DIVE…sting

It is a a few days’ a go news that Cambridge University declined its students’ and staff’s  call to divest the fossil fuel industry while Catholic Church Orders are increasingly doing the opposite, encouraged by Pope Francis’ second encyclical “Laudato Sì”, published one year ago.   What is Divesting? Divesting is actually nothing more than […]

Solar Flying

Solar Impulse flying over Hawaii

This Sunday the Green Column is celebrating an inspiring and good event. This Thursday, the 23rd of June, Solar Impulse, an aircraft solely powered by solar energy, completed its first transatlantic flight: 71 hours zero emission cruising from New York to Seville! What is Solar Impulse? It is an innovation-driven project, whose founders are the […]

We have a dream…100% renewable!

As more countries are expanding their supply of clean energy, a fundamental question comes into our mind: would it be possible to run the entire world on renewable energy? Someone at Stanford University think so! Professor Mark Z. Jacobson, a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University and director of the school’s Atmosphere and Energy […]

Brexit and the Environment

Brexit

On the 23rd, in two days, Great Britain is going to express its lawful opinion about whether remaining or leaving the European Union. Actually it is not the first time: in 1975 the 67% of the subjects chose to stay in the EEC. Hence, the main reasons standing behind the “Leave” party (mostly formed of […]

Look at the stars… Whoops we can’t!

You may find yourself looking at the sky during these summer nights, but where are the stars at? Light pollution in our cities is a serious issue. In a recent study conducted by an Italian and American research team, it has been found out that more than 83% of the world’s population experiences light-polluted night […]

Closing the Loop – The new circle starts now!

The Council of the European Union has just presented its draft conclusions to take the circular economy plan a step further. In the report it stresses the need for more funding in research and innovation that “are essential for developing necessary sustainable and resource efficient industrial, economic and societal processes to stimulate the transition to the circular […]

You used to call me on my…UNfairphone!

Agbogbloshie. This is the name of a city in Ghana, whose big part of livelihood is based on the electronic waste – e-waste-  management.  Typically,  a few km away of a soccer field, there is a slum where the e-waste boys  are burning wires in order to get some copper and re sell it. Agbogbloshie […]

Celebrating the Summer Solstice

FAI - Fondo Ambiente Italiano

This week the Green Column is suggesting to you an appetizing event for the Summer to come. We  know that somebody doesn’t see it coming… but looking at the calendar there is  just one week to go for the longest day in the year ( at least for the Northern Emisphere). The best way to […]

Green Vacations – Sustainability in the summertime

Spring has gone, and summer is coming on… There are few exams left and you are already thinking where to spend the weeks ahead, right? Maybe visiting an European capital, maybe an on the road-trip, or maybe you will spend the summer in your hometown! Whatever you choose, relax but not on the environmental impact […]

Water scarcity in Northern Europe… Do we any issue?

Changes in annula rain precipitation in Europe

Summer is coming. These days this sounds more like a threat than a promise, as it was actually in winter. so, while you are sweatingly walking through the concrete jungle of your city,  you catch yourself thinking “I wish I was in Lapland”… like really? You may change your mind with the following facts. A […]

Flydende By – Copenhagen Floating City

North-west Copenhagen, a huge warehouse. Tons of material, iron sheets, old clothes, an electric organs. Add a creative and highly motivated bunch of people and what you have is the Floating City. Fydende By, translated in Floating city, is a climate project started in 2008 in a scrapped candy factory. Less than one year ago this […]

Getting Pacha Mama Rights

Shall Mother Earth be entitled of legal rights and be considered as a human being? According to the traditional environmental regulatory system the natural ecosystem is defined as a property. This did not help to prevent the massive exploitation and damages that are leading us into a catastrophic state never experienced before. A new approach […]