Quanto Valgono 84.400 Morti all'anno?

Quanto valgono 84.400 morti all'anno?

Secondo l'Agenzia Europea dell'Ambiente (AEA) nel 2012 i morti per l'inquinamento atmosferico in Italia sono stati 84.400 (ottanta quattromila e quattrocento) su un totale di 491.000 (quattrocento novantuno mila) nell’Unione Europea.

Di questi 84.400 morti 59.500 sono attributi alle micro-polveri sottili (il cosiddetto particolato), 21.600 al biossido di azoto (NO2) e 3.300 all'ozono (O3).

La matrice comune comunque sono le emissioni da combustibili fossili.

UNA VERA ECATOMBE!

Alle tragedie umane si aggiungono i giganteschi danni economici che l'inquinamento

ed i fenomeni estremi dovuti al riscaldamento globale (uragani, alluvioni, siccità...) creano ogni anno in misura sempre crescente.

Eppure esistono le tecnologie per risolvere radicalmente il problema, cioè

ELIMINARE I COMBUSTIBILI FOSSILI

L'Italia, col suo clima moderato e l'abbondanza di sole, potrebbe mandare in pensione quasi completamente i combustibili fossili in 20 anni (e completamente in 30 anni).

Basterebbe agire su tre direzioni:

• Risparmio ed efficienza energetica: imposta con norme vincolanti e sostenuta da un forte impegno educativo.
• Elettrificazione dell'economia, compresi i trasporti ed il condizionamento degli edifici.
• Generazione elettrica in massima parte da fonti rinnovabili ed in minima parte da gas naturale.

In 20 anni, zero carbone, zero petrolio, poco gas naturale.

E DECINE DI MIGLIAIA DI VITE UMANE SALVATE OGNI ANNO

Certo, nel breve periodo, questo richiede un notevole sforzo anche economico di conversione, ma il ritorno economico è in tempi brevi ed è enorme. Senza contare il costo in vite umane:

QUANTO VALGONO 84.400 MORTI ALL'ANNO?

Ovviamente in una battaglia spietata contro i combustibili fossili le società energetiche tradizionali ci rimetterebbero e le loro lobbies continueranno ad influenzare le scelte politiche per rallentare la de-carbonizzazione dell'economia - e finora hanno avuto successo: gli interessi privati di una piccola minoranza hanno prevalso sugli interessi della collettività.

Ma questo non può reggere, se ci sono di mezzo DECINE DI MIGLIAIA DI MORTI ogni anno.

Per venire all'immediato problema di questo dicembre 2015, con l'Italia soffocata da una cappa di smog, è possibile prendere azioni immediate per ridurre il problema in tempi brevi (e per evitare che si ripeta l'anno venturo):

1. Imporre che tutti i trasporti pubblici su gomma (compresi i taxi) siano a metano o ibridi entro un anno.
2. Imporre alle società che hanno punti di distribuzione del carburante di avere entro un anno, almeno uno su tre dei loro punti di distribuzione attrezzati a fornire anche metano e GPL. La diffusione delle auto a metano è modesta perché mancano i punti di rifornimento. (Eppure a parità di modello, un'auto a metano praticamente non emette particolato, emette a parità di Km percorsi il 70% in meno di NOx ed il 30% in meno di CO2 e costa la metà di spesa per il carburante): ancora una volta ci rimettono i petroliferi e ci guadagna la collettività.
3. Incentivare la rottamazione di tutti i veicoli più vecchi ed inquinanti e che vengano sostituiti con mezzi a metano o ibridi o elettrici, comunque a bassa emissione.
4. Accelerare sulla coibentazione degli edifici, sia con norme vincolanti che con incentivi.
   
   
   Nel medio termine, continuare a:
   
5.   Investire pesantemente nei trasporti pubblici, in particolare le metropolitane, nelle grandi città.
6.  Investire fortemente sui trasporti extraurbani su ferro, anziché sulle autostrade.
7. Investire sulle "autostrade" del mare (trasporti su navi) per il trasporto merci sud-nord.
8. Imporre norme vincolanti sull'isolamento termico degli edifici, sull'illuminazione a LED, sugli elettrodomestici ecologici, e così via.
9. Ed ovviamente far ripartire le rinnovabili (ostacolate in tutti i modi dagli ultimi governi), sia con una forte semplificazione burocratica sia col ripristino di incentivi moderati e decrescenti per altri dieci anni.
10. Programmi di educazione ambientale, dalle elementari alla laurea, e con grandi campagne di informazione su giornali, televisioni, internet.

