plastic plates and green things...

There are many things I love about living here, and many things I really would love to change. But my policy is that I have no right to judge, to try to bring about change, unless it is an issue that is bigger than where I observe it.

I first visited Naples in 2001, and arrived there in the middle of a rubbish strike. Not pleasant. A regular occurrance, and a health hazard. But back then it was nothing like the crisis we have here now. It is prominent in the election campaign dialogues, and I even read about it on www.stuff.co.nz.

Most of my Italian friends are incredibly "green" in their thinking... until, for a couple of them, it comes to plastic and convenience. For years I have listed my pet hate as lawnmowers that wont start when you want them to. I have changed that number one abhorrence to plastic plates. The only thing they should ever be used for, over and over again, if someone gives you something on one, is paint palettes. If we must dispose, then can't we have paper plates, made from recycled cardboard?

That raises another issue though. The cleaning products here are wonderful. So superior, in fact, that an American friend takes a box full home every time she goes back to New York. I guess with the amount of oil used here they need to be good. But my waste water drains out into the garden, or down into the septic tank equivalent, the "black hole". So when I wash my dishes, and my linen serviettes, instead of using disposable ones, what am I doing to the environment in my own back yard?

Here, much as I would love to, I daren't use a spray to kill my weeds. Amongst those weeds are edible mountain grasses, and if Zacchi's barking is anything to go by, they are being eaten regularly by someone coming on to my property to gather them. So I just let Zacchi out to bark a little more, to remind them that there is now someone living here, then I go back to whatever I was doing before we were disturbed.

In my village of 90 people, an hour and a quarter or so's drive from Naples, we are being invaded... by people from Naples, wanting to buy houses here. So far we are a population of French, English, Belgian, German and New Zealand extraction, to name only the most visible. Now we can add Neopolitans to that mix.

The rest of Italy still classes Naples and the south as a different country... and only partly in jest! I think they are running from the rubbish problem. I hope they don't bring it with them. Despite all our recycling bins, the excellent collection system, and the best efforts of some of the villagers, the litter problem we have here is big enough already.