolini con il Goldman Prize |
Guardando al successo della progressista città di San Francisco che ha adottato il sistema Zero Wast, Ercolini nel suo piccolo ha avviato una campagna di sensibilizzazione per ridurre la dipendenza da inceneritori o discariche, per promuovere piuttosto il riciclaggio e un management sostenibile dei rifiuti.
Una marcia iniziata in sordina, porta a porta, che ha prodotto la creazione di Zero Waste International Alliance a cui ha aderito Napoli nel 2011 e altre 121 minucipalità italiane per un totale di 3 milioni di residenti aderenti alla formula Zero Waste.
Mentre il fenomeno Ercolini si contagiava all’Europa, lui continuava ad insegnare nella sua scuola elementare alle porte di Lucca dove ha ricevuto la notizia dell’assegnazione del premio Godlman.
“Non me lo aspettavo, anche se sono tanti anni che mi batto contro gli inceneritori e per promuovere rifiuti zero. Devo dire che ultimamente stiamo raggiungendo dei risultati eccellenti - ha spiegato Ercolini al telefono da San Francisco -, però non mi sarei mai immaginato di ricevere la telefonata dalla direttrice del Goldman Prize mentre stavo in classe con i miei 27 studenti”.
Ha raccontato che è stata una bellissima sorpresa ed anche un’emozione che ha condiviso con i ragazzi, i quali - ha raccontato - erano elettrizzati più di lui.
“Quando tornerò a casa con il premio - ha aggiunto l’insegnante -, le mie battaglie avranno un peso ancora maggiore” e di certo sarà riuscito porre Capannori al centro del mondo con la sua iniziativa grassroot Waste Zero.
“È una soddisfazione nella soddisfazione, perché l’Italia è anche questo, per fortuna. Non è solo quella che non piace, è anche quella, a prescindere da me, in grado anche di fornire eccellenze nella difesa dell’ambiante. Però, sono stati gli americani a riconoscere il grande lavoro svolto”.
A Ercolini non dispiace sporcarsi le mani per individuare soluzioni allo smaltimento dei rifiuti e va a frugare tra la spazzatura dopo le operazioni di riciclo per constatare costa resta.
“Ci siamo resi conto della presenza di molte capsule del caffé, soprattutto Lavazza, non riciclabili. Abbiamo aperto uno caso-studio, ho scritto una lettera molto semplice alla Lavazza chiedendo si aprire un percorso per progettare il prodotto, in modo da renderlo riciclabile. Intanto sono state inventate almeno altre due soluzioni”.
La Zero Waste Alliance sta lavorando per estendere la responsabilità ai produttori, “sono loro - ha precisato - che devono correggere l’errore di progettazione che attualmente non ha alternative alle capsule e al loro smaltimento”.
“La sostenibilità è necessaria, ma è anche un’occasione avvincente di apprendimento collettivo” ha concluso il maestro vincitore del premio Goldman.
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