We have to change, putting back the focus on people and environmental wellbeing

“We are tired of hearing the same words on repeat. But after the long dark night of the pandemic crisis, we have no other option but to rethink how we produce, feed ourselves and consume. Learning how to care for ourselves ”

That's quite enough! I don’t want to hear another word about sustainability! People band it about like a magic word to solve all ills, especially today, in the aftermath of this wretched pandemic that has turned the world upside down. And yet we have emerged from it to find ourselves as we were before, with the same certainty about our progress and ability to adapt and find solutions. Without the need to be more sustainable.

Just like before, we went back to work and school. We have gone back to travelling, by plane or ship, be it for work or to see the world. We use our cars, which are the best way to get about in terms of social distancing. They talk about rethinking our cities, but why mess with ways of living that have worked for so long? Take oil, for example… Giving up such an efficient energy source that has enabled so much development. They say it is running out, but there is no telling how much is still under our feet. Renewable sources, water, sun, wind, even the sea, will never manage to replace good old oil. They say the climate is changing, that we should change our habits because we are using up all the planet's resources, but these are nothing but stories peddled by pessimists with no hope for the future. Has anyone noticed any changes? They claim the planet is overheating and that Italy will become a vast desert, but no one has noticed anything of the kind. A few warmer years, one or two more storms, but nothing that can’t be put down to the unpredictability of the weather.

Experts are terrorising us by saying that what we eat is only doing us harm: too many pesticides, too many chemicals, too much intensive farming, too much land use. But how can we feed a global population that is rapidly reaching eight billion and is likely to exceed ten billion by the end of the century without all these systems?

They call it sustainable development because they don’t know what they are talking about either. And they’re aiming to create new businesses: that’s what it all boils down to!

But in recent months something has changed. We can see each other again, but only from a distance. That treacherous and invisible enemy that changed our lives might have been provoked by our intrusion into its environment. We lived for months in our homes like cave dwellers, we couldn't see each other and even when we could we had to take all the necessary precautions. In the end, I too must admit that I suffered during isolation, and I was looking forward to seeing the light, the mountains, the meadows, the flowers: I have never missed nature so much, so much so that I would like more greenery and flowers in our cities now. I felt the need for clean, fresh air: now I too can sense how different it is from the foul air we breathe every day in our cities, stinking and fume filled. Not to mention those hurricanes that caused the city streets to flood. I had never seen tropical storms like that in our part of the world: so much fury and anger pelting down from the sky, provoked by our own trespasses which have ravaged the environment.

Now I too have started to watch what I eat. I understand that there is food, and then there is food: you have food with no taste, produced only to feed us – and who knows if it really has any nutritional value – and you have food that tastes of our culture and history, of our land and the love of those who produced it with care, bringing people back to the centre. Because what really matters is the well-being of each one of us, feeling good with ourselves and the world, quality of life. These months have taught us this.

Perhaps now I am also interested in the sustainability of human existence on Earth. It is not an empty word after all. I could put it another way: caring for ourselves, individually and collectively!