Tutto questo ha ovviamente un costo economico importante nel breve termine, (anche se il ritorno economico è enorme nel medio termine). Ma ancora una volta, occorre che la classe politica a tutti i livelli e l'opinione pubblica si chieda:

QUANTO VALGONO 84.400 MORTI ALL'ANNO?

How Much are 84,400 Deaths per Year Worth?

According to the European Environment Agency (EEA) in 2012, deaths from air pollution in Italy amounted to 84,400 (eighty-four thousand and four hundred) out of a total of 491,000 (four hundred ninety-one thousand) in the European Union.

Of these 84,400 deaths, 59,500 are attributed to micro-fine particles (also knows as particulate matter), 21,600 to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and 3,300 to ozone (O3). The common matrix however is the emissions from fossil fuels.

Literally, AN HECATOMB!

The human tragedies together with the enormous economic damage that pollution

and extreme weather events due to global warming (hurricanes, floods, droughts, etc.) create every year are increasing consistently.

Yet, there are technologies to fundamentally solve the problem, that will allow

TO ELIMINATE FOSSIL FUELS

With its temperate climate and abundance of sunshine, Italy could stop using fossil fuels almost entirely in 20 years (and completely in 30 years).

It would be enough to act in three directions:

- Energy saving and efficiency: imposed with binding rules and backed by a strong commitment to education.

- Electrification of the economy, including transport and cooling of buildings.

- Power generation for the most part from renewable sources and a small part from natural gas.

In 20 years - zero carbon, zero oil, and very little natural gas,

AND TENS OF THOUSANDS OF LIVES SAVED EACH YEAR

Certainly, in the short term, this requires significant effort, also economic, of conversion, but the return is quickly and it is immense. Not to mention the cost in human lives:

How much are 84,400 deaths per year WORTH?

Obviously in a ruthless battle against traditional fossil fuel, energy companies lose out and their lobbies will continue to influence political choices to slow the de-carbonization of the economy - and so far they have been successful: the private interests of a small minority have prevailed over the interests of the community.

But this cannot last, if it causes the deaths of tens of thousands of people each year.

To deal with the recent difficulties encountered just this last December in Italy, as it was stifled by smog, one can take immediate action to reduce the problem quickly (and to avoid repeating the same situation next year):

1.  To require that all public transport by road (including taxis) are powered by natural gas or are hybrid within a year.
2. To impose companies that have fule distribution points to be also equipped, within a year, in at least one in three of their points of distribution, to provide natural gas and LPG. The spread of CNG cars is low because of the lack of refuelling points. (Yet with the same model, a CNG car practically does not emit particulates, emits 70% less NOx, 30% less CO2 and costs half as much in fuel needs).  Once more the oil companies lose out and the community gains.
3. To encourage the scrapping of older and polluting vehicles and to replace them with CNG vehicles or hybrid or electric, or with low emissions vehicles.
4. To speed ​​up the insulation of buildings, both with binding rules as with incentives.
   In the medium term, to continue:
5. To invest heavily in public transportation, especially the subway, in the big cities.
6. To invest heavily in suburban rail transport, rather than on highways.
7. To investing in "highways" of the sea (transport by ship) to transport goods south-north.
8. To impose binding rules on the thermal insulation of buildings, LED lighting, environmentally friendly appliances, and so on.
9. And obviously to restart renewables (hindered in any way by the past cabinets), both with a strong bureaucratic simplification and with the restoration of incentives, moderate and decreasing for another ten years.
10. To establish programmes of environmental education, from elementary school to university, and with large information campaigns on newspapers, television, Internet.

All this obviously has an important economic cost in the short term (although the economic return is huge in the medium term). But again, it is necessary that politicians at all levels and the public ask themselves:

How much are worth 84,400 deaths per year?

