Italian elections: Environment in the spotlight

Guido Viale, 65, is an expert in environmental policy and economics. He is a member of the Technical and scientific committee of the Italian national agency for environmental protection and is the author of several books about transport and sustainable lifestyles.

The sustainability challenge? It can only be won at school, with real lessons in consumer awareness. ?Because our daily lives are not only made up of relationships with people, but especially of relationships with objects. Getting to know productive processes, how to consume and how to get rid of waste, would be a big cultural turning point.? According to Guido Viale, an environmental economist, by following this advice future generations may not have to clean up the mess we leave behind.

This election campaign talks a lot about what the new government should do and what the new parliament?s priorities are to be. But not much is said about what individuals should do, even though individual actions are clearly becoming more and more important. Do you think that ?lifestyle? should figure more in politics?
Certainly, yes I do. And Waste is a good place to start analysing and teaching the best management strategies. Not just to avoid environmental disasters, but also to retrace the consumer chain and analyse what productive processes have contributed to their creation.

Awareness is a challenge, then. But perhaps what is really needed is a new approach?
Individual choices do count. But policies that guide collective consumer behaviour are also very important. I think ?efficient? is the right word to describe what is needed, in the sense that goods that pass through our hands have to be used for all they are worth before sliding into the waste category, we have to get the maximum value out of them other wise we are putting them to inefficient use. The real challenge is to get more out of scarce resources, to use an English slogan: ?More well-being from less nature?. An objective that can be achieved by reducing disposable objects, especially unnecessary packaging that contributes to the mountains of waste we are surrounding ourselves with.

Another issue that has totally disappeared from the election campaign, but that reflects in our every day lives, is transport. Why do you think so little is said of it?
Because it is a very delicate issue that needs cultural strategies that we do not have at the moment, and that no one is thinking about. In the political and administrative spheres there is great ignorance regarding these themes, just as there is waste management, and I think that when the transport emergency hits us it will take a lot of people by surprise. Today urban transport is almost entirely based around private car ownership, which not only pollutes and congests our roads, but also costs households up to a third of their income. But the future holds a greater surprise for us: in five or ten years petrol may reach 300 dollars a barrel! If eco-taxes – like pollution charges and parking pricing ? as well as rising costs of insurance, safety measures, maintenance costs, we can see how private ownership is becoming a luxury for the rich. This can only lead to resentment of the excluded, who have no alternative mode of transport to rely on. I think that transport may well be our next catastrophe.

What are the four actions you would like the next government to carry out?
First of all to invest resources into our education system, to train teachers and update the curriculum so that children learn about production processes, consumer behaviour and waste management. Secondly, a nationwide transport policy in favour of alternative transport modes and increased resources to local authorities so that local public transport systems can be made more efficient. Car sharing, collective taxis and flexible transport are all means that should be invested in. Italian environmental association Legambiente has implemented a good car sharing program in Milan, but 60 cars is a drop in the ocean, compared to what is needed? I am thinking not of 6 thousand but 60 thousand shared cars to really make an impact. Thirdly, local agricultural and organic production should be valued as an effective means of reducing food miles and shortening the production chain between grower and consumer. Finally, recycling should become a priority, as waste will be our future gold mines, that is, if we want to maintain the lifestlyle we have today.

Green legislation: this is where we are at

Approved by the last government:
?Law on the indroduction of the farmers market – December 2007
?Law for the introduction of draft milk distributers – January 2008
?Law to abolish plastic bags by 2010 ? financial plan 2007
?Fiscal incentives to promote use of solar energy ? financial plan 2007

In standby:
?Law to recognise and regulate fair trade
?Law on organic agriculture
?National transport plan
?National energy plan

Green online guide to Italy

• www.fondoambiente.it
• www.apat.gov.it
• www.legambiente.it
• www.greenpeace.it
• www.wwf.it