With Gianluigi Polisena, television producer of the Italian Green format broadcast on Rai Due, we talk about how the program will give life to the Italian Green Eccellenze Sostenibili association, a social promotion body for sustainability, and how fundamental the role of the media is today in dissemination of issues related to climate justice
Let’s start immediately with a fact, a few days ago an article appeared on the ASviS website which points out how environmental information in Italy increased in 2022, also thanks to greater public sensitivity, but remains marginal and closely linked to chronicle. This is what emerges from “Eco-media 2022” report of December, edited by Pentapolis institute Et. What do you think? And above all, what type of communication should be conveyed?
Undoubtedly, communication on the subject is changing because the public’s point of view is no longer the same. Four, five years ago talking about sustainability didn’t mean transmitting something positive, there was a repulsive attitude for those brands that presented objects created with reused elements. Today everything is reversed: the virtuous attitude towards the environment is now trendy, especially for the new generations, it is the youngest who are concerned about climate justice. A similar approach has led to a new awareness supported, unfortunately, by environmental and climatic upheavals that are now on the agenda and there for all to see. I would then speak of a “super target” to which we address, and which has evolved over the last few years and which is, inevitably, more demanding.
Good communication is synonymous with education. Have you had the opportunity to try its effects?
Although Italian Green is a network program, therefore branded content, it pursues the aim of a public service. In these days in Milan we are working with the main partner of the program, Greenthesis Group SpA, which includes 18 companies and deals with transformation, ecological transition in all respects. Among the companies in the group there are specific cases of Italian sustainability excellence such as Rhea Dalmine, smooth And Padana Energy. One of the four conductors, Marco Martinelli (with Mario Acampa, Riccardo Cresci and Noemi David ed), will explain in the next episode to the public at home, in a constructive and often ironic tone, the innovative processes of transforming mud and differentiated and undifferentiated urban waste into energy, which will allow the lighting network of the city of Bergamo to be switched on. From this year, the heat emitted during these processes, and which until now was dispersed into the environment, will instead be collected and centralized to heat the water in homes. We are talking about the future, and above all about new ways of disseminating techniques that are not futuristic but possible because they are applicable to territorial sustainability.
Have you ever conveyed these themes also in the corporate sphere? When and what was the feedback?
With ESG protocols, almost all companies have had to plan and comply with these criteria. If today any reality is not born, does not develop and does not progress in a sustainable way, it will be devoid of public protection. For this reason, I have had many experiences in this area because there are many companies that provide training in all sectors, provide an electric fleet so that the employee can be directed to purchase a green energy car, renovate the offices…
What does Italy lack to be even more “green”, both in theory and in practice?
There is certainly a lack of acceleration of political processes that could facilitate sustainable development. We need a policy that demonstrates its attention through tangible simplification choices and not just through electoral campaign promises. Returning to the electric columns for recharging vehicles: in order to be able to install them in its yard, a company must collect a large number of permits that are not used to control, but are only obstacles to similar initiatives.
What can you tell us about the coming months?
Through the television tool, Italian Green tells and introduces people to virtuous examples of green culture present in our country, also bringing out the efforts related to these adjustments. These realities are expressing their willingness to collaborate to give life to an association of sustainable entities made up of about thirty subjects. The synergies that can be activated will generate opportunities for matchmaking and exchange, promoting projects with universities, scholarships for male and female students who have worked on green area redevelopment projects, and training and scientific dissemination programs for companies.
So not just a television program but a structural project that goes further, and on which funding network can it rely?
Yes, the program will then be the tip of the association iceberg Italian Green Eccellenze Sostenabili, social promotion body for sustainability. Italian Green is a 360° action that will also become a hub for systematizing collaborations between subjects. The first funding will be annual donations from the same thirty participating companies, financed resources for university scholarships, redevelopment of green areas, recycling of plastic materials.
Lucia Medri
The article Polisena (Italian Green): from the TV program to the association for the social promotion of sustainability From WeWelfare.