Environmental Association Legambiente Fights Against Italy's Air Pollution

Legambiente, the leading environmental association in Italy that has been working since 1980 to improve the country's environment, combat pollution, and tackle environmental crime, launches Apnea Against Pollution to raise awareness once again among the public about air pollution in Italy. It does so starting from Milan with a striking performance, conceived in collaboration with the agencies Leo Burnett and MSL (Publicis Groupe) and realised in Piazza XXV Aprile, together with the former world freediving record holder, now a medical doctor and sports coach, Mike Maric, who immersed himself inside a transparent cube containing the highest level of smog recorded last February in Milan (118 µg/mc3 of PM2.5), twenty-four times above the limit recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). The aim is to send a precise and clear message: 'To fight pollution, we must not stop breathing but find solutions to breathe again.'

The Apnea Against Pollution project starts from data collected by Legambiente in the 'Mal'Aria di Città 2024' report, and the 'Città2030' campaign, which show that levels of air pollution in the main Italian urban centres are still far from the regulatory limits set for 2030 by European negotiations and exceed the values suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to Legambiente's latest report, in 2023, 18 cities out of the 98 analysed exceeded the daily limits of PM10: Frosinone recorded 70 days of exceeding, followed by Turin (66), Treviso (63), Mantua, Padua, and Venice with 62. Also worrying is the comparison with the new European regulatory targets set for 2030, according to which 69% of cities are in violation for PM10, 84% for PM2.5, and 50% for NO2, and the Po Valley represents one of the most vulnerable areas in the country.

Added to this situation are the dramatic data on deaths from smog and the development of disabling diseases due to excessive air pollution. According to the European Environment Agency, hundreds of thousands of people die prematurely in Europe every year because they are exposed to pollutant concentrations higher than the levels recommended by the WHO, and Italy holds a sad record with over 47,000 annual deaths from PM 2.5 (out of a total of 253,000 deaths in the 27 EU countries).

Alarming data that have led Legambiente to once again question how to make the serious repercussions of polluted air on citizens' health known and propose actions that can promptly improve it. Hence the creative concept of the installation with the symbolic cube of the fight against pollution, to draw attention to the issue, demand rapid and structural interventions that can no longer be postponed, together with the establishment of a technical-regulatory committee involving the Government, Regions, and local administrations on the issue of air quality, and to invite citizens at the same time to sign the petition 'We've Had Enough of Lung Damage. No to Smog!' promoted by the environmental association.

"Today," declares Giorgio Zampetti, Legambiente's general director, "one of the main challenges is represented by the fight against air pollution, a chronic emergency that our country must face with concrete interventions that can no longer be postponed. This is reminded to us by Europe, which has repeatedly warned Italy, by the data from our annual report 'Mal'Aria di Città,' but also by the 2030 goals of the UN agency, which speak of the importance of having more sustainable and livable cities. With the installation created in Milan, 'Apnea Against Pollution,' we want to draw attention to the major issue of smog, which finds one of the most vulnerable areas of the Peninsula and Europe in the Po Valley. And from Milan, we launch a new appeal to the Government to request a plan of more impactful national and territorial interventions that focus on sustainable mobility starting from local public transport and rail, heating and improving the efficiency of buildings, but also agriculture and livestock farming, among the sources responsible for poor air quality, which must become more sustainable."

"In recent years, fortunately, issues such as health and longevity are increasingly gaining ground. While on one hand, we have become very attentive to dietary culture, on the other hand, we are not yet so attentive to the 'culture' of the air we breathe; we tend instead to overlook the impact that its quality can have on our health," comments Mike Maric. "This is why I fully endorse Legambiente's project, as for several years now, I have been drawing attention to the importance of breathing and the quality of our breath. Especially in light of the fact that I live in Lodi, in a town where there is high air pollution, and we know how much this pollution affects up to 40% of the development of neurodegenerative diseases; since I have a father who has a neurodegenerative disease, I decided to intervene personally and to put my face on such a fundamental topic as air quality."

The performance of the freediver, who, as an act of protest, holds his breath, is a stimulus for the population to sign the petition 'We've Had Enough of Lung Damage. No to Smog!'. This signature collection asks institutions to implement a series of interventions that effectively improve air quality. Legambiente calls for an immediate reconsideration of urban mobility by implementing low and zero-emission zones, redesigning urban public spaces with more green areas, 30 km/h zones, and school streets, massively investing in local public transport, expanding cycling and pedestrian networks, and electrifying all public vehicles. Additionally, it proposes to act synergistically on other sources of pollution, such as domestic heating and agriculture, to return to citizens more liveable and sustainable urban areas while simultaneously combating the climate crisis, protecting citizens' health, and avoiding a possible European fine.

The petition, already active at the following link, thanks to the support of citizens who have signed it, will support the proposals that Legambiente will present to the Government and Parliament to request cleaner and more liveable cities.