Missed target. Again, because decisions are yet to be made on how Piedmont will tackle the climate crisis. The Extinction Rebellion Turin group began yesterday, 21 February, with a garrison under the Palazzo Lascaris, the seat of the regional council. The Extraordinary Open Council – condemning the movement – was half-open, both because many groups were excluded from the debate, and because, in fact, it was just a debate. The position of the speaking scholars and experts would not lead to the approval of concrete measures and at the end of the day, the session was adjourned for today without any agenda. The Presidium of Extinction Rebellion, which also established a television under Palazzo Lascaris to follow the sessions live, continues to this day.
Yesterday the Presidents of the Council and of the Council Alberto Sirio and Stefano Alacia and the Councilor for the Environment Matteo Marnati spoke. After highlighting that “the fight against climate change begins with the region and its citizens”, Sirio announced the approval of the Regional Environmental Energy Plan (PEAR). “The proposal is in the consultation stage – it is ongoing – and will set the line on the energy sector with regard to decarbonization objectives. He will reach the council in the next few days.” Marnati explained what the department is focusing on: “In addition to a new pear, we are developing an ‘Urban Forest’ project to reduce pollutants by introducing 57 new tree species. We have 500 dedicated to the environment.” Also working to manage the funding of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, with more than a million. Invited, however – he continued – he “worked to organize institutions and generate responses”.
Workers who make it possible to open the Council with a hunger strike for eight days were the first to speak after Roger Reina institutional representatives. 27-year-old said that “the scientific community does not condemn a state of emergency for ten years. Institutions to systematically ignored and no one in this case the citizens have to say.”
Rina criticizes, in particular, the Councilor for the Environment: “Marnati declared in 2017 that tackling the climate emergency required a change of mindset. Given the lack of concrete political objectives, voice and responsibility were returned to citizenship.” It is no longer about environmentalism, we cannot resign ourselves to the feeling of helplessness. Now is not the time to think from the point of view of majority and opposition. A systemic approach should be adopted, and citizens should be well must be informed by”. Scientist Professor Rodolfo Lewansky, who spoke at the session. “Deliberate participation is necessary to speak up and design solutions to climate change – says the expert. Such solutions are being adopted from France to Spain, to Scotland.”
Ruggero Reina is keen to underline the aspect of the council. “Early in the morning police officers blocked our authorized garrison, only through the intervention of a lawyer were we able to return there,” he told Futura News. And with experts on the methods of confrontation, he says that “it is passed off as a moment of confrontation with no real contradiction. This has been said for years after listening to Sirio and Marnati. Just Piedmont.” Go to the region’s website, the regional strategy has not achieved any objectives. The pear, which they are proud of, has been discontinued since 2004 and we are now talking about an approval, not an implementation. I personally I know some of the people who work as technicians, scientists and researchers who contribute to the drafting of the regional strategy: they also complain of stagnation. It’s a political problem, we don’t blame individual technicians Well, there’s work behind it, but it’s only a facade. It’s just to open up the site and be able to simulate that the area is doing something”.
Other organizations are also present in the Presidium of Extinction Rebellion: Legambiente, Torino Respira Committee, I Verdi, Greenpeace, Acmos. A green color poses not only for quirky people, children but also adults. “It is a pleasure that our fights for environmental protection have been married in such a participatory way by the new generation, by the young”, highlighted Mariella Grisa, regional spokesperson for the Greens.
Marco Grimaldi, Regional Councilor of Liberi e Uguali/Verdi, present at the Presidium, highlighted the need for a change of pace. “As an opposition we wrote a document with 40 points that we should implement between now and the next few years to reduce emissions by 50%, but that is not all. We also want to improve the ecological system of the economy. No real law on re-transformation has to be placed at the center and above all to ensure that in Piedmont it is understood that it is a regeneration of its production chain not only environmentally, but also socially. From the responsible sense itself is the way out of the crisis other than how we entered.
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