(By Paul Virgo)
With a lucrative career ahead of her
after qualifying as a vet, Beatrice Costantino looked set for a
life of prosperity, success and happiness.
Had she been born a few decades earlier, that is no doubt what
she would have gone on to realise.
But Costantino is one of many young people who see little point
of living a conventional life with the climate crisis casting a
dark shadow over any future that they may plan for.
So she quit her job to focus on what is the number one priority
for her, and perhaps should be for everyone - fighting the
climate crisis, full time.
"I joined a project of civil disobedience called Ultima
Generazione, Last Generation," Costantino told ANSA referring to
a group that stages disruptive protests to demand climate
action, along the lines of the actions of Just Stop Oil and
Insulate Britain in the UK.
"We are all projects that try to force the government to
immediately act in a radical way.
"What we really need to do, and to think, is that we should do
whatever is necessary, as people, not just as activists or
individuals. We really need to do whatever is necessary,
whatever it takes for the environment and for society and human
life," she added, inadvertently paraphrasing the famous
statement Italian Premier Mario Draghi made when he was in
charge of the European Central Bank at the height of the
Eurozone crisis ("I'll do whatever it takes to save the euro").
"This is the way the climate crisis has changed my life.
"I try to change some individual habits, but it's not enough, of
course.
"I think that the really big change of society today is to
switch from an individual point of view of ourselves to a
collective point of view, to not think of ourselves as consumers
or individuals anymore and to start to conceive ourselves as
citizens, members of a society".
Despite devoting her whole life to fighting the climate
emergency, Costantino does not like to be called an activist.
She says this term separates environmentalists from the rest of
the population, creating an artificial divide when global
warming is set to affect everyone.
She prefers to be described as a "concerned citizen".
This particular concerned citizen is not afraid to put her
health on the line for the cause.
She went on a hunger strike with two other Ultima Generazione
members for 11 days earlier this year to demand a public meeting
with Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani to discuss
Italy's climate policies.
They eventually got the encounter, although not until the group
had apologized following acts of vandalism and an incursion into
offices that the ministry said had frightened staff.
The group, which said it only apologized for scaring staff and
not for the vandalism, were not satisfied with the answers they
got from the minister at the meeting.
But they have no intention of giving up.
"We are in an ecological and climate crisis so we need to stop
all the fossil fuels use and stop the destruction of all the
ecosystems," she sad
"Italy signed the Paris Agreement, according to that agreement
Italy should get to zero emissions by 2030, so of course the
Italian government is not doing enough.
"We have to change everything and the point is that everything
will change anyway.
"That's what people still need to understand.
"Sometimes people just want to change their lifestyle, but just
a bit, and continue working, they think work is against the
environment and the environment is against work.
"But the point is that if the climate collapses, everything will
stop. We will stop eating. We will stop working.
"We will stop drinking too because 20% of Italy is going to be
desertified.
"It's not a matter of opinions or habits or what I like and I
don't like. It's about what is necessary to survive.
"In the Mediterranean area the temperature is rising 20% more
than the global average.
"Italy is a country that is really affected by climate change.
"We have so many coastal cities that are going to be covered by
the sea.
"The Po, the main river in Italy, is (almost) empty (at the
moment after months of drought). Agriculture is in serious
difficulty in the north.
"They don't have any water for crops.
"So I think that water scarcity is going to be one of the major
problems in the future".
When asked what people who are worried about the climate crisis
should do, her answer was succinct: "join us. That's the
message".
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