CoP21 -- L'Accordo di Parigi

La firma a Parigi dell'accordo sulla lotta ai cambiamenti climatici, sottoscritto da 185 Paesi, in rappresentanza della quasi totalità' della popolazione mondiale, è certamente di portata STORICA. L'accordo prevede una riduzione drastica delle emissioni di gas serra prima, e poi di fatto la decarbonizzazione dell'economia, con l'obiettivo di restare ben al di sotto dell'aumento dei 2 gradi di temperatura del pianeta dai livelli preindustriali - e possibilmente sotto il limite di 1.5 gradi di aumento entro questo secolo. 
Certo questo accordo è un passo fondamentale; ma ancora resta molto da fare per mettere in atto le politiche necessarie per attuarlo e per vincere le resistenze, che sono ancora fortissime, delle lobbies dei combustibili fossili. E molti governi sono ancora condizionati da questi interessi privati. Questo risultato è stato possibile grazie ad una forte sensibilità crescente dell'opinione pubblica mondiale, davanti ai disastri continui che i combustibili fossili hanno prodotto e continuano a produrre.
Opinione pubblica che comincia a prevalere sugli interessi di pochi privati, e che comincia a produrre scelte politiche in molti Paesi a favore dell'ambiente e della collettività dei cittadini e non solo a favore di una minoranza minuscola di grandi azionisti e grandi managers di aziende energetiche tradizionali. Se da un lato dobbiamo continuare a premere sui nostri governanti perché adottino politiche corrette, è comunque essenziale che TUTTI contribuiamo coi nostri comportamenti individuali al processo di decarbonizzazione dell'economia. È UN DOVERE MORALE VERSO NOI STESSI, MA SOPRATUTTO VERSO I NOSTRI FIGLI E VERSO LE GENERAZIONI FUTURE. Ecco alcuni comportamenti e cambiamenti culturali che dovremmo sostenere. 

1. La questione demografica.
È, secondo me, l'emergenza planetaria fondamentale.Il pianeta, la società umana, le sue strutture organizzative, non possono continuare ad accogliere 80.000.000 (OTTANTA MILIONI) di esseri umani in più ogni anno.È come se una popolazione grande come quella della Germania si aggiungesse al pianeta ogni anno. È semplicemente impossibile offrire a tutti questi nuovi cittadini acqua, cibo, energia, casa, scuole, ... e in genere una qualità della vita decorosa in un pianeta già saturo.Come individui singoli e come membri di diverse strutture sociali dobbiamo favorire una cultura di un tasso di fertilità inferiore a due. In tutti i Paesi del mondo.
I Paesi che già sono ad un tasso di fertilità inferiore a due, come l'Italia, danno un contributo positivo sia al benessere dei propri cittadini che alla collettività umana.SIAMO TROPPI NEL MONDO E SIAMO TROPPI ANCHE IN ITALIA.Il temuto problema dell'invecchiamento della popolazione e delle ripercussioni sull'economia è un falso problema perché' con l'internalizzazione delle economie e con gli aumenti giganteschi di produttività già in atto ed ancora maggiori in arrivo con le nuove tecnologie, il problema sarà sempre più quello di trovare un’occupazione alle persone e non trovare persone per coprire posti di lavoro. 
2. Il consumismo sprecone.
Negli ultimi decenni, il diffondersi dell'economia di mercato, basata sui consumi, ha creato a livello mondiale (certamente nei paesi più sviluppati economicamente) una cultura dello spreco come appagamento di bisogni artificiali. Mangiamo troppo e poiandiamo in palestra o facciamo le diete per dimagrire; sprechiamo un sacco di cibo che va a finire in discariche, mentre milioni di persone muoiono di fame (mi ricordo che mia madre, quando eravamo bambini,  ci diceva che il cibo è grazia di Dio e non va sprecato - cosa che non è mai avvenuta nella mia famiglia di origine); abbiamo spesso molto più vestiario che dorme negli armadi di quello che effettivamente ci serve; ci spostiamo in macchina anche per andare a comprare il pane nel negozio a cento metri da casa;....E gli esempi si possono moltiplicare all'infinito: dovremmo tutti usare nella nostra vita quotidiana le famose 3 R dell'ecologia:
RIDURRE     RIUSARE       RICICLARE 

3. Lo spreco energetico.
Sono nato ed ho vissuto da bambino in un paese all'interno della Sicilia, Agira, a 700 metri sul mare. Il clima era relativamente mite, ma d'inverno la temperatura scendeva talvolta sotto zero e d'estate saliva sopra i 35 gradi e talvolta sopra i 40 gradi. Eppure non avevamo in casa ne' riscaldamento d'inverno (salvo la "conca"-- cioè un braciere con la carbonella accesa - al centro della stanza principale) ne' condizionamento d'estate - ed eravamo sani e forti.
Oggi in molti locali ed abitazioni si soffre il freddo d'estate per il condizionamento esagerato, ed il caldo d'inverno per il riscaldamento eccessivo.L'automobile era nata come mezzo di trasporto, oggi è spesso uno status symbol e deve essere grossa; e ci spostiamo in macchina anche per pigrizia per non camminare poche centinaia di metri fino alla fermata di un mezzo pubblico.
In casa continuiamo ad usare lampade ad incandescenza, ed elettrodomestici non di classe A  e lasciamo spesso le luci accese ...Bisogna imparare a privilegiare i mezzi pubblici, il trasporto su ferro anziché' su gomma, le auto a basso consumo (a metano, ibride ... e piccole), bisogna spegnere le luci quando non servono e sostituire tutte le lampadine con quelle  LED, bisogna ...Insomma buone e semplici regole di comportamento che tutti conosciamo ma che non sempre applichiamo, o insegniamo ai nostri figli ad applicare ... Per un mondo migliore, i nostri piccoli comportamenti quotidiani sono altrettanto importanti delle grandi scelte politiche ...

