A history of fighting environmental degradation in Albiate, between illegal dumps and climate change

[vc_column_textCompiled 21 November 2020, updated 23 November 2024

The original title of this article was: The illegal dump on the border between Albiate and Carate: on that land I am trying to plant a forest suitable for climate change.

It all began – at least for me – in 2006, with the illegal dumping on the road between Carate and Albiate (see article below).

I personally took a public stand when I organised the exhibition on the Airoldi and Caprotti archives (read Gum and toilets among the blooming periwinkles – 2007) .

I then ‘got busy’ and, following a 7-year long political and bureaucratic process (2007-2014), I managed to have the road from one village to the other closed with two bars, financed by myself.

In the photos below you can see one of the two barriers, today.

I hoped that the affair, after so many years (14 at the time), was over.

But no.

There are still those who think that the countryside of Albiate and Carate should be considered an illegal dump .

This is a company that wanted to save landfill charges .

But, beyond the individual incidents, I don’t understand why waste continues to be dumped almost everywhere:

can’t someone who smokes a cigarette finish it and throw the butt into a waste bin?

Or can’t someone who blows his nose blow it and then throw the handkerchief away at home?

The problem is general and it is cultural.

I talked about it in this interview during the first lockdown:

“The IEO Covid free project? An example for companies and other foundations’.

Conclusion :

when I talk about it many people ask me what can I do for the environment? . Answer : just start respecting it, not throwing around things that don’t belong there. (Please note that the Carate municipality had the illegal dump removed after my report in Il Cittadino).
on this area, after the contract with the farmer who cultivates the fields has expired, I want to plant a forest

To understand my motivations read: SOS Planet Earth. Stefano Mancuso: to fight climate change we must plant trees.

In March 2022, I am so affected by the drought – which looks a lot like desertification – that is affecting these lands that I no longer know what to do.

My plan will probably have to be revised, with essences (plants) better adapted to the heat and lack of water. In the meantime, I have managed to build a well.

I have already had a meeting on the subject with the Lambro Valley Regional Park and I will be requesting another one shortly.

For an update, in August 2024, on the illegal landfills in Brianza read here “...One of the four individuals reported must also answer for building and landscape abuse in relation to one of the areas identified and included in the Lambro Valley Park. Investigations are underway to secure the sites and to verify, in collaboration with the competent authorities, any environmental contamination, given that during the interventions, traces of fires set on the site with the consequent emission of combustion fumes into the air were also detected.

Nearly two decades have passed and the situation is ‘still the same’, aggravated by galloping climate change.