No More Land?

Since the 1980s, 10 millions of toxic waste have been dumped in legal and illegal landfills in some areas of Campania Region. This is the result of decades of secret deals between factories, politicians, institutions and Camorra. They sought to avoid the high costs of legally disposing of hazardous waste. Even though there is no a scientific certainty, health studies higlighted an alarming rise of cancer rate in people living near dumping sites. Children are particularly affected. Agricultural sector, one of the most important for the whole area, has been strongly damaged. While some areas have been irreparably contaminated by pollution, local farmers suffered an economic crisis, cause wholesalers and customers became leery of buying their products.

According to a scientific prevision, in 2064 the environmental disaster will be irreparable. A place described in the past as Campania Felix, for its beauty and the fecundity of its land, will be completely polluted. While I was outlining a visual map of the contaminated areas, I faced an apparent normality. Among fields, streets, quarries, forests there is an invisible horror, literally buried, that risks to be easily forgotten.