Hi All,
What do you think about the below landscapes, pretty eh?
What if I tell you that actually these pretty images refer to a proper environmental disaster in the effected areas?
I have grown up in this countryside and I saw a huge transformation as well as exploitation of the landscapes during the last 5/10 years, which I am not happy about, ...at all.
In the last decade the production and consumption of Prosecco grew exponentially in all Europe and, as consequence, the small farmers of the North East of Italy severely invested in this field in order to get good revenues from their investments.
What no one talks about are the side effects that these massive/intensive crops have on the soil, the environment and the health of the citizens.
Here below I have reported a summary of a study done by the University of Padova, where they have done an in-depth research about the exploitation of the area where the Prosecco grapes are cultivated.
The final result of this investigation determined that, if not dressed otherwise, the estimate erosion of the soil will:
1) in mid- long-term period degradation in ecosystem functioning could strongly affect agricultural productivity by drastic reduction in nutrients, organic matter, water capacity;
and
2) off-site effects such as leaching of agricultural pollutants and potential erosion risk may affect at multiple scale in the territory;
Let's hope these studies will be understood and local authority will action on it!
What do you think about it?
Full article can be found at:
In short, it is a documented story about some marine biologists that record and track the dramatic changes that happen in the marine environment in the Queensland coastal reserve of The Great Barrier Reef in a short period of time. 
