Chicco Testa was one of the first Italian environmentalists. Already in the 70s he was president of Legambiente, then he was deputy and president of Enel. He has always followed the problems of pollution, energy, waste disposal, seeing the growth of an irrational environmentalist attitude based on the guilt of man, scientific and technical progress, an ideology that dreams of a return to the good old world. A utopia that is not only impossible but also undesirable because it would lead to a general impoverishment of the inhabitants of the earth and a drastic reduction in their number.
To challenge this wave of clichés, which unfortunately is also conquering an important part of the ruling class, Chicco Testa has written a new book (after the one published a few years ago, provocatively titled "Against Nature") which has taken head-on since title one of the most widespread and harmful environmental tics, that of "degrowth" considered essential to destroy fewer primary goods and restore balance to nature abused by man's unbridled consumerism. In fact, the title is “In praise of happy growth. Against ecological fundamentalism”, published by Marsilio, in the bookstore for a few days.
The book demonstrates with precise historical references and incontrovertible statistics on the effects of certain environmental measures, that certain extremist theories are not only wrong from a social point of view, but when they have been applied, even partially, they have led to results opposite to those desired or , at least, have caused a considerable waste of resources which the citizens, in one way or another, have then been called upon to pay. Suffice it to recall, for example, the excess of incentives given to renewables which cost the Italians in the electricity bill, about 15 billion a year. In conclusion, the book demonstrates that there is no contradiction between environmental protection and economic and social growth.
Indeed, this reconciliation can only take place in democratic societies, open to the rest of the world, where there is a correct integration of tasks between State interventions and the action of the market and entrepreneurs. A book therefore to read if you want to participate in the construction of our future as responsible citizens and not willing to be fooled by sellers of fears. It is the exact opposite of what seems to be the common feeling of the people dragged towards a confused environmental sentiment by a political and religious elite who is not known how sincerely concerned about the fate of the world and how much cynically driven to ride people's fears who feel they are no longer in control of such general phenomena as to be difficult to understand.
Here then is that globalization, multinationals, scientific innovations themselves arouse fears or at best appear to be bearers of great uncertainties. This race towards the unknown, according to common feeling, is consuming a large quantity of natural resources which cannot be replaced, and which, moreover, give rise to pollution and bring about climatic changes which generate anxiety about the future of all humanity. Chicco Testa's book is a close indictment against the most widespread beliefs and the clichés of the collective environmentalist, that is, of that widespread sentiment that makes everyone believe they are good and friends of nature. It starts from the demonstration that the past centuries were by no means happier than the current ones.
Poverty involved over 90% of the population, diseases decimated young and old, not even talking about freedom. Now, especially in the last 70 years we have made enormous progress not only in the economic field, but also in the social and political fields. Poverty, for example, has fallen to about 10% of the world's population, increased from a few hundred million or 7,5 billion. Those who put the cross on our recent past are either ignorant or in bad faith. Then the battles that have characterized catastrophic environmentalism in recent years are criticized: from the fight against plastic, to the opposition to TAP, to the battle against palm oil, to end up in these days, to the opposition against 5G.
We then recall what has been done against glysulphate in agriculture, the crusade against GMOs, to arrive at the opposition to the search for hydrocarbons in the Adriatic (while in other parts of the Mediterranean they can be done), and the opposition to any plant for the treatment of waste just as the need for the circular economy is being loudly invoked, that is, the recycling of our waste. And of course, nuclear power is not neglected, towards which there is, especially in Italy, total opposition, however unmotivated and uninformed. None of these environmental battles has a scientific foundation, indeed all the scholars of the world have said that palm oil does not cause any damage, that the gas pipes that pass under the Apulian beaches are not dangerous and cannot even be seen.
And so on for each of the topics raised by the "NO committees" that have paralyzed Italy. Unfortunately, it is not only Greta Thumberg who spreads excessive environmental alarmism, but also Pope Francis got carried away by stating that man is ruining creation, and that he must atone for his sins by restoring Nature as well as God the 'he created. Forgetting to remember that for centuries, if not millennia, man has been trying to tame nature to protect himself and to draw from it means for his own livelihood. The Egyptians harnessed the waters of the Nile to have more abundant crops. This does not mean that we must do nothing to safeguard the environmental balance, but we must do the right things, not pursue destructive utopias. And the right path is already there. It has been seen that the first enemy of the environment is poverty.
These are the companies where well-being is widespread and where there is a reasonable prospect of continuous growth, the ones that have done and are doing the most to fight pollution and contain climate-altering gas emissions. You have to have faith in science and technology who will give us a hand to reconcile the increase in production and therefore the well-being of all citizens, with the reduction of raw materials consumed. The last pages of the book contain a quick review of scientific progress already underway or foreseeable in the short term, which seem to project us into a science fiction film and which are already reality. It is therefore not by opposing progress that the environment will be saved, but by continuing to invest and study, that we will be able to ensure a prosperous future with a good natural balance.