----------------------------------------- ENGLISH VERSION --------------------------------

CoP21 - The Paris Agreement

The signing in Paris of the fight against climate change, signed by 185 countries, representing almost all of the world population, is certainly of HISTORICAL importance.

The agreement calls for a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions first, and then essentially for the decarbonisation of the economy, in order to remain well below the increase of 2 degrees of the global temperature from pre-industrial levels - and possibly below the limit of 1.5 degrees of increase within this century.

Of course this agreement is a critical step; but still much remains to be done to put in place the policies needed to implement it and to overcome the resistances, which are still very strong, of the lobbies of fossil fuels. And many governments are still influenced by these private interests.

This result was possible thanks to a strong growing sensitivity of public opinion worldwide, in the face of continuing disasters that fossil fuels have produced and continue to produce. Public opinion begins to prevail over the interests of a few individuals, and to produce policy choices in many countries in favour of the environment and the community of citizens and not only for the benefit of a tiny minority of large shareholders and managers of big traditional energy companies.

While we must continue to put pressure on our leaders so that they will adopt correct policies, it is essential that we all contribute with our individual behaviour to the decarbonisation of the economy.

IT IS A MORAL DUTY TO OURSELVES, BUT ESPECIALLY TO OUR CHILDREN AND TO FUTURE GENERATIONS.

Here are some behaviours and cultural changes that we should implement.

1. The demographic issue.

It is, in my opinion, the fundamental planetary emergency.

The planet, human society, its organizational structures,  cannot continue to receive 80,000,000 (EIGHTY MILLION) humans more every year.

It is as if a population as large as that of Germany was added to the planet every year. It is simply impossible to offer all these new citizens water, food, energy, home, schools, ... and generally a decent quality of life in a world already saturated.

As individuals and as members of different social structures we must promote a culture of a fertility rate of less than two. In all countries of the world.

Countries that already have a fertility rate of less than two, such as Italy, make a positive contribution both to the welfare of its citizens and to the human community.

WE ARE TOO MANY IN THE WORLD AND WE ARE TOO MANY EVEN IN ITALY.

The dreaded problem of an aging population and the effect on business is a false problem because with the internalisation of the economies and the huge productivity increases already implemented and still more coming up with new technologies, the issue will be more and more to find work for people and not find people to fill jobs.

2. Wasteful consumerism.

In recent decades, the spread of the market economy, based on consumption, has created in the world (certainly in the more economically developed) a culture of waste as satisfaction of artificial needs. We eat too much and then we go to the gym or do diets for weight loss; we waste a lot of food that ends up in landfills, while millions of people are starving (I remember my mother, when we were kids, used to tell us that the food is the grace of God and it should not be wasted - something that never happened in my family of origin); we often have much more clothing sleeping in the closets than what we actually need; we travel by car even to go to buy bread in the store one hundred metres from home ...

The examples can be multiplied endlessly: we all should use in our daily lives the famous 3 R of ecology:

REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE

3. The energy wastage.

I was born and lived as a child in a village in Sicily, Agira, 700 meters above sea level. The climate was relatively mild, but in winter the temperature dropped below zero and in the summer it rose above 35 degrees and sometimes above 40 degrees. Yet we did not have at home heating in the winter (except for the conca - that is, a brazier with burning charcoal – at the centre of the main room) or air conditioning in summer - and we were healthy and strong. Today, in many local homes one suffers from being cold in the summer due to exaggerated air conditioning, and warm in the winter due to excessive heating.

The car was born as a means of transport, but today it is often a status symbol and has to be large; we travel by car even for laziness not to walk a few hundred metres to the bus stop. At home we continue to use incandescent lamps, non class A appliances and often we leave the lights on ....

We must learn to prioritise public transport, transport by railways instead of roads, the fuel-efficient cars (CNG, hybrid and small ...) and to turn off lights when they are not needed and to replace all the light bulbs with the LED. We have to ... Such good and simple rules of behaviour that we all know but do not always apply, or teach our children to apply ...

For a better world, our little daily behaviours are equally as important as major political choices ...

... BUT WE HAVE THE ADVANTAGE THAT THEY DEPEND ON US ALONE.

Pistorio Foundation Best Wishes

On Building Sustainable Villages Dear Friends, Just this week I returned from a visit to our projects in Thailand. Each time I'm delighted to witness new developments in the village communities that we serve, as step by step stakeholders work together to pave the road to self-sustainability. Our village approach consists of a partnership between local families, village heads, the Foundation, and local government authorities, to spearhead the development of villages starting with education, by building schools and by providing scholarships to children, and subsequently by improving income generating possibilities of families through agriculture. In its tenth year since its inception, I'm proud to witness that the Foundation's initial vision of the sustainable village has succeeded. Huay Kuk is one of the villages which in 2006 still had no school, whose children were not attending school, and families were struggling to make a living while children were frequently afflicted by common illnesses and infections. Today, the village has a vast government run school complex comprising nursery, kindergarten, primary school, playground, computer room, and library; the village now has a Health Post, with one permanent nurse, that is run by the provincial district hospital, which every first Monday of the month, organizes a mobile clinic with the involvement of doctors and paramedics who guarantee throughout the year medical examinations, analyses, and dental check ups; there is now abundant clean water supply to the school and village; numerous agricultural and livestock activities including greenhouses, production of organic compost, vegetable gardens, raising of chickens and fish pond, etc, have flourished, providing families with further income and the school with food supplies. Furthermore, the government has built a road leading to the village connecting it with a main road at the foot of the hill, which has allowed for a further increase in the incomes of families, and the government has brought electricity to the village. All this would not have been possible without the building of the school by the Foundation, which triggered the snowballing development of the village. Today, 66 Students from this village have obtained a Professional School degree. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand has already paid two visits to the village and surroundings, which led to the construction of the road and village electrification. The village and quality of life in the village have been transformed since my first visit. We have achieved this goal in several of the villages we are working with in Thailand, and our goal is to achieve this level of development in all the villages. Our holistic village approach has demonstrated that an average investment in the order of about 30K CHF per year over less than ten years, in infrastructure and in underprivileged children's scholarships, can transform for many generations to come the life of a village. We have now begun reducing our scholarship support as families and communities have been lifted out of poverty. Our dedicated staff in Thailand have already begun working with local authorities and institutions to identify other villages in greatest need in the region. Our dream is to replicate and upscale this successful model in more rural villages to create strong, self-reliant communities that can stand on their own and help build a world fit for children, eradicating poverty at its root. Together we can make this happen. Over the past ten years, across the countries we operate, Thailand, Cambodia, Morocco and Burkina Faso, we have provided over 14,700 years of schooling to over 3,500 direct beneficiaries, realized over 43 Infrastructure Projects, and over 350 students have completed Professional School. We continue to emphasize the importance of completing Professional Schools for our beneficiaries and our long term scholarships accompany them to this goal. This year we also have one University student on scholarship. Literacy skills are fundamental but not enough for poverty stricken adolescents to find jobs. We want to make sure our students receive quality education until completion of Professional School so that they are competitive on the job market to prevent any form of exploitation or discrimination and to land them with well paid jobs in reputable companies. Again, all this has been achieved by the Foundation with close to no overhead costs, amounting to less than 5% (less than 20,000 CHF on average) of project investments budget of about 500 K CHF per year on average. Our low overhead is attributed to our volunteer based organizational structure, where nearly all the administrative and fundraising operations are led by volunteers, hiring only on the ground staff and working in close partnership with selected grassroots NGOs. I would like to thank wholeheartedly all stakeholders - Board Members, Donors, Volunteers, Project Staff, Partners, and Communities - for working together to make a better future possible for thousands of children and for their families. Hoping we can continue to bring more smiles to more village children for many years to come, thanks to your continued support, I would like to extend to you my heartfelt Best Wishes for 2016. Best Regards, Pasquale Pasquale Pistorio with Thyia, Project Manager Assistant in Thailand in front of Huay Kuk Primary School  Pasquale Pistorio with Huay Kuk Kindergarten and Primary School Children

Launch of Not Born in Singapore

I am honored to have been featured in a book on the Fifty foreign Personalities who Shaped Singapore, in the occasion of Singapore's 50th anniversary. Here is the extract from the book which covers my interview by author Tng Ying Hui of the National University of Singapore.

For PDF version click here