Trashopolis! Storytelling, waste research and glocal conflicts

by Salvatore De Rosa This is a very personal account of an ethnographic immersion in the epicenter of an environmental conflict of huge proportions. That happens to be, at the same time, the place where I was born. It is an attempt at connecting the dots between individual existence, collective destinies and glocal ecological transformations. …

Why “Warning to Humanity” gets the socio-ecological crisis (and its solutions) wrong

by Salvatore De Rosa and Jevgeniy Bluwstein The "Warning to Humanity" signed by more than 15.000 scientists calls for action to save the planet proposing elitist environmentalism and missing the real target. Instead, scientists should analyse the roots of the socio-ecological crisis and join the grassroots struggles pushing  for structural changes from local to global …

Campania grassroots movements: lessons from 15 years of environmental struggle

Social mobilizations in Campania are changing the political, economic, cultural and ecological landscapes of the region. Their strategies and practices draw a path of resistance and reappropriation that can inspire environmental movements in Italy and elsewhere. The 15 year-long grassroots mobilizations, which emerged in reaction to waste (mis)management and illegal disposal in the Campania region of Southern Italy, represent …

Drivers of illegal waste disposal: the case of Campania, Italy

Illegal economic practices are often labeled as aberrations of the market logic, but few realize their role in sustaining capitalist accumulation and power hierarchies. Uncovering the drivers of illegal waste disposal in Campania demonstrates that illicit and legal economies are often intertwined and mutually beneficial.* Prologue The Pellini Group is a family-run company managed by the three Pellini brothers, …

Agorà dei movimenti – Programma preliminare

From 4 to 6 March 2016, there will be in Napoli (Italy) the Agorà of movements in defense of territories and for environmental justice, an event organized by ENTITLE in collaboration with Lund University, A Sud, CDCA and activists and researchers from Italy. The preliminary program is finally out! (english below) Il programma preliminare dell'Agorà …

Agorà dei movimenti in difesa dei territori e per la giustizia ambientale, Napoli 4-6 marzo 2016

From 4 to 6 March 2016, there will be in Napoli (Italy) the Agorà of movements in defense of territories and for environmental justice, an event organized by ENTITLE in collaboration with Lund University, A Sud, CDCA and activists and researchers from Italy. The Agorà is an attempt at creating a space of confrontation, collective learning …

Water: source of life and conflict in the Land of Rivers

By Joris Leverink.* Oil is often seen as the root cause of conflict in the Middle East, but in the coming years water might come to overtake it as a key source of dispute. Mesopotamia, the ‘Land of Two Rivers’, cradle of modern civilization and currently home to probably as many conflicts as there are …

Sblocca Italia: Extractivism made in Italy

The Unlock Italy Law, recently passed in the Italian parliament, is a festival of deregulation and legalised plunder. From fossil fuel extraction to construction permits, the country is put on sale to restart growth. But from the targeted territories, social movements are waging resistance. And they bring another idea of prosperity. Italy’s current Prime Minister, …

Documenting political ecologies through film, part III

by Gustavo Garcia Lopez and Salvatore Paolo de Rosa Je hais les voyages et les explorateurs” (“I hate travels and explorers. C. Lévi-Strauss (1955), Tristes Tropiques¹ Following our previous two posts (HERE and HERE) on the Tales from Planet Earth film festival in Stockholm, Sweden (9-12 April) this post focuses on the film Expedition to …

Documenting political ecologies through film, part II

by Gustavo Garcia Lopez and Salvatore Paolo de Rosa The incisive and thought-provoking opening lecture by Rob Nixon on the first day of the Tales from Planet Earth film festival in Stockholm, Sweden (April 9-12), reviewed HERE, was followed by three documentaries on the topic of waste: Plastic bag (Ramen Bahrani, USA, 2009, 18 min), Trash Dance …