Dear Greta, we are four girls of your age and we are from Italy. Next year we’ll graduate from scientific highschool and we’ll have to face the world that has been left to us. However, this is going to be easier said than done since our “house is on fire”: what can we do to avoid the worst from happening and save our planet?
In our small way we are already trying to do something like recycling, using non plastic bottles, reducing the use of water and so on. Moreover, before the pandemic, we took part in one of “Friday for future” events, during which we walked through our town until we reached the town hall. Even though some of us may not have managed to talk to the mayor, we made our point. Although many people have already got accustomed to living sustainable lifestyle, this is not enough to change the current course of events. What we need is a worldwide change of minds to raise awareness among young generations, as we will be the ones who will rule the world and those who will have to deal with the consequences of past mistakes. We need to act fast, otherwise the climate change situation will get out of our hands.
For what concerns Italy, 2019 has been the worst year so far: in fact, our country had to deal with numerous problems such as drought, violent storms, landslides, floods, avalanches, which, in most cases, have led to the death of many people and animals, apart from the damage of crops. On the contrary in 2020, during the lockdown, nature seemed to be healing: animals started to reflow into the streets of some of the most industrialized cities of the country, like Rome or Milan. These events showed us that there’s still hope and it’s not too late to make amends.
Recently we have found an article on an online newspaper about a project that is going to start this year and that consists in developing a very high precision digital model of the Earth in order to monitor and simulate natural and human activity, other than develop and test scenarios that would enable more sustainable development and support European environmental policies. What do you think about it? Could it be a good start in the process of fighting climate change? Have you thought of other new solutions related to this matter? Thank you for your time, we hope to hear from you soon.
CLAUDIA BARBI
ELENA MARCHEGGIANI
GIULIA MONACELLI
SILVIA VINCIARELLI
4als I.I.S. G. Mazzatinti (Gubbio)