Gisele recently told Italian
Glamour that she likes Milan but the smog makes her allergies go crazy. Victoria Beckham is said to be looking for a second house (in case you haven't heard, she wants
Castello Sforzesco as the family's primary residence if her husband comes here to play full-time for the team Milan) in the mountains outside the city because she fears the effects the pollution will have on her children. And here I sit less than a kilometer from Milan's
tangenziale ring road breathing in the
PM10 and who-knows-what-else. If you live somewhere more in touch with the Earth than I do, give the Earth a bacio for me today.
As per my post the other day about
Tetra Pak, I finally found out where and how it can be recycled. You can check to see if your comune in Italy recycles it
here. Oddly, almost every town around mine does recycle Tetra Pak, but mine does not. Here's hoping they get on that soon!
8 comments:
Nothing like having itchy skin and black boogers after a stroll through Milan.
If Victoria Beckham moves into Castello Sforzesco I hope the moats get filled with water and hungry beasts and she gets tossed in.
Great. I saw the 'refuse collectors' (or whatever they are called nowadays) throwing the normal and plastic collection bags into the same crusher the other morning, followed by a few cardboard boxes. Someone standing nearby made a comment about the raccolta differenziata, and they just shrugged and went about their dirty business. I wouldn't hold your breath for the Tetrapak if I were you....
At least both were recyclables, I was so disgusted after months of putting plastic and glass bottles aside and making a special trip to the recycle bin, to watch one night as the trash men came by and first collected the recyclables and then the trash in the bin next to it, mixing it all together!!!! I am sure Milan has it more together than Sicily!
I remember my kids complaining about the air in Milan when they visited in 1998. Also, my Uncle used to go to Milan in the 60's and 70's and swore that the air pollution was worse than in NYC. I do hope that you get some winds to clear things out from time to time.
I hear that the North is worse but I even find Rome really polluted. Often I take A's nappies off the clothesline and they have little black specks on them. Eugh. And I'm a native of New York (population around 15 million) and Sydney (population 4 million so around the same as Rome) so I'm not comparing it with pristine country air.
It is worrying bringing up kids in this kind of pollution, isn't it?
Does anyone have any idea WHY the pollution is so bad? Is it just that people are so car-addicted here? The only other parts of Europe which are that bad are in the former Soviet bloc.
Ha! I heard about Posh wanting to move into the Castello. She probably has her sights set on Buckingham Palace as well.
I used to live a couple of kms away from the Tangenziale and close to a major thoroughfare. The pollution was pretty bad. Now we live out in the country and it's much better. But most of my friends who live in Milan complain that their kids get really sick in the winter, mostly with respiratory illnesses.
Anon,
Graphic but true! :)
Emmina,
I have to say that I think the spazzini/lavoratori ecologici in my area do the right thing. At least they seem to put the bins in different trucks. And we take the time to separate everything.
Hilary,
That's one good thing I can say about Milan. I think they take it seriously. At least where I live they do. Which is why I'm surprised they don't recycle Tetra Pak in my neighborhood.
Gil,
It's bad. I have had chronic respiratory problems since I've been here. And I never had any problems before. At least in NYC, the ocean is nearby and there is a lot of wind. Milan is landlocked and blocked in by the mountains, so there is very little wind.
Kataroma,
I know why Milan is polluted and that is because of geographic reasons. I read that the pollution is bad not so much from the cars but from the furnaces, which is why they have set dates as to when you can have the furnace on. Boh. Who knows?
Milanesemasala,
Ironically, I think the Ecopass has been somewhat positive for the center of Milan but means that the "periferia" where I live sees more traffic and smog. I live where people must park to get on the subway. My son is only 15 months old, but I want to get him out of here ASAP. It's a pity because I've come to like my neighborhood and the services on offer for children. Supposedly, my area will be part of the "green lung" they are building around the city in time for Expo 2015. Let's see...
The trouble with the "set dates" for the heating being turned on and off, plus the fact that each condominium is heated centrally, is that individuals don't take responsibility for their own use of energy. Warm spell in November? Gosh, it's hot in the flat - open the window. The idea of turning a radiator down, or even off, just doesn't occur to anyone. We often have a winter holiday, and our caretaker comes in daily to open the shutters so the plants get some light. A couple of years ago, when we got back, he said "It's very cold in your flat". I said I'd turned all the radiators off while we were away. He looked at me as if I were mad ...
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