Here are a few factoids you should think about the next time you’re under the shower:
health
- Cement, the powderized mix that is a basic ingredient of concrete, is devouring Italy, said a report published in April by italian green organization Legambiente. That statement summarizes the fact that 10.000 hectares of italian surface are covered by buildings every year: it’s like we built a new Milan every four months. Were that cement used to restructure and make safe existing buildings it wouldn’t be bad, but it mostly isn’t.
- According to italian newspaper Terra, Asbestos continues to kill in Italy. The current toll is 800 victims each year only in Lombardy (the northern region where Milan is) and is expected to rise, since this substance continues to be present in some areas and acts very slowly. A chilling detail of this story is that future death will also happen among people for whom current law doesn’t provide any compensation. As the Terra article puts it “the new law gives the right to claim for compensation to people who were exposed to asbestos in their work.