Never again

The Italian Prime Minister, when visiting Canazei, said this tragedy must never happen again. Unfortunately, these seem to be the same old words, repeated time and again, powerful words with the aim of sending out a glimmer of hope.
Never again – what is needed? What is needed to avoid mountains crumble all of a sudden, fierce winds uproot millions of trees, glaciers become mush, and rivers dry up? What is needed is change – our change. Homo sapiens? Then why do we just consume all that surrounds us?

Once the shock of the event is over, will somebody stop the new building projects, the new cable cars, the new roads, the new hotels? Of course not. They’ll continue ad nauseum. Olympic Games? Sure, why not. Car-burdened mountain passes? Coming right up! Let’s milk the Dolomites for all they are worth. The tragedy of the Marmolada is the dramatic emblem of a type of tourism which is nothing more than exacerbated consumption to turn around profit. If we don’t make changes – and big ones – now, our holidays will soon be over. But nobody wants to give up something, and we don’t want to change. The future doesn’t look good.

The tragedy occurred on 3 July, the 27th anniversary since the death of Alex Langer, a local with much more foresight than we credit him with. Thirty years ago, he supported an ecological conversion which has nothing to do with today’s greenwashing. After all, the only “green” we care about seems to be the colour of fresh, crisp bills. Oh, the hypocrisy of our actions. People still call the Dolomites “untouched”, “unspoiled” – yes, maybe untouched by common sense. So, regardless of what the Prime Minister says, if we don’t radically change our behaviours, this will happen again.

Photo: www.guworld.com