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The butterfly effect from Italy to Costa Rica

The Butterfly effect, when small actions can contribute generating great changes

In a tiny little village (no it is not the village of An early Christmas Carol), up on the green hills in Friuli Venezia Giulia, there were (and still there are) many – but really many ,many, butterflies.

You can see butterflies everywhere, on the wall of the houses, in the streets and in their own house. The butterfly house is so big, three big apartments with trees, plants, water (it is a bit humid in there) and butterflies flying everywhere or resting on some flowers. Before arriving in their apartments the butterflies travelled for a long time, they crossed the Ocean but they were babies and they can’t remember their long journey. They know only the tiny little village on the green hills and they are happy like that.

The butterfly effect

It was too obvious to describe the three greenhouses and the butterflies and I have chosen to begin with a short story to tell the real beautiful story of “La Casa delle Farfalle” in Bordano.

The House of Butterflies” was established in 2003, it is an eco-museum and is the largest in Italy. The three greenhouses host three different eco systems the African jungle, the Asian and Australian rainforests, and the Amazon. The most peculiar aspect I have discovered when visiting “la Casa” is the project “The Bosque Nuevo”.  Bosque Nuevo is a butterfly farm located in Costa Rica. Their project is innovative: by selling “baby butterflies” (pupae) they aim to buy cultivated land and to re-convert it into native forest.

The butterfly effect

The butterfly farms have created an alternative economy, replacing when possible cattle-breeding or  cultivation that are among the causes of forest destruction.

The little town of Bordano

The little town of Bordano has its own story and it connects past events and this  new approach to economy. Bordano was affected by an earthquake in 1976. It was almost completely rebuilt by 1983, now there are around 700 people living there. Butterflies are an important presence thanks to a very special microclimate

In 1996 the Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia started a project, which included street art for the  artistic-cultural and naturalistic enhancement of the place. And… its focus was… guess what… butterflies!

It really seems that the Butterfly Effect has come true. The flapping of the wings of a butterfly has generated very large effects from one side of the ocean to the other

English version already published in Local Guides Connect

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All you need is a flower – 100 hours for the environment

All you need is  a flower – 100 hours for the environment.

This is the title of the event developed  thanks to the “stubbornness” of Movimento Caparbia, and a bit of our stubbornness too- , a really “big” event that brings together conferences, music, culture and recreational activities.

It will take place from June 5 to June 9 in the area of “terraferma” which is not far from Venice: Marghera and Mestre

The events of last October and November, which brought considerable damage to the Venetian forest heritage, to the heart of Venice, to the coasts – and affected many other areas of our territory – have greatly affected us. They  have added greater evidence to what we have already under our eyes for several years.

Climate change, air pollution, in particular the area of ​​the Po valley, the accumulation of waste, the depletion of natural resources, the melting of glaciers, the summer drought are some of the many alarm bells for the state of the environment.

All you need is a flower - 100 hours for the environment

We have decided to do something and have therefore brought together the forces of  Progetto Re-Cycle and Movimento Caparbia. In a short time we have managed to organize this  awareness-raising event. “All you need is a flower – 100 hours for the environment –

The program

When: from 5 to 9 June 2019

Where:

Negozio Piave 67

Al Vapore

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Re-designing environment and work in Venezia

Take a walk with us for re-designing environment and work in Venezia. This is the subject of our new Quaderno, Q10.

Re-designing environment and work in Venezia

We will take you in the hidden parts of this amazing city. You will visit the most beautiful parts with small and secret “botteghe” – workshops. But you will also visit the grey parts of the industrial area.

The focus is Venezia, its lagoon and the area nearby made up of small and large enterprises. Old and new work places where culture, economy and environment mix up together.

Re-designing environment and work in Venezia
Re-designing environment and work in Venezia

Can we re-design economy and take into account in the same time, the needs of persons, environment and culture?

We will give you a practical example with Antica Stamperia Armena, which is re-starting its activities in the heart of Venice.

And last but not least we will analyze skills and relationships in work places.

How is Humility considered nowdays? Is it a value or not?

Well, take a walk with us for re-designing environment and work in Venezia

If you want to find out more on the area near Venezia and on stories of water click here

For Quaderno 10 click here

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The storm has gone: Piave river

The storm has gone: Piave river where we returned to see if actually “The storm has gone” (1). You will certainly remember the devastating flood in November 2018 and the death of millions of trees in the mountains.

The storm has gone: Piave river

In the immediate following weeks, groups of volunteers cleaned the coast of Jesolo. A group was also guided by our Ermes. After a few months we went along the Piave to check the situation. To be precise between San Biagio di Callalta and Ponte di Piave in the province of Treviso.

Apart from some minor parts, the place is clean. The fury of water can still be noticed by some details such as the piled grass and unusual objects that remain “perched” on the branches. There are some plastic objects but they are really a small part.

For the rest the landscape has a lunar aspect and in some ways looks like a labyrinth. It seems indeed that “the storm has gone” and Piave river is quiet again

Light plays strange games, just as weird objects we found in twilight. They almost seem to have become part of the natural landscape. Let’s put it in this way, Nature will always prevail on the human being …

(1) Giacomo Leopardi “La quiete dopo la tempesta”

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Birkenau – Block 25

Birkenau Block 25. Call me Lavinia but I have no longer a name, numbers instead. I live, if this can be called life, in block 25 in Birkenau. My block mates are numbers like me… We are going to die, we know. We are packed in this block, waiting, or no longer waiting, resigned, weak. It’s dark here, narrow windows, we can hardly breathe but I can still see the moon, a big moon, lightning the dark. There is something comforting in that light.

Now I am beyond the ground I am a tree, I am moon, I keep the distance from all this cruelty and sadness. I am free.

The house is silent. The wind on my branches just seems a breath of clouds on an extinguishing fire. I’m alone again.
A cycle has been completed: my destiny of seed that has sprouted, the design of my ancestors.
Lavinia is now earth and humus. Her  spirit dancing in the evening wind (translated from the Italian version of The Inhabited Woman by Gioconda Belli) 

I did not know how to start a post about Birkenau and I decided to let a woman talk. Why a woman?

Birkeanu crematory
Birkenau – crematory
Birkenau - Block 25
Birkenau – Block 25

Waiting room for the gas

Block 25  was known as “waiting room for the gas” and it was a female block. When visiting Birkenau I gave a quick glance at the block, to be honest I gave a quick glance to everything, I felt a certain burden. The most horrible and incredible feeling was perceiving a rather “normal” aspect of that place when you are outside.

sunset in Birkenau

There was even a beautiful sunset to highlight the “normal” aspect. And then I took the picture of the ruins of the crematory, If I hadn’t written what it was,  nobody would have understood and it would have been “a beautiful landscape with moon”.

I was hit by my own picture, then the wind came and it reminded me of The Inhabited Woman and the orange tree

All of a sudden  the shapeless prisoners acquired Lavinia’s shape and I realized that I was watching the very same moon that women in block 25 saw.

Auschwitz – prisoners

And then I started singing in my mind La vita è bella. If you haven’t seen the movie by Roberto Benigni yet, now it is time to see it

Already published on the Local Guides Connect platform. The article is not part of the themes of Associazione Progetto Re-Cycle. It is our contribution to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. All picures A.Grana

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A man made of plastic

Finally our new Quaderno . A man made of plastic, a title that contains all the aspects  you will find in this issue. A Quaderno, number 9, with multiple aspects. It  retraces our Manifesto and highlights our mission. “To make easier the interaction between culture and business in order to create new economic opportunities by starting from what already exists”.

Our journey started two years ago. It is evolving.  Sometimes we were at a stalemate, sometimes tired but always ready to start again with even greater enthusiasm.

A man made of plastic gives a deeper emphasis to the relationship between territory / culture. Besides it highlights  the increasingly complicated relationship between Man and the Environment. If we were to give an explanation in two words, the focus of this issue would certainly be Trees and Plastic. Trees and plastic depicted as a story, as a poem, or as news, as science fiction. Trees and the Plastic become for the authors the vehicle to talk all round of culture and the re-reading  of territories, environmental emergencies and possible corrections. And above all, of man as a sentient being but also a being made of plastic. Sometimes a non-man, unaware of what he sees or, better still, of what he does not want to see.

trees

A company point of view

A company point of view enriches this Quaderno. The article has been written by an important Venetian company dealing with automation systems for the plastics transformation. Are today’s companies responsible for plastic contamination? If so, to what extent? Are they making any correction? Or, what is under our eyes is the result of a lack of vision that brings us back to the sixties, when Giulio Natta is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the construction of polypropylene and high density polyethylene?

Man and plastic

As usual we ask questions. As usual our purpose is not so much to give answers but to provoke an autonomous and critical thought.

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Christmas: water, earth and air

Christmas, water, earth and air. Such a strange title to present the Christmas Markets in Zero Branco, not far from Treviso. Let’s try to make a little order (that’s what I usually say, since my starting point is always  chaos) and give meaning to these words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas: this is clear. I am talking about December 15 and 16 markets. Less clear (presumably completely obscure) the three natural elements.

Our story begins at the end of 2016, December to be precise, just over a month from the earthquake affecting Central Italy. Since that December we have been travelling a lot, our last “landing” was Bolognola, in the province of Macerata, a few months ago.

 

Water

Bolognola is very small, about 150 inhabitants. It is the smallest and highest municipality in the Marche region. Although tiny, Bolognola is divided into three groups: Villa da Capo, Villa di Mezzo, Villa da Piedi. We could call Bolognola a land of water because of  the sources  of the Fiastrone and the waterfall of the Acquasanta. Water is important for Zero Branco too. Here in the plain (Zero Branco is located in the Po Valley) the small town is  bathed by the river Zero, a spring-fed river, and by the Vernise. The presence of water has been very important since the Middle Ages for the construction of mills, some of which remained in operation until the 60s. The first element of commonality, water, has been therefore identified. I almost forgot…. Bolognola is coming to Zero Branco for the Christmas Markets!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earth

At Zero Branco I have found a book “Stories of land and water“. The link with the land/earth for small businesses is very strong, just mention the Radicchio Tardivo that makes clearly understand  the union between earth and water. The same link between the inhabitants and their land can be found in Bolognola. A land a bit ‘treacherous”, mother nature and stepmother at the same time, which in October 2016 attested its dominance over the human being. A land that also knows how to give a lot because of its beauty.

 

Air

Land in which the last element stands out, air or better still wind, a predominant characteristic of Bolognola and above all of Pintura di Bolognola. From the stories of the inhabitants, who are accustomed to gusts that have reached 200km / h, we have learned of the strong wind that blew and of the extreme difficulty of preparing the emergency structures after the earthquake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the elements of our story are  here now. The Proloco di Bolognola, with their typical products, will be a guest at the Markets of Zero Branco. But this will not be enough to tell the whole story, or rather the stories, of two years spent between Marche and Umbria. And then, let’s go with photos, videos, virtual reality. There will be much to see and hear as well as to taste. We will obviously not be alone but together with other associations of Zero Branco, waiting together for Santa Claus and his helper 

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An early Christmas Carol

Shortly before Christmas, in a tiny little town, high up in the mountains where there was a very strong wind, a Santa Claus’ helper was thinking about how he could cheer  up the tiny little town.

This small, small town is called Bolognola, lately it has been a bit shaken up but now it’s pretty good!

Thinking and thinking again and again,  today and  tomorrow, he decided to call Santa Claus. He called him in a small town, a bit bigger than Bolognola, in the plains. There was no wind there but some fog indeed.

Sometimes it snows and in the plain 10 cm of snow are so many! Last year it  snowed just before Christmas. You have to know  that the inhabitants are a bit clumsy (they are not used to snow) and to move around they  needed a 4X4 sleigh!

The helper and Santa Claus wrote to each other via chat (and yes… even Santa Claus has become technological). They decided that the helper would come down to the plain to find Santa Claus.  The helper would bring with him many good things from the little town. He would introduce the flowers, the mountains, the valleys, from where those good things were made.

Flowers Monti Sibillini

Santa Claus said: “Hey, I’m waiting for you on December 15th and 16th at Zero Branco, it’s near Treviso, you know. It’s just a nice place. Everyone always asks me: what a strange name, what does it mean? I’ll give you a link (I am technological you know and , above all, really, really lazy) about  its story  Have a look “

And this is how the Proloco di Bolognola, Valnerina Online, Marchecraft and Progetto Re-Cycle and the Mercatini di Zero Branco set off, they always have the engines turned on indeed, and made sure that they could tell new stories about people and territories.

See you in Zero Branco on December 15th and 16th with stories already told and new stories to tell.

Model Village in Zero Branco
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Mapping. Sile river, stories of water

The Sile is rather unusual, it is a river that “rises” from the depths of the ground with pools of limpid and vital water, a network of springs, called “Fontanassi”.

“Fontanasso”

You can get to know the Sile in two ways: experiencing its water, in a canoe or small boats, on foot or by bicycle. For our activities we have started to map two paths, (virtual tours available at the bottom of the page) accessible for the disabled for most of their itinerary. As a consequence we have also started to explore the natural environment  surrounding  us. The first path, where the Sile is originated, or rather “rising”, is “La Porta dell’Acqua near  the Gran Bosco dei Fontanassi. It is less frequented than the second one the “Burci cemetery” but, on the other hand, less crowded means much more relaxing.

Undoubtedly the Burci are fascinating, the remains that emerge on the surface of water, evidence of a “slow” era that no longer exists, the accessibility of the path, attract many people. Unfortunately (or luckily, depending on the points of view) on Sundays and in summer it looks like a city central area. It took ages to map the path,  if you want to take your time and relax it is better in winter.

Bosco dei Fontanassi – Accessible Path
Burci Cemetery

Humidity

In summer nature is lush, very green and you can find a great variety of flowers. I thought about it for a moment and tried to answer the question “why do I come here and not somewhere else?” What can I find so particular worth telling?” The answer came to me from the humidity of the place. Yes, just the humidity of the Pianura Padana,  so often depressing, with its skies never, or rarely, completely blue.

It was surreal to find out that, as  in the last period I have frequented other places, I have missed the humidity (normally detested) that makes you feel the physical sensation of “passing through” a place as if you were swimming metaphorically through an impalpable water. Water that you feel  and leaves you a little breathless. In summer the green that surrounds you is greener than green but, in my opinion,  you can fully understand this environment of land and water especially in autumn and winter. With the fog...

Fog along the Sile

Fog

Try to imagine the autumn fog, the shape of the places that fade, the sounds are not clear but muffled. Humidity is the main attraction, again and more strongly, the sensation of swimming in and through the place. Time is suspended, you cannot get the feeling of time because you cannot see the sky. Yet  the noise of water in the background, some nutria that dives, the beating of the swans’ wings define the contours of the place.

Often with the mapping activities, we have been accused of digitizing everything and making people “walk around” without having to leave the sofa. Nothing could be more untrue. You can see the place on a screen, you can even follow a path, but you cannot feel it. Can you “swim” in the humidity? The only image of a place does not define its complex and changeable reality. Experiencing by feeling the reality of a place is the key word.

Panta rei, everything flows … reality is a continuous becoming

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It’s a kind of magic…

I have heard so many times the word magic during my stays in Marche and Umbria, magic meaning a peculiar characteristic, uniqueness of the Sibillini territory. This peculiarity was highlighted during Concita De Gregorio’s interviews to the “Women of the Sibillini” too. Most of the women’s answers on the meaning of “home” and “future” after the earthquake, were connected in an essential way to the territory women belong to. I, as an external “character” and not involved in that specific place, started thinking about this topic. I asked  myself “what would I tell a tourist to convince him/her to visit these places?”

Concita De Gregorio interviewing Donne dei Sibillini

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought about it for a short time but. As I tend to base my  judgments on parameters as much objective as possible, the word magic has begun to be unconvincing. To be more precise I do not think that only “magic” can define a place. Defining a place as magical is an emotional and subjective criterion, what is magical for me may not be for others. So I started looking for the meaning of “magical”:

“In general, practice and form of esoteric and initiatory knowledge that presents itself as capable of controlling the forces of nature; in various cultures and in different historical periods, it has been object of opposite evaluations, now considered a form of superior knowledge, now rejected as imposture and condemned by civil and religious authorities.

“Capable of controlling  the forces of nature …” No, it’s not, in that territory still destroyed by earthquake, I would say no, it is not magic. So what is it? I tried with sublime. The dynamically sublime is “nature considered in an aesthetic judgment as might that has no dominion over us”. We are getting closer but not enough.

The relationship between Nature and Man

In both cases it is clear that we are not talking about Nature and Man (human being) only but we focus on the relationship between Human Being  and Nature. On one hand, Human Being aspires to the control of Nature with magical arts, on the other he/she is fascinated and overwhelmed by Nature

Perhaps we have taken a step forward, no, better say a step backward and I wonder (and I ask you) “Why, the Sibillini and not the Dolomiti? Just an example” What are the criteria for my  choosing a mountain or another? I mean, as a normal person, I am not a climber. I’m returning to subjectivity but based on reasoning and not on emotion only. The difference is therefore made by the human being and his/her relationship with nature. Let’s try to make a hard and simple evaluation: both mountain ranges have spectacular landscapes. The softer and more rounded Sibillini, the more impressive Dolomiti. Their differentiation is based, for me (subjective), in their colors.

Colors

Very bright colors (the red of the poppies seems redder) and the ocher in the Sibillini at the end of the summer (an American friend seeing a photo said “The Golden State”!).  In the Dolomiti, in addition to the rock, many shades of green.

 

The Golden State

Dolomiti Brenta

 

Harmony

In addition to the landscapes, however, I expect something else.  Now we are entering the field of what can be offered combining interaction between Human Being and Nature. In other words, what other services are available for me “tourist by chance” ? Please, let’s skip excellent food . In Italy you can never eat badly, you have to put a certain amount of effort into it … From my point of view  (subjectivity, again …) it is the harmony between the urban fabric and the environment. In these two photos you can see two examples of what I like: the version of “a fairy tale” of human intervention on the landscape and Art that blends with nature as in Arte Sella.

The Gingerbread House

Arte Sella

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end the difference between choosing one mountain or the other (or not choosing, as  I do happily, jumping around from one side to the other) is made by human beings living in those places and what they have been able to build as a relationship with other human beings of those places (let’s call them “neighbors”) and with Nature. And above all the tale, the experience, the stories of that urban and natural fabric. I have described the mountains. I live in the plains but also here, land of water and fog, the relationship between man and nature has a story to tell. What is your story? And please don’t tell me anything about magic!

Venetian Lagoon

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