Every day, the world population generates enough waste to fill over fourteen large soccer stadiums from top to bottom, more than 3.5 million tonnes. Cittadinanzattiva’s first National Day –Cittadinanza in Festa – will be dedicated to inspiring innovative ways for solving the world’s waste challenge.
The May 2-4 event will celebrate creativity, arts and music, climaxing in a performance by internationally renowned Malian artist Rokia Traorè. On this special occasion, Rokia will be formally recognized as a Connect4Climate Global Leader for her commitment and dedication to supporting climate change initiatives around the world.
One of Africa’s most innovative singers and songwriters, Rokia Traoré will present her latest album “Beautiful Africa.” Her appearance at Cittadinanza in Festa is a unique opportunity for visitors to enjoy the extensive power of her voice and the complex variety of her music.
Earthday Italia and Connect4Climate are partnering with the Italian non-profit Cittadinanzattiva for the three-day initiative, which aims to raise awareness of waste and encourage action to mitigate its adverse impacts. If present waste management trends continue, landfilled food waste is predicted to increase world methane emissions from 31 million to 43 million tonnes, a significant jump for one of the more powerful climate change-inducing greenhouse gases.
The three days of activities, open to people of all ages, will feature panel discussions, food tastings, book presentations, exhibitions, electric bicycle tours, theatrical performances and complimentary music performances by Milanese singer Sarah Stride. As part of Cittadinanzattiva’s campaign “SpreK.O” or “Knocking out Waste,” there will also be workshops and labs aimed at teaching citizens, especially youth and children, about how to reduce food waste, solid waste and waste in the healthcare system.
Short documentaries from the Action4Climate contest will be shown at the event. These inspiring youth films focus on tacking action on waste and tackling climate change – download the flyer.
In the lead up to the event, Connect4Climate co-hosted a live web chat about the problem of waste with the Guardian newspaper. Global experts from a variety of waste fields offered the latest perspectives on how to meet this challenge. These will be used to inspire the panel discussions at Cittandinanza in Festa.
About Cittadinazattiva
Cittadinanzattiva (Active citizenship) is an Italian non-profit organization founded in 1978, and recognized as a consumer organization since 2000. The main objectives are the promotion of civic participation and the protection of citizens’ rights in Italy and in Europe. It considers citizens a fundamental resource for democracy who play an active role in society and should have the opportunity to participate in everyday policy-making. The fields in which Cittadinanzattiva is particularly active are health, consumer and users’ rights, education and training, justice, and European citizenship. Cittadinanzattiva counts around 115.000 members (individuals, associations, groups and networks). It operates at the local level through 250 “Active Citizenship” Assemblies electing their representatives to the respective regional Congress (19) and subsequently to the national Congress